Christine Goertz’s Prolific Chiropractic Research Career

Christine Goertz, PhD, DC ‘91 started her prolific research career with curiosity. Currently, she is a professor in Musculoskeletal Research at the Duke Clinical Research Institute and Vice Chair for Implementation of Spine Health Innovations in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery at Duke University.

As I began treating patients, I had at least as many questions as answers about how chiropractic care benefited them and who would likely be most helped,” she shared.

“I wanted data, and 35 years ago, not much of that was available. Thanks to the NCMIC Foundation, I had the resources to start working on my PhD the year after I graduated.”

This quest for data has become a 30-year research career. Dr. Goertz has received nearly $44M in federal funding as either principal investigator or co-principal investigator and has co-authored over 130 peer-reviewed papers. Her work is designed to increase knowledge regarding the effectiveness and cost of patient-centered, non-pharmacological treatments for spine-related disorders.

When asked about the importance of multidisciplinary teams—including chiropractors—in healthcare, she pointed to improved access and patient care. “This will become even more important as we move towards value-based care models that incentivize a team approach to caring for patients with common conditions such as low back pain,” she emphasized.

Dr. Goertz recently co-authored “Chiropractic and Spinal Manipulation: A Review of Research Trends, Evidence Gaps, and Guideline Recommendations” which “demonstrates how far chiropractic research has advanced in the past 50 years in terms of sheer volume and the quality of the science.”

Looking forward, she recently signed a contract with publisher Simon and Schuster to write a book about low back pain for the general public.

I am frustrated that many people do not receive the care they need, despite the research available on what works best, and guidelines developed by organizations ranging from the American College of Physicians to the World Health Organization,”
she explained. “I hope that going directly to the patients with the information they need to make informed decisions will help change that.”