The Shaw Conference Centre in Edmonton, Alberta, recently played host to the first North American Research Conference on Complementary & Integrative Medicine. The chiropractic profession was well-represented at the meeting, with 11 workshops and poster presentations examining the use of chiropractic for particular conditions and the role of chiropractors in various health settings.
Sponsored by the Consortium of Academic Health Centers for Integrative Medicine, the conference was designed to promote educational collaboration across the spectrum of health disciplines, and featured presentations from some of the world's leading researchers and health care providers on a variety of complementary and integrative approaches to care.
The first presentation related directly to chiropractic occurred at the beginning of the conference when William Meeker, DC, MPH, vice president of research at the Palmer Center for Chiropractic Research, co-moderated an abstract session titled "Integrative Strategies for Low Back Pain and Cardiac Disease." The following day, Craig Nelson, MS, DC, a director of health sciences research with American Specialty Health, served as a co-moderator during an abstract session titled "Clinical Trials for Musculoskeletal Conditions."
On that same day, chiropractic and medical researchers presented a three-hour discussion, "Risks and Benefits of Spinal Manipulation: Mutually Beneficial or Mutually Exclusive?" Dr. Nelson was joined in the discussion by four other doctors of chiropractic (Gert Bronfort, DC, PhD; Mitchell Haas, DC, MA; Eric Hurwitz, DC, PhD; Greg Kawchuk, DC, PhD), along with a medical doctor, Michael Hill, MD, from the University of Calgary.
In addition to the workshops and abstract sessions, chiropractic was featured in eight poster presentations, including:
The Consortium of Academic Health Centers for Integrative Medicine (www.imconsortium.org) was established in 2002, and consists of 32 schools of medicine in the United States and Canada. Its mission, according to a statement on the consortium's Web site, is "to help transform medicine and health care through rigorous scientific studies, new models of clinical care, and innovative educational programs that integrate biomedicine, the complexity of human beings, the intrinsic nature of healing and the rich diversity of therapeutic systems." The North American Research Conference on Complementary & Integrative Medicine marked the first time that all consortium centers and other leading national and international CAM networks and organizations had been invited to come together to meet and share their research findings in a single location.
When sports chiropractors first appeared at the Olympic Games in the 1980s, it was alongside individual athletes who had experienced the benefits of chiropractic care in their training and recovery processes at home. Fast forward to Paris 2024, where chiropractic care was available in the polyclinic for all athletes, and the attitude has now evolved to recognize that “every athlete deserves access to sports chiropractic."
It is estimated that 61% of patients with CTS avoid taking surgical options due to postoperative complications and costly surgical procedures. Chiropractic care offers a comprehensive and effective treatment for carpal tunnel syndrome, addressing the condition from multiple angles. Recent studies also have unveiled a game-changing adjunct to chiropractic treatments for CTS: nerve flossing.
Some doctors thrive in a personality-based clinic and have a loyal following no matter what services or equipment they offer, but for most chiropractic offices who are trying to grow and expand, new equipment purchases help us stay relevant and continue to service our client base in the best, most up-to-date manner possible. So, regarding equipment purchasing: should you lease, get a bank loan, or pay cash?
