Faculty perception of clinical value of five commonly used orthopedic tests.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine the perceptions of the value of five orthopedic tests (straight leg raise, Braggard's test, Kemp's test, Valsalva maneuver, and Patrick's fabere test) in the diagnosis of specific neuromusculoskeletal conditions among the chiropractic faculty at a large chiropractic college.

Methods: This is an observational study that employed a survey of 41 academic and clinic faculty members with a Doctor of Chiropractic degree.

Results: Of the 12 posed questions, only five demonstrated statistically significant consistency (positive straight leg raise for the presence of disc pathology, positive Valsalva maneuver for the presence of disc pathology, negative Valsalva maneuver to rule out disc pathology, negative Braggard's test to rule out the presence of disc pathology, and positive Patrick's fabere test for the presence of hip joint pathology).

Intermittent low back pain referred from a uterine adenomyosis: a case report.

Objective: The purpose of this case study is to describe the clinical course and treatment of a female patient with intermittent low back pain (LBP) that was associated with a uterine adenomyosis.

Clinical Features: A 45-year-old woman presented for chiropractic care with intermittent LBP of 4 years' duration. History revealed concurrent dysmenorrhea, menorrhagia, and a uterine leiomyoma (fibroid).

Non-genomic effect of L-triiodothyronine on calmodulin-dependent synaptosomal protein phosphorylation in adult rat cerebral cortex.

The present study was undertaken to examine calmodulin-dependent effect of thyroid hormones (THs) on synaptosomal protein phosphorylation in mature rat brain. Effect of L-triiodothyronine (L-T3) on in vitro protein phosphorylation was measured in a hypotonic lysate of synaptosomes prepared from adult male rat cerebral cortex, incubated in presence and absence of calcium ion (Ca2+) and calmodulin. L-T3 significantly enhanced incorporation of 32P into synaptosomal proteins as compared to basal level of phosphorylation in the presence of Ca2+ and calmodulin.

Health promotion practices in two chiropractic teaching clinics: does a review of patient files reflect advice on health promotion?

Purpose: To retrospectively review patient files in two teaching clinics in the United States and to assess the documented attempts to deliver health promotion messages when a chart indicated a need for health promotion or a red-flag condition that could be helped with positive behavioral changes.

Methods: Approximately 100 patient files were randomly selected from each of two separate chiropractic teaching clinics, for patients seen after January 2007. Files were assessed for pertinent family history of diseases, personal medical history, and red-flag conditions of patients that would warrant intervention with health promotion.

Chiropractic and medical use of health promotion in the management of arthritis: analysis of the 2006 National Health Interview Survey.

Objective: The importance of integrating healthy behavior counseling into routine health care is universal but may depend on the type of medical care provider as well as the conditions presented by patients. The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether health promotion (HP) recommendations for known risk factors of arthritis differed between general medical doctors and doctors of chiropractic (DCs) in a nationally representative US population with arthritis.

Methods: Multiple logistic regression models were used for analyses of data from the Sample Adult Core component of the 2006 National Health Interview Survey (n = 6374 diagnosed with arthritis).

The health care provider's role and patient compliance to health promotion advice from the user's perspective: analysis of the 2006 National Health Interview Survey data.

Objective: The recommendations of health care providers have been shown to be a predictor of future healthy behaviors. However, patient adherence to these recommendations may differ based upon the type of health care professional providing the information. This study explored patient compliance in the United States over a 12-month period and contracted the patient response to recommendations given by chiropractors versus medical doctors.

Process versus outcome: challenges of the chiropractic wellness paradigm.

Objective: The purpose of this article is to discuss the term wellness in the context of the philosophy of chiropractic.

Discussion: PubMed and Index to Chiropractic Literature show an upward trend in use of the term wellness. Wellness may be used differently depending upon the profession and may be considered a process by some and an outcome by others.

A demographic and epidemiological study of a Mexican chiropractic college public clinic.

Background: Descriptive studies of chiropractic patients are not new, several have been performed in the U.S., Australia, Canada, and Europe.

Assessment and risk reduction of infectious pathogens on chiropractic treatment tables.

Background: To investigate the presence of pathogenic microbes on chiropractic treatment tables in one outpatient teaching clinic. Additional aims were to test inexpensive disinfectants on tables that may kill microbes and suggest infection control measures for chiropractic offices, clinics and classrooms. The aim of the study was to assess the presence of pathogenic microbes on treatment tables in one outpatient teaching clinic and determine a simple behavioral model for infection control including table disinfection and accepted hand washing and sanitizing protocols.

Non-surgical spinal decompression therapy: does the scientific literature support efficacy claims made in the advertising media?

Background: Traction therapy has been utilized in the treatment of low back pain for decades. The most recent incarnation of traction therapy is non-surgical spinal decompression therapy which can cost over $100,000. This form of therapy has been heavily marketed to manual therapy professions and subsequently to the consumer.

An educational campaign to increase chiropractic intern advising roles on patient smoking cessation.

Background: Tobacco use, particularly smoking, is the most preventable cause of death in the United States. More than 400,000 premature deaths are associated with its use and the health care costs are in the billions. All health care provider groups should be concerned with patients who continue to smoke and use tobacco.

The Council on Chiropractic Education's new wellness standard: a call to action for the chiropractic profession.

Background: The chiropractic profession has long considered itself to be a preventive science. Recently the Council on Chiropractic Education (CCE) has defined a set of standards that must be implemented at all US chiropractic colleges as of January of 2007. These are specific to wellness measures and health promoting efforts that should be performed by chiropractors.

Case report of right hamate hook fracture in a patient with previous fracture history of left hamate hook: is it hamate bipartite?

Background: Hamate hook fracture is a common fracture in golfers and others who play sports that involve rackets or sticks such as tennis or hockey. This patient had a previous hamate fracture in the opposing wrist along with potential features of hamate bipartite.

Case Presentation: A 19 year old male presented with a complaint of right wrist pain on the ulnar side of the wrist with no apparent mechanism of injury.

Quantum events of biophoton emission associated with complementary and alternative medicine therapies: a descriptive pilot study.

Introduction: Biophoton emission (BPE) is a quantum event characterized by a relatively stable but ultralow- rate emission of visible photons from living organisms. It has been associated with high energy processes such as: cell metabolism, growth, phagocytosis, neural activity, and oxidative stress. BPE has also been suggested to reflect the organism's global state of health as well as the response to stimulation including therapeutic interventions.

Treatment of chronic nonresponsive patients with a nonforce technique.

Objective: To investigate how chronic pain patients respond to treatment with Bio-Energetic Synchronization Technique (BEST).

Methods: Twenty-four adult patients with chronic pain-related conditions that failed to respond to previous chiropractic care were recruited. Subjects were given baseline assessments including pain Visual Analog Scale, Profile of Mood States, and the Global Well-being Scale.

Calibration and electrical safety status of therapeutic ultrasound used by chiropractic physicians.

Background: Ultrasound therapy is a commonly used therapeutic modality within the chiropractic profession. Previous calibration studies of ultrasound units within the physical therapy communities in Scotland and Canada have shown that approximately two thirds of units tested did not conform to minimum calibration standards. Similar failure rates may exist in the chiropractic profession and need to be addressed.

Diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis: a case of dysphagia.

Objective: To present and discuss the clinical manifestations, radiographic features, and treatment of a patient with diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis complicated by dysphagia. This case serves as an educational tool by bringing attention to an uncommon complication of a common disorder. An emphasis is placed on diagnostic imaging.

Posttraumatic osteolysis of the distal clavicle: analysis of 7 cases and a review of the literature.

Objective: To discuss the clinical manifestation, radiographic features, and treatment of 7 cases of posttraumatic osteolysis of the distal clavicle. Also, to furnish evidence indicating that the current terminology for this disorder is ambiguous and to propose a new classification system.

Clinical Features: Three cases resulted from acute trauma, and 4 cases were caused by sports-related repetitive microtrauma.

Fractured heterotopic bone in myositis ossificans traumatica.

Objective: To discuss the case of a patient with an acute fracture occurring through preexisting, quiescent, posttraumatic heterotopic bone formation of the gastrocnemius muscle. The lesion demonstrated a previously unreported pattern of healing. This case serves to demonstrate an infrequent event with a rare and heretofore unreported sequella.

The clinical utility of force/displacement analysis of muscle testing in applied kinesiology.

Manual muscle testing procedures are the subject of a force and displacement analysis. Equipment was fabricated, tested, and employed to gather force, displacement, and time data for examining muscle test parameters as practiced by applied kinesiology (A.K.

The effects of metronome breathing on the variability of autonomic activity measurements.

Background: Many chiropractors hypothesize that spinal manipulation affects the autonomic nervous system (ANS). However, the ANS responses to chiropractic manipulative therapy are not well documented, and more research is needed to support this hypothesis. This study represents a step toward the development of a reliable method by which to document that chiropractic manipulative therapy does affect the ANS by exploring the use of paced breathing as a way to reduce the inherent variability in ANS measurements.

A force/displacement analysis of muscle testing.

Manual muscle testing procedures are the subject of a force and displacement analysis. Equipment was fabricated, tested, and employed to gather force, displacement, and time data for the purpose of examining muscle-test parameters as used by clinicians in applied kinesiology. Simple mathematical procedures are used to process the data to find potential patterns of force and displacement which would correspond to the testing of strong and weak muscles of healthy subjects.

Effects of spinal manipulative therapy on autonomic activity and the cardiovascular system: a case study using the electrocardiogram and arterial tonometry.

Objective: To determine if there is alteration in the autonomic nervous and cardiovascular systems after chiropractic manipulative therapy (CMT). A novel approach was used to quantitatively probe for changes in the activity of the autonomic nervous system, in blood pressure, and in pressure pulse transmission time. This approach uses the electrocardiogram and arterial tonometry equipment.

Posterior fossa ischemia and bilateral vertebral artery hypoplasia.

Objective: To discuss cerebellar infarct in a patient with bilateral hypoplasia of the vertebral arteries.

Clinical Features: A 67-year-old woman suffered neck pain and headaches immediately after a minor motor vehicle accident. Fracture and dislocation were radiographically ruled out.