CBP® NonProfit, Inc. Research Update
Sunday, April 1, 2012 at 3:51PM 
Paul A. Oakley, M.Sc., DC
CBP Research & Instructor
Private Practice New Market, Ontario, Canada
CBP Non-profit Supports Research Into the Effects of Adjustments on the Sympathetic Nervous System
CBP Non-profit, Inc. has joined the Australian Spinal Research Foundation and the William M. Harris Family Foundation to support a research study to investigate the effects of chiropractic adjustments on the sympathetic nervous system. The study’s Principal Investigator, Christopher J. Colloca, D.C. formulated the research design to study the effects of cervical spine adjustments in an animal model of cervical disc degeneration while measuring needle electromyographic (nEMG), spinal nerve root, and neural responses from the sympathetic chain. The study began in December 2010, and data collection was recently completed in December 2011. Results will be forthcoming in scientific conference presentations and journal publications.
Dr. Colloca and his team have a proven track record of publications into the biomechanical and neurophysiological effects of adjustments and dynamic spinal stiffness assessment using the validated intervertebral disc model in sheep at the Adelaide Centre for Spinal Research in Australia. This study adds to the line of investigation underway at this laboratory in conjunction with pathologist, Robert J. Moore, Ph.D., and Belgian spine surgeon, Robert Gunzburg, M.D., Ph.D. Dr. Gunzburg serves as the Assistant Editor in Chief of the European Spine Journal, and has been collaborating on research projects with Dr. Colloca for fourteen years.
Research into the benefits of chiropractic adjustments have traditionally focused upon the area of the musculoskeletal system where findings have substantiated chiropractic care in the management of many conditions including low back pain, neck pain, and headache. This international research collaboration (Australia, Belgium, USA) brings together investigators from the professions of chiropractic, orthopaedic medicine, and anatomy and pathology to study how chiropractic adjustments can influence nerves in the body that control physiologic processes, including organ function, blood pressure and heart rate among others.
Using a validated animal model approved by a governmental ethics committee, measurements of nerve activity will be conducted during chiropractic adjustments delivered with a hand-held mechanical adjusting tool. In this manner, the study can determine the effect of chiropractic thrusts on nerve function to better understand the mechanisms responsible for the improvements that many patients experience with chiropractic care. This research will not only build on the body of scientific knowledge in this area, but will be one of the few studies using a “lesion” model to investigate the neurophysiologic effects as opposed to studying normal populations.
The $20,000 annual grant provided by CBP Non-profit matched a two-year $20,000 grant by ASRF and the $25,000 matching grant that William M. Harris Family Foundation has provided to the International Spine Research (INSPIRE) Foundation where Colloca is a Director. Membership in CBP Non-profit, Inc. can be obtained online by visiting www.idealspine.biz and browsing through to the Research section of the product store. Members receive voting privileges at CBP Non-profit meetings and a Research DVD containing all of the CBP supported research publications.