The Foundation for Vertebral Subluxation has just released a Best Practices/Practice Guidelines document on the role of chiropractic in immune function.
The Best Practices document is part of a multi-pronged project to address questions related to the role of chiropractic care in immune function. The project has multiple parts including the completion of a scoping review of chiropractic, immunity and biomarkers, a comprehensive, integrative review of the scientific literature on chiropractic and immunity, the development of research protocols, feasibility studies, development of a prospective longitudinal health outcomes study, and the development of policy and best practice statements for practitioners and patients in an evidence informed framework.
The Best Practices document, developed through the Foundation’s Best Practices Initiative includes a Recommendation statement that includes the following:
A growing body of evidence supports our understanding of the role of the nervous system in immune system function. Basic science studies and clinical reports in the scientific literature provide supportive evidence of the beneficial effects of chiropractic care in improving function, including immune system function and quality of life.
According to the Foundation, the purpose of the Best Practices project was to perform a scoping review of the existing literature on chiropractic, vertebral subluxation and immune function in order to inform the development of a Best Practices/Practice Guidelines statement.
The Foundation for Vertebral Subluxation’s (FVS) Best Practices/Guidelines Committee participated in a scoping review of existing literature available to a team of researchers and conducted further searches and gathering of documents based on that available literature. 125 papers were gathered and included in a review. Based on this review a document was produced that was evaluated by a panel of experts. The panel of experts then drafted a Best Practices statement.
This statement and the accompanying scoping review was then put through peer review with 200 chiropractors completing its review prior to publication. This scoping review is a living document and will be supplemented with an integrative review of the literature on chiropractic and immunity. The literature forming the basis of the Recommendations will then be updated according to the regular cycle established by the Foundation for Vertebral Subluxation’s Best Practices Initiative.
Chiropractors and chiropractic trade associations are encouraged to adopt and/or otherwise endorse the Best Practices Statement from the Foundation in an effort to protect the public’s right to receive the type of chiropractic care they desire and for the right of chiropractors to provide it.
To learn more about this study and chiropractic research, Vertebral Subluxation Research.
Recent research reported in the Annals of Vertebral Subluxation Research reveals that chiropractic may play an important role in helping patients with chronic migraines. The research reports on a 35-year-old man with a history of repetitive sports injuries leading to chronic migraine headaches.
