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Guideline Developers | Selected Guidelines for Chiropractors | Search for More Guidelines | Guideline Evaluation | Selected Reading (Open Access)

Practice guidelines are evidence-based consensus statements intended to promote best practices and limit disparities in the delivery of health care. See also  Evidence-Based Health Care | Evidence Based Chiropractic | OPTIMa Reviews & Guidelines  This page last updated April 15, 2021.

Guideline Developers

• National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence: NICE Guidance
• Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network: SIGN  
• Canadian Chiropractic Guideline Initiative / Projet canadien des guides de pratique chiropratique: (CCGI) | French | Search ICL for articles on the CCGI   
• Clinical Compass: Evidence, Education, Empowerment. Powered by the Council on Chiropractic Guidelines and Practice Parameters (CCGPP)
• Centre for Disability Prevention and Rehabilitation : CDPR [Ontario Tech University – Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College] CDPR Publications  
• ACP Clinical Guidelines and Recommendations [American College of Physicians] 
• Institute for Clinical Systems Improvement (ICSI)  Guidelines
• New Zealand Guidelines Group  Publications

Selected Guidelines for Chiropractors

• Association of Chiropractic Colleges.  Informed consent guideline. Bethesda, MD ACC, [undated]
• Bussières AE, Stewart G, Al-Zoubi F, Decina P, Descarreaux M, Hayden J, Hendrickson B, Hincapié C, Pagé I, Passmore S, Srbely J, Stupar M, Weisberg J, Ornelas J. The treatment of neck pain–associated disorders and whiplash-associated disorders: A clinical practice guideline. J Manipulative Physiol Ther. 2016 Oct;39(8):523-564;e27. PubMed Record  ICL Record
• Bussières AE, Stewart G, Al-Zoubi F, Decina P, Descarreaux M, Haskett D, Hincapié C, Pagé I, Passmore S, Srbely J, Stupar M, Weisberg J, Ornelas J. Spinal manipulative therapy and other conservative treatments for low back pain: A guideline from the Canadian Chiropractic Guideline Initiative. J Manipulative Physiol Ther. 2018 May;41(4):265-293. PubMed Record  ICL Record
• Côté P, Wong JJ, Sutton D, Shearer HM, Mior S, Randhawa K, Ameis A, Carroll LJ, Nordin M, Yu H, Lindsay GM, Southerst D, Varatharajan S, Jacobs C, Stupar M, Taylor-Vaisey A, van der Velde G, Gross DP, Brison RJ, Paulden M, Ammendolia C, David Cassidy J, Loisel P, Marshall S, Bohay RN, Stapleton J, Lacerte M, Krahn M, Salhany R. Management of neck pain and associated disorders: A clinical practice guideline from the Ontario Protocol for Traffic Injury Management (OPTIMa) Collaboration. Eur Spine J. 2016;25(7):2000-22.  PubMed Record
• Qaseem A, Wilt TJ, McLean RM, Forciea MA; Clinical Guidelines Committee of the American College of Physicians. Noninvasive treatments for acute, subacute, and chronic low back pain: A clinical practice guideline from the American College of Physicians. Ann Intern Med. 2017 Apr 4;166(7):514-530. PubMed Record
• Wong JJ, Côté P, Shearer HM, Carroll LJ, Yu H, Varatharajan S, Southerst D, van der Velde G, Jacobs C, Taylor-Vaisey A. Clinical practice guidelines for the management of conditions related to traffic collisions: A systematic review by the OPTIMa Collaboration. Disabil Rehabil 2015;37(6):471-89. PubMed Record
• Wong JJ, Côté P, Sutton DA, Randhawa K, Yu H, Varatharajan S, Goldgrub R, Nordin M, Gross DP, Shearer HM, Carroll LJ, Stern PJ, Ameis A, Southerst D, Mior S, Stupar M, Varatharajan T, Taylor-Vaisey A. Clinical practice guidelines for the noninvasive management of low back pain: A systematic review by the Ontario Protocol for Traffic Injury Management (OPTIMa) Collaboration. Eur J Pain 2016 Oct 6. doi: 10.1002/ejp.931. PubMed Record
• World Health Organization. WHO guidelines on basic training and safety in chiropractic. Geneva: WHO, 2005.
• World Health Organization. WHO Guidelines 

Search for More Guidelines

• Guideline Central^© [Official Society Guidelines Tools. Join over 1.5 million healthcare professionals using our print and
  digital quick-reference tools to improve patient outcomes. We partner with over thirty-five medical societies and government agencies to provide quick-reference tools that physicians can rely on for credible guidance in the management of a medical condition.]
• Evidence search; Health and social care [National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) U.K.] 
• CPG Infobase: Clinical Practice Guidelines [Canadian Medical Association; CPG Infobase “includes approximately 1,200 CPGs developed or endorsed by authoritative medical or health organizations in Canada”] 
• International Guidelines Network  Library & Resources / International Guideline Library “contains more than 6,000 guidelines, evidence reports and related documents … which have mainly been developed or endorsed by organisational members of G-I-N”
• Guidelines and Measures [Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHQR); Note: The National Guideline Clearinghouse ceased operation in July, 2018.]
• Search the journal Implementation Science
• Search the Index to Chiropractic Literature for articles about practice guidelines

Guideline Evaluation

• Guyatt GH, Oxman AD, Vist GE, Kunz R, Falck-Ytter Y, Alonso-Coello P, Schünemann HJ; GRADE Working Group. GRADE: An emerging consensus on rating quality of evidence and strength of recommendations. BMJ. 2008 Apr 26;336(7650):924-6. PubMed Record
• AGREE: Advancing the science of practice guidelines [The Appraisal of Guidelines for Research and Evaluation (AGREE) Instrument evaluates the process of practice guideline development and the quality of reporting.] 
• Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN)
• A Reporting Tool for Practice Guidelines in Health Care: The RIGHT Statement [equator network entry];  http://www.right-statement.org/
• Reporting Items for Updated Clinical Guidelines: Checklist for the Reporting of Updated Guidelines (CheckUp); equator network entry
• Lunny CA, Salzwedel DM, Liu T, Ramasubbu C, Gerrish S, Puil L, Mintzes B, Wright JM. 2018. Protocol for the validation of four search strategies for retrieval of Clinical Practice Guidelines in MEDLINE, Embase and PubMed. PeerJ Preprints 2018; 6:e27149v1.

Selected reading (Open Access)

• Davis DA, Taylor-Vaisey A. Translating guidelines into practice. A systematic review of theoretic concepts, practical experience and research evidence in the adoption of clinical practice guidelines. CMAJ 1997 Aug 15;157(4):408-16. PubMed Record
• Ernstzen DV, Louw QA, Hillier SL. Clinical practice guidelines for the management of chronic musculoskeletal pain in primary healthcare: A systematic review. Implement Sci. 2017 Jan 5;12(1):1-13. PubMed Record   Conclusion & Abbreviations
• Gagliardi AR, Brouwers MC, Palda VA, Lemieux-Charles L, Grimshaw JM. An exploration of how guideline developer capacity and guideline actionability influence implementation and adoption: Study protocol. Implement Sci 2009 Jul 2;4(1):36. PubMed Record
• Hawk C, Schneider MJ, Vallone S, Hewitt EG. Best practices for chiropractic care of children: A consensus update. J Manipulative Physiol Ther. 2016 Mar-Apr;39(3):158-168. PubMed Record
• Lindsay GM, Mior SA, Côté P, Carroll LJ, Shearer HM. Patients’ experiences with vehicle collision to inform the development of clinical practice guidelines: A narrative inquiry. J Manipulative Physiol Ther. 2016 Mar-Apr;39(3):218-228. PubMed Record
• Nuckols TK, Lim YW, Wynn BO, Mattke S, MacLean CH, Harber P, Brook RH, Wallace P, Garland RH, Asch S. Rigorous development does not ensure that guidelines are acceptable to a panel of knowledgeable providers. J Gen Intern Med 2008 Jan;23(1):37-44. PubMed Record