Dr. Smoley Publishes First-of-its-Kind Ultrasound Research
The verification study, published in Journal of the Canadian Chiropractic Association (JCCA), lays the groundwork for future ultrasound research.
Chiropractic faculty member and Director of Clinical Education Christopher Smoley, DC, is the lead author on a new verification study published by JCCA.
In collaboration with chiropractors at Parker University, Dr. Smoley showed that you can see the pars interarticularis with a diagnostic ultrasound. This research lays the groundwork for potential future studies that could ultimately improve patient care. Ultrasound can be considerably less expensive than MRI and involves no radiation like CT or nuclear imaging.
“It is important because this lays the foundation for many future studies that look at reliability,” explained Dr. Smoley. Future research could look at the use of ultrasound to track healing and the ability to differentiate acute from chronic injuries of the pars interarticularis.
Moreover, future research could examine whether ultrasound can identify a stress injury before it breaks, allowing early intervention. “These are all plausible follow-up research topics that are yet to be proven,” said Smoley. “But the potential is there.”
This is Dr. Smoley’s first publication of this kind. He chose to get involved in research because “it allows some creativity, adds some variety to my daily work, and makes a positive impact in the profession for the benefit of our patients.”