The BCA is committed to supporting and developing the chiropractic evidence base and does so, in part, by each member contributing a portion of their membership fee to fund the Chiropractic Research Council (CRC).
One of the initiatives that the CRC run is the Programme for Early Researchers in Chiropractic (PERC). The initiative provides the opportunity for newly graduated chiropractors to take part in an established research internship run by the Versus Arthritis Centre for Sport, Exercise and Osteoarthritis Research. This allows the chiropractic graduates on the PERC to learn alongside other new graduate health clinicians, health scientists and medical students to gain first-hand experience of multi-disciplinary research environments.
Here, one of the CRC-funded students on the programme, Sam Ogilvie, tells the BCA of her experience at the start of this journey:
“Yesterday, myself (WIOC graduate), Perttu Riipinen (WIOC graduate) and Savanna Koebisch (AECC UC graduate) visited the University of Bath for the induction to our Internship Programme in association with Versus Arthritis. The internship is run by the Centre for Sport, Exercise and Osteoarthritis and the chiropractic interns are funded by the CRC.”
Why did you apply for the Internship?
“Personally, I wanted to participate in this internship as I believe research is key to improving the credibility of the Chiropractic profession across the wider healthcare disciplines. I hope through participating in this internship, I will be able to publish research in the future to improve the evidence base for the profession. The induction day was fantastic, as we were able to meet the other interns from other professions such as podiatry, physiotherapy, medicine and sports and exercise science. We are all running our own research projects throughout the summer and will be presenting them at the end of the 8-week programme at Oxford University. I really enjoyed hearing about what the other interns were planning for their projects and it was great to be able to dispel a few myths about chiropractors along the way too!”
How did you find your first day?
“The organisers at the Centre for Sport, Exercise and Osteoarthritis put on an excellent day where we learned about current research that has the potential to improve the quality of life for people with arthritis. For example, they are in the process of creating an app that can be used by people with chronic knee pain to encourage self-management and increase long term adherence to physical activity. We also saw how motion sensors and EMG can be used to monitor the progression of Ankylosing Spondylitis and how powered prostheses can help reduce the risk of osteoarthritis in amputees. The best part of the day for me was to be able to meet like-minded individuals of other professions, all with the same goals of improving patients’ quality of life and the researchers at the University of Bath who are all passionate about continuing research for the future benefit of patients. Overall, it was an amazing day and based on the innovative research being done, we think the future is bright for patients with arthritis!
We are all grateful to the CRC for funding our participation in this internship and to all BCA members who contribute to the CRC funding through their membership. We are looking forward to next week’s events in Loughborough and Nottingham and to the rest of the internship!”
BCA President Catherine Quinn said: “BCA members have funded the Chiropractic Research Council since its inception and we are pleased that these young and passionate chiropractors are able to now access funding for these inter-professional, collaborative projects. We look forward to seeing the results of their 8-week Internship!”
