One of the exciting studies that we are doing is a collaborative study with Professor Kemal Türker, Professor of Physiology at the Koc University School of Medicine in Turkey. The New Zealand College of Chiropractic, The Hamblin Trust and Spinal Research together made it possible for us to host Professor Türker in New Zealand for one month. He is one of the world’s leading neurophysiologists who specialises in spinal cord reflexes and is particularly interested in jaw function. Professor Türker, our NZ colleagues and we spent this month investigating how chiropractic care influences the way the brain controls motor neurons in the spine. While he was with us we were so excited with what we were seeing we completed a second study at the same time which is now in the publication process.
This excitement resulted in us pursuing this line of research further. Dr Imran Khan Niazi and myself went to Professor Türker’s lab in Turkey earlier this year to perform a follow-up pilot study that looks at how spinal adjustments influence the cranial nerves, in particular how they influence jaw function. Considering how chiropractic was founded this particular project could be very enlightening for the profession! We’re now ready to run the full study using the protocol we have piloted and are ready to jump into action and get this under way as soon as we secure the funding we need to complete the study.
This collaboration has also resulted in two more projects that we hope to do that will look at the effects of chiropractic care on strength and proprioception for an upper limb (shoulder) muscle and the effects of long term chiropractic care on lower limb muscle function. Again these projects are designed, piloted, and just waiting for the required funding needed to conduct them!
Research Grants Needed
We have submitted this project to Spinal Research for a grant and it has been approved by both their clinical and scientific panels, however they do not yet have the funds to award us this grant. So as soon as we are able to raise enough money in conjunction with Spinal Research for this study then we will jump into action and get this under way immediately.
