Clinical research within the chiropractic profession: status, needs and recommendations

In the current climate of accountability, health care financing reform and the demand on all health professions for evidence, there is an urgent need to expand clinical research activity within the profession. Those randomized clinical trials that have been reported in the literature have focused primarily on low back and headache pain. Only recently have studies been initiated to investigate the effectiveness of chiropractic interventions for conditions other than back pain. The ability of chiropractic colleges to develop research infrastructures and productive clinical research programs depends on removing or minimizing a number of impediments. A shortage of chiropractic clinicians who have the experience and training to conduct clinical research is compounded by a dependency on tuition revenue, limited external funding and a lack of institutional emphasis on research. The profession generally, and chiropractic colleges specifically, must address the impediments that limit the growth of research capacity. We present several recommendations and the action steps required to achieve specific outcomes.