Take the Guideline Challenge
SOURCE: ACA News ~ May 15, 2017
By Christine Goertz, DC, PhD
Dr. Goertz is senior scientific advisor for the ACA. She also serves as vice chancellor for research and health policy at Palmer College of Chiropractic and is the CEO of the Spine Institute for Quality (Spine IQ)
In my last blog post, I talked about the unprecedented opportunity the chiropractic profession has to make a critical difference in areas of great public health impact, such as low back pain. I strongly believe that if we do the right thing right now, the chiropractic profession is uniquely positioned to significantly impact the quality of spine care delivery, increasing access to chiropractic care for millions of patients who desperately need conservative treatment for spine-related conditions. The flipside is that if we don’t take right action now, chiropractic risks becoming a marginalized profession that’s on the outside looking in as other health care providers take ownership of musculoskeletal conditions and spinal manipulation.
So what is right action? Recently, I asked this question of several of my colleagues who influence policy at the highest levels of research and/or health care delivery in the United States. One of those people was Francis Collins, MD, PhD, director of the National Institutes of Health. [1] Dr. Collins responded by saying:
Chiropractic’s commitment to evidence-based practice and to addressing gaps in the scientific basis of chiropractic care is vital for the progress of the field. Robust research on the safety and effectiveness of chiropractic therapies in the management of common musculoskeletal complaints must continue to be a high priority for the profession. Advancing evidence-based chiropractic care will further the integration of chiropractic into medical systems at a time when the need for effective approaches to improve outcomes for patients with chronic pain could not be more pressing.
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There are two important concepts captured in Dr. Collins’ statement – that we make conducting research a high priority within the profession and that we take an evidence-based approach to chiropractic care delivery in everyday practice. I could not agree more with both recommendations. So how do we operationalize this excellent advice? I will make a number of suggestions in my next several blog posts, but let’s start with a very concrete example: the adoption and use of guidelines and clinical care pathways for low back pain. We are somewhat far behind on this issue when compared to other health-related professional associations.
The American Osteopathic Association developed guidelines for low back pain, which includes spinal manipulation, in 2010 and then updated them in 2016. [2] The American Physical Therapy Association has had low back pain guidelines since 2012. [3] In March, the chiropractic profession also took a leadership role in this area when the American Chiropractic Association adopted both the American College of Physician’s recent low back pain guideline [4], as well as the Clinical Compass (formerly CCGPP) [5] Clinical Practice Guideline: Chiropractic Care for Low Back Pain. [6]
The Clinical Compass guidelines provide recommendations regarding the frequency and length of chiropractic treatment for episodes of acute, subacute and chronic low back pain, based on a combination of existing scientific literature and expert opinion. To give you some sense of what these guidelines look like, below is Table 1 (reprinted with permission), outlining the recommended frequency and duration of chiropractic treatment for acute, subacute and chronic low back pain.
Table 1.
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