Chiropractic research update

Macquarie's Chiropractic program at the forefront of musculoskeletal healthcare

Thanks to the generosity of donors and The Chiropractic Alumni, Australians with spinal abnormalities will benefit from research being conducted at the Department of Chiropractic at Macquarie University. Funding contributes to research projects aimed at improving the musculoskeletal health of the community.

The latest grant round recipients

Dr Benjamin Brown and his team were awarded $12,300 for The ScoliScreen Project - A reliability and validity study.  

Adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) is a progressive spinal deformity that develops during the peak growth period of adolescence. If left untreated, AIS can cause pain, postural abnormalities, and impact significantly on self-image and quality of life. In severe cases, costly spinal fusion surgery may be required.

If scoliosis can be identified early, treatment can prevent progression of the disease. Dedicated school screening programs in Australia have been replaced by a national self-detection program. There are no published data on the effectiveness of this program, but anecdotal reports would suggest that there may be a significant number of children and adolescents with scoliosis going undetected.

With the overarching aim of improving the early detection of AIS, we have teamed up with ScoliCare, a leading company in the conservative management of scoliosis in Australia, to investigate the reliability and validity of a web-based application (app) called ScoliScreen for the detection of scoliosis in adolescents. The aim of this research project is to assess the reliability and validity of the methods used in the app. The ScoliScreen app has the potential to become a new tool for scoliosis screening in Australia, offering a simple, scalable, low-cost, user-friendly method of scoliosis screening. But a critical first step is to establish the reliability and validity of this app.

Dr Amber Beynon, Dr Michael Swain and their team were awarded $11,700 for Young patients and chiropractors’ observation and analysis study (Young-COAST): A feasibility study.

While chiropractic services are commonly utilised by young Australians, the role of chiropractic care in the evaluation, management, and treatment of young patients remains highly contentious. There is a paucity of high-quality research that both describes the clinical characteristics of chiropractic care of young Australians, and the reasons young patients seek chiropractic care. We need to understand which young Australians are seeing chiropractors, and why they are seeing chiropractors. This study aims to inform the design and conduct of a large-scale health services research project that observes the clinical encounters between chiropractors and young patients. This study will establish important dimensions of feasibility (recruitment and data collection methods) that are required to demonstrate capability and track record, which enhance the team’s chances of securing national competitive research funding. Once the nature of young patient and chiropractor healthcare encounters are established in a definitive study, future effectiveness research can be focused, and research evidence can inform ‘best practice’ guidelines and ‘core competencies’ for both graduating and specialising chiropractors.