niques. Lebert : It may be a couple of years before schools start to explore the func-tional approaches, but I would love to see them taught to students. Limiting factors could be instructors that are not yet confident in their ability to teach and explain a functional approach. Jarvis : Chiropractic and contempo-rary acupuncture schools are closing their eyes and still teaching future heal-ers with dogma. While spinal and ex-tremity misalignments are heavily influ-enced by the muscles that act upon the joint. In fact, muscle contraction may be the cause and source of many chronic pain syndromes. Tight muscles protect-ing a joint or segmental level after the source of perceived or real tissue damage has disappeared may make it impossible to adjust or mobilize. Traditional physi-otherapies in treating taut muscles dis-appoint, as does the use of muscle relax-ants. Dry-needling muscles is an important adjunct to SMT or osseous adjusting. Harrison: Functional assessments are already being included in the Macquarie University Chiropractic course. Limita-tions of functional assessment: it takes time to learn/master, and one must look at many people to get an idea for what’s normal and abnormal. The major issue that I observe in class is that we only get to perform the tests on each other (18-to 30-year-old healthy specimens). The movements don’t have meaning until you start using it on real patients who have biomechanical problems. Neagle: As of right now, we have some younger generation clinicians and teach-ers that support and have introduced many of the students to the functional assessment and treatment approach. At NYCC, there is little resistance to this type of mindset. Many students here are biomechanically based and strongly support the idea of coupling chiropractic adjusting and functional rehabilitation to have an astounding effect. Fischhoff: They already teach it, but in the “functional family” there are many systems of analysis (or assessment/ treatment), from active release to dry needling, so probably all the schools do not teach the same. Martinow: At NYCC we are intro-duced to functional assessment and treatment briefly. I think with active care becoming a more prominent role in chiropractic, schools will start empha-sizing functional assessments and treat-ments more vigorously. There may be some limitations to overcome with cur-riculum planning because every school needs to meet certain accreditation and standards. In time, I believe it will be a very important aspect in the curriculum. KEY POINTS: • • • Students need to learn clinically and not theoretically. Schools have curriculum planning issues because they need to meet certain accreditation and standards. Instructors may not be confident in their ability to teach and explain a functional approach. ChiropraCtiC teChnique: prinCiples & proCedures third edition A complete guide to chiropractic adjustive techniques for the spine, pelvis, and extremities. Chiropractic Technique, Third Edition makes essential procedures easy to understand and provides a rationale for their use. Written by Thomas F. Bergmann, DC, FICC, and David H. Peterson, DC, and backed by the latest research studies, this bestseller describes the basic principles needed to evaluate, select, and apply specific adjustive procedures. With a review of chiropractic history; detailed descriptions of joint examination and adjustive techniques for the spine, pelvis, and extremities; and a companion Evolve website with how-to videos, this book is a must-have reference for students and clinicians. 36 Canadian Chiropractor February 2015 Chiro book ad feb15.indd 1 www.canadianchiropractor.ca 2015-01-19 9:11 AM
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