Research & Development

Committed to a culture of innovation

At its core, innovation is about developing ideas and solutions that address immediate and future needs for improvement. CMCC recognizes that innovation plays a very important role in advancing the chiropractic profession, and that research is an important part of the innovation process. Researchers, educational faculty, and clinical practitioners across CMCC work together to develop and evaluate new resources that will standardize clinician training, and treatment for patients.

Force Sensing Table Technology (FSTT®) System

CMCC is a leader in the development of technologies aimed at standardizing learning and assessment of manual therapy skills. The FSTT® system, developed by researchers at CMCC, embeds a force sensing platform into a chiropractic treatment table to provide users with immediate feedback regarding their performance of manual therapy. Delayed video feedback can also be incorporated to the FSTT® system. Our research, supported by the Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario (HEQCO), has demonstrated that students are able to improve their skills in manual therapy with less than an hour of practice using the FSTT™.

Human Analogue Mannequin (HAM™)

Faculty at CMCC developed the HAM™ to accompany the FSTT® system. The HAM™ has been designed with materials that simulate soft tissue and structural compliance of the human spine for training and evaluation of manual therapy skills. A flexible neck also lends the HAM™ to being used for practicing neck procedures. Future generations of the HAM™ will have additional articulated joints, and will include implanted sensors to provide users with direct information about forces and movements experienced by the HAM™ during manual therapy. Obtaining analytical information directly from the HAM™ is something that cannot be directly measured from human patients.

Opportunities for entrepreneur and industry partnerships

Researchers at CMCC are interested in partnering with entrepreneurs and industry to conduct product evaluation, and assist in developing solutions to a problem. Please contact the Dean of Research and Innovation, or contact a researcher from our directory for more information.