BARCELONA, Spain – Christopher J. Colloca, D.C. presented his team’s original biomechanics research at the 12th Annual Conference of the International Society for the Advancement of  Spinal Surgery (ISASS) in Barcelona, Spain on March 22, 2012.  The research is a culmination of the work of a multi-disciplinary research team that he assembled  combining his specialty as a chiropractor and biomechanist together with the expertise of orthopedic spine surgeons, biomedical engineers, and histopathologists, from Australia, Belgium, Canada, and the USA.  The paper being accepted for platform presentation at the prestigious orthopedic conference is further testimony to the success of the collaboration.

The paper entitled, Quantifying Biomechanical Alterations of Cervical Disc Degeneration: An in vivo Spinal Stiffness Assessment Methodology, presented the team’s first results of its inquiry to the cervical spine at the Adelaide Centre for Spinal Research (ACSR) in (Adelaide) Australia.  In the study a validated degenerated disc model in sheep was used to determine if differences in spinal stiffness existed between normal and degenerated cervical spine discs.  This research provides the unique opportunity to examine spine biomechanics in living subjects, as opposed to ex vivo studies conducted on cadaveric specimens.  Significant differences in spinal stiffness were observed in animals with cervical disc degeneration with the examiner blinded to the subject groups.  The work is currently being prepared for journal submission.

The group’s previous research has focused on the lumbar spine where their instrumentation was validated and numerous clinical conditions have been examined.  Lumbar disc degeneration, muscle hyperactivity, ligament injury, spondylolysis, the effects of an interspinous implant have all been compared to normal conditions and published in a variety of scientific journals such as Clinical Biomechanics, European Spine Journal, The Journal of Electromyography and Kinesiology, The Journal of Biomechanics, and Spine among others.  Concerning his research, Dr. Colloca stated, “I wanted to have our research presented at the very highest level medical scientific conferences so we could receive constructive criticism prior to publication.  It’s helpful for the chiropractic profession to have the technology that we’re developing stand up to the scrutiny of the medical community.  That’s how you do it in the medical device arena.”

The ability to objectively quantify spinal motions is of great interest to not only chiropractors, but to anyone who examines the spine.  Dr. Colloca explained, “For years, chiropractors and physical therapists have used motion palpation during clinical assessments of their patients.  The problem, however, is that our own kinesthetic senses aren’t good enough to detect normal from abnormal, which is why the reliability studies are so poor with the qualitative motion palpation techniques.  Using a sensor mounted inline with a stylus, using an instrument we can probe the spine and quantify its stiffness using numbers that are reliable and valid.  I think that this truly will  be the future of physical examination not only in chiropractic, but across  healthcare disciplines from PT to Orthopedics.”  The research was generously supported by the International Spine Research Foundation (INSPIRE) through grants from CBP Non-profit, Inc., and The William M. Harris Family Foundation.  For further details visit www.helpinspire.org.

Citation:  Colloca CJ, Gunzburg R, Szpalski M, Freeman BJ, Afifi M, Moore RJ.  Quantifying biomechanical alterations of cervical disc degeneration: an in vivo spinal stiffness assessment methodology. 12th Annual Meeting of the International Society for the Advancement of Spine Surgery (ISASS).  Barcelona, Spain, March 20-23, 2012:46.

 
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Neuromechanical Innovations recently announced that they have chosen ACOM Health's RAPID Chiropractic Software as their endorsed EHR solution.

About the decision, Neuromechanical’s CEO, Dr. Chris Colloca, said, "To be successful today, it is imperative that doctors have a quality automated notes and reporting solution in their clinics and that it be Certified under the guidelines of the HITECH Act of 2009 in order to benefit from the reimbursements available.

With this in mind, it was apparent that now and in the future, practices would no longer have two systems in their practice for office managment (one for documentation, and one for billing), but rather one fully integrated system.  With this in mind, there were three major requirements that we had in selecting the right EHR system for our doctors:

1. We wanted a partner with the best EHR - the fastest, easiest to learn and use, and most comprehensive to produce the best medical records and billing interface;
2. The software had to guarantee qualification for the $44,000 stimulus money;
3. The company had to be congruent with our no-nonsense, no hidden costs approach to business - I wanted our doctors to know exactly what this was going to cost them with no surprises in the future.

After scouring the profession and interviewing the CEOs of several software companies, I'm thrilled to announce that ACOM Health and their RAPID Software was the decision for our alliance partner."

Dr. Colloca went on to say,
     "As for the cost of implementing an EHR system in your office, there is not only the financial cost - the dollars that you spend for it - but also the time cost - the time you have to invest in training yourself and your staff to implement a new system in your office.  We fully evaluated the top 5 EHR systems in the chiropractic industry and going with ACOM Health was a no-brainer.  With ACOM's pricing, there are no hidden fees and no suprises coming down the road in the future.  If there are upgrades - you get them.  If there is a new application built for a new feature - it's included.  I considered ACOM to be like investing in a fixed mortgage payment, instead of going with a variable interest rate mortgage where there are no guarantees down the road.  As for the time investment - ACOM includes all of the training that you need to get yourself and your staff trained for implementation.  The ACOM Health's Rapid Software is featured at all of our Impulse Adjusting Technique seminars where you can preview its benefits and features in person.  With this software, you can automate the documentation associated with diagnosing and treating chiropractic patients with the Impulse Adjusting Technique."

» Find out more about RAPID Software & The Impulse Connection

www.acomhealth.com/impulse