August 2006

Québec university creates chiropractic research chair

A new chair of chiropractic studies was officially created at the Université du Québec in Trois-Rivières. The chair is founded by the Quebec Chiropractic Foundation (QCF) and the firm Platinum Systems.

$250,000 to cover operating costs will be allocated, over a five-year period, to the chair, which will be headed by Professor Martin Descarreaux, DC, from the département de chiropratique of UQTR.

An additional sum of $230,000 will be donated to buy research equipment. According to René-Paul Fournier, research and teaching provost at UQTR, “Funding awarded to this project will enable the chair to become the driving force behind chiropractic research. The work accomplished by this unit will most certainly benefit the population as a whole as well as our students. In addition, it is important that our university gives this project its full support because the chair meets one of UQTR’s institutional priorities, that is, the promotion of health sciences research.”

The chair will concentrate specifically on the neurophysiological and epidemiological aspects of chiropractic. Members of the chair will also be able to develop a research program attuned to the priorities identified by large subsidizing institutions. The characterization of the physiological (particularly on the nervous system) and biomechanical effects of vertebral manipulations are uppermost among the department’s research themes.

According to Descarreaux, “In the field of manual therapy, the actual researches focus mainly on clinic results. As for the chair, it will enable us to better understand the neurophysiological response to chiropractic treatment. This constitutes a vast field of research, both extremely stimulating and most interesting.”

Descarreaux has worked at the university since 2002. Graduated from UQTR in chiropractic in 1998 and a holder of a PhD degree in kinesiology, he has won recognition as a leader in research. In 2000, he was chosen to figure among the 20 young Canadian chiropractors recognized for the exceptional effort they are exerting to promote the advancement of chiropractic.

Source: Université du Québec in Trois-Rivières, www.uqtr.ca

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