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Newsletter of the European Chiropractors’ Union
Research
at the University Hospital of
Southern Denmark and is used to
working with multiple professions:
“I believe that collaborating and
learning from interprofessional
partners will give chiropractors the
necessary tools to cement ourselves
as the primary spine care provider
across Europe.” Cecilie too, has
always worked in multidisciplinary
settings, both in clinic and as a
researcher: “I could not think of
working differently. I think it is
a must to be able to both work
with and learn from other health
care professions. For instance, for
persistent LBP multidisciplinary
pain management is
recommended.”
Luana highlights another
advantage to collaboration
on this scale: “My experience
is that in academia, the
professional background is
secondary. Our research group
is a multidisciplinary team of
researchers with backgrounds in
human medicine, physiotherapy,
movement and neuroscience as well
as chiropractic. This multifaceted
background and shared expertise
help us to improve our research
designs, and with that our
knowledge of the musculoskeletal
system and the understanding
of the effects and mechanisms of
chiropractic treatments on it.”
The evidence base for
chiropractic
There has long been a call for
more evidence for chiropractic
effectiveness, which depends on
building research capacity and
leadership, as Cecilie describes:
“There is a lot of research
competence within the CARL
Fellow cohort. Bringing together
this capability will allow for
new collaborations and projects
with publications and research
dissemination that will help
build the evidence base for the
chiropractic profession.”
Casper agrees, pointing out
the importance of “the leadership
we attempt to deliver at our
national organisations, scientific
conferences, social media, etc.” and
expressing the hope that CARL can
inspire more students to become
researchers in the future.
Boosting that research culture
in the profession is something that
both Amy and Cecilie feel should
begin very early in chiropractic
education: “I think the most
important thing is to introduce the
idea and opportunity for research
at the pre-registration stage, within
chiropractic programmes,” says
Amy. “This was how I caught the
research bug!” Cecilie supports
the idea that research is central to
later chiropractic education as well:
“That culture definitely has to start
being built during chiropractic
education and we may have to do
more to ensure that research is a
central part of every chiropractor’s
continuing professional
development. Different countries
may have different systems for
CPD activities, but do they
promote and reward updates on
research over other CPD activities?
GEN-C is a good initiative by the
ECU that I hope chiropractors will
actively use.”
Casper suggests: “Instate models
where some of the patient expenses
or reimbursements are transferred
to research funds. Benefit from
the continuity of having a single
organisation which relies heavily on
research and researchers to make
the appropriate political decisions.
And promote more in-person
access to researchers for students.”
Transferring research
findings to clinical
practice
A crucial, and difficult question
to answer is how we can speed up
the transfer of research findings
to clinical practice. As Casper
highlights, the way scientific
journals are published slows
things down: “The entire structure
surrounding how we currently
publish scientific journals should be
modified and open-access instead
of heavily gated by the services
who finalise the manuscripts. A
more realistic approach would be
to continue the work we do on
sharing research on social media,
have more researchers in political
committees, and enhance the work
of clinical guidelines.”
Luana feels that a lot of research
findings are lost in knowledge
translation, and that more effort is
needed to make implementation
interventions: “Often, clinical
practice and clinical research seem
to be two completely different
worlds. However, research should
not be considered an end in itself:
without clinical practice, there is
no application of research results.
I am convinced that we need more
‘physician-scientists’; to build
bridges for evidence transfer, but
CARL was established and
designed by an international
consortium of senior
researchers at the University
of Alberta, Canada (Professor
Greg Kawchuk), the University
of Southern Denmark and
the Nordic Institute of
Chiropractic and Clinical
Biomechanics (Professor
Jan Hartvigsen), and the
University of Technology
Sydney, Australia (Professor
Jon Adams).
The programme is
generously funded by:
• European Chiropractors’
Union through its research
arm, the European Centre
for Chiropractic Research
Excellence
• Australian Chiropractic
Association
• Parker University
• Forward Thinking
Chiropractic Alliance
• UK Chiropractic Research
Council
• Nordic Institute of
Chiropractic and Clinical
Biomechanics
• Australian Research Centre
in Complementary and
Integrative Medicine
also to identify research questions
relevant for clinical daily practice.”
Cecilie points out that
implementation research is a skill
that some of the CARL Fellows
have experience with, and she
hopes that it can be an important
tool. She also emphasises the
importance of involving clinicians
in research: “It is imperative that
chiropractic education continues
to produce graduates who can deal
with scientific literature. I believe
in involving clinicians in research
to give them ownership and hence
motivate them to implement new
research and practice according to
evidence.”
Steen is fascinated by the
approach taken in the GLA:D Back
group-based patient education
programme, where researchers
created an evidence-based course
and taught it to clinicians: “This
seems to me a very different and
much more impactful approach
to transferring research findings
than going to a conference and
giving a 20-minute talk. I am
also interested in exploring new
media for transferring research
findings. Being a clinician myself,
I understand how important it is
that research findings are delivered
in an easily understandable and
approachable manner.”
Amy agrees that new media show
a way to speed up the adoption
of research findings: “I have really
enjoyed Andreas Eklund’s (CARL
I Fellow) use of video summaries
on social media, with clinical
take-home messages for practice.
I think that we as researchers can
and should continue to be open
and creative in how we get our
research findings out to those with
boots on the ground and hands on
people. Not everyone has the time
or resources to be at every major
conference.”
Research during a
pandemic
The four-year programme for
these researchers has not begun in
the way they would have hoped;
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