 Dr. Jason L. Skolar
Chiropractor
Vision
"To optimize performance and functioning of the human body through a natural health and wellness approach, without the use of drugs or surgery."
Mission Statement
"To offer the best Family Chiropractic Health-Care Services available, using a natural health and wellness model, with focus on disease prevention and ensuring normalization and proper functioning of the nervous system. We educate about the benefits of adopting healthy lifestyle practices, including optimal nutrition, regular exercise and self-awareness to maximize longevity and prevent onset of disease."
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Chiropractic Research in Canada |
The history and development of chiropractic, in many ways, mirrors the advancement of the medical profession over the past century. During the late 1800s, the concept of "spinal irritation" was popular in medical circles and the practice of chiropractic was consistent with many aspects of scientific thought at the time. These theories seem quaint today, but as science advanced, so did our understanding of the neurological and biomechanical principles that underlie the effectiveness of chiropractic treatment. Today, these evidence-based principles form the foundation of chiropractic education.
The Consortium of Canadian Chiropractic Research Centres (CCCRC), established in 1998 by The Canadian Chiropractic Association (The CCA) represents research collaborations with many universities and institutions across the country, such as the Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College, Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières, and the Institute for Work and Health. The CCCRC currently comprises 12 university-based research sites where chiropractic researchers either hold faculty appointments or are taking advanced research training. The CCCRC facilitates inter-disciplinary research and has sponsored four significant research symposia since its inception.
The Canadian Chiropractic Association is an affiliate member of the Canadian Cochrane Network and Centre and a representative of the chiropractic profession serves on the Executive Committee of the Network. The Cochrane Collaboration, established in the United Kingdom in 1993, is an international organization whose mission is to prepare, maintain and promote the accessibility of systematic reviews of the effects of health care interventions.
The CCA also participates in international projects such as the Leboeuf-Yde study, a multi-nation research study headquartered in Denmark, to investigate the non-musculoskeletal effects of chiropractic care. Researchers are also involved in the Bone and Joint Decade Task Force on Neck Pain and Its Associated Disorders which is conducting five multi-disciplinary, international studies.
Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College (CMCC) has been recognized as an international leader in chiropractic research for more than five decades. Over the years, members of CMCC’s faculty have developed collaborative research relationships with faculty at many academic institutions in North America. The profession also participates in inter-professional health policy development. An example of this is the 2003 award of almost $2 million by the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care to faculty at CMCC for a primary care project to develop a model of collaborative, inter-disciplinary practice.
The profession’s researchers are funded by many premier agencies such as the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, Health Canada, Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care, Industry Canada, Alberta Provincial CIHR Training Program in Bone and Joint Health, and the Canada Primary Care Transition Fund to name a few. The profession’s researchers undertake broad-based, substantive research in biomedical and clinical sciences, health systems and services, and in social cultural areas, and they are widely published in both chiropractic and non-chiropractic peer-reviewed journals. Some of these journals include the New England Journal of Medicine, the Lancet, Annals of Internal Medicine, Arthritis and Rheumatism, British Medical Journal, Canadian Medical Association Journal, Spine, Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, the Clinical Journal of Pain, the Journal of the Canadian Chiropractic Association and the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics.
In 1998, the Canadian Institutes for Health Research (CIHR) – formerly the Medical Research Council – partnered with The Canadian Chiropractic Association on a dollar for dollar basis to fund young researchers. Since that time, The CCA has supported a doctoral award, three fellowship awards and two research chair awards. In the same year, the CIHR partnered with the Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College to offer two doctoral research awards for faculty. Similarly, the Fondation chiropratique du Québec has partnered with CIHR to fund a fellowship award.
The training of chiropractic researchers through sponsored PhD programs will enable the profession to further develop the research leadership to ensure continued research into chiropractic health care. A national community of fulltime research scholars in chiropractic will ensure that Canadians benefit from high quality, evidence-based care.
In 2000, The Canadian Chiropractic Association began a complex process to establish an approved research agenda in Canada. This process is funded in part by four CIHR Institutes: the Institute of Musculoskeletal Health and Arthritis, Institute of Aging, Institute of Neuroscience, Mental Health and Addiction, and Institute of Population and Public Health.
The chiropractic profession has also established a university Research Chair program jointly funded with CIHR. Dr. Greg Kawchuk was the first member of the profession to be awarded a university-based Chiropractic Research Chair and was appointed to the faculty of the University of Calgary for a five-year period. Dr. Kawchuk is studying vertebral artery conditions in animal models. He is also a member of the CIHR Peer Review Committee on Movement and Exercise. Dr. Mark Erwin was awarded the profession’s second Research Chair in 2003. He is set to takeup the award at the University of Toronto where he will be investigating degenerative disc disease, the most common cause of lower back pain and associated disability. Drs. Kawchuk and Erwin were the first participants in the university-based Research Chair program that will significantly build the profession’s intellectual research capacity and help Canadians live healthier lives.
(2004)
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