Chiropractic Research Infrastructure

What can be Done?

***  The entire chiropractic profession has approximately 70 full time researchers. Contrast this with the drug company Pfizer which has 12,000 full time researchers.

***  Less than 5% of full time DC faculty at chiropractic institutions are involved in research.

***  The total budgeting for all chiropractic institutions is a mere $224 million. Harvard University receives $739 million a year from the NIH alone just to do research.

***  Of that $224 million our institutions spend only $4 million on research programs.

***  In the entire 100+ year history of the chiropractic profession we have received less than $10 million from the federal government for research. The top 25 medical schools received $6 billion dollars from the NIH in 2000 alone.

***  Less than 10% of our profession subscribes to a peer reviewed chiropractic research journal.

***  Chiropractic institutions need to become less tuition dependent and must hire consultants to train its faculty in grant writing and submission. All faculty should be involved in this process.

***  Chiropractic institutions must attract the best and brightest the profession has to offer and must provide appropriate remuneration to these individuals.

***  Chiropractic institutions must develop "Research Tracks" and incorporate them into the curriculum.

***  Faculty at chiropractic institutions must be trained and encouraged to conduct and publish research.

***  Students must be required to participate in research during their educational career.

***  Faculty must learn to use the peer reviewed literature in their courses and students must be taught the skills necessary for critical thought.

***  Practitioners must engage themselves in the process. Each member of this profession needs to commit to participating in several research oriented activities every year.

***  Those practitioners with the financial wherewithal must step forward and put some of that money to use in chiropractic research.

***  Students must demand more detailed explanations of chiropractic science from their instructors.

***  Subluxation-based groups, schools and individuals must engage themselves heavily in the research process through strategic partnerships where priorities can be established and plans can be devised.

***  Subluxation-based chiropractors need to develop an absolute no tolerance policy for instructors and leaders who espouse rhetoric that science is not essential to the development of subluxation-based chiropractic.