BU Research Blog

Last July the main findings from my PhD study into the mechanism of spinal manipulation were published and, especially as an early career researcher, I’ve been delighted at the interest shown in the paper. Really this is testament to the benefits of open access publishing (although there are criticisms of this publishing model) where research papers are made freely accessible to anyone (with an internet connection) anywhere in the world as well as the channels for spreading the word provided by social media. Of course, as well as that, the topic of the mechanism of spinal manipulation continues to generate interest in the manual therapy professions as we continue to try (and try) to understand how it works.

A colleague kindly directed me to a number of comments made by healthcare professionals about the study findings on social media and I’ve written a two-part blog post to respond to these. Please click here if you’d like to find out more about the clinical implications of this study into spinal manipulative therapy for neck pain. It is hoped that this type engagement with practitioners might eventually impact on manual therapy practice. This dialogue would have been difficult to achieve, and so quickly, without open access publishing and social media outlets such as Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. Now that the PhD is nearly completely behind me (corrections currently with external examiner), I’m very much looking forward to the next 9 months!