Brent da Silva Russell

Brent da Silva Russell, M.S., D.C.
Chair, Institutional Review Board
Dr. Sid E. Williams Center for Chiropractic Research
Faculty

I am the leader of the Art of the Adjustment research team. Our work is meant to characterize the kinematic and kinetic characteristics – motions and forces – of chiropractic adjustments. The ideal achievement is to create a database of profiles of expert DCs, along with other defined groups (e.g., practitioners of a specific technique, or students, etc.) Projects undertaken by the AotA team provide documentation of regional and major-joint motion patterns of DCs while performing manually applied adjustments, the motions experienced by patients, the amount of force projected from the practitioner’s hands, and the speed at which it is delivered, and the vector in which it is directed.

 Some of my other work has been in support roles in other projects for students, other faculty members, or alumni – biomechanical topics relevant to chiropractors, mostly involving assessment of motion and force. Motion assessment projects have included students wearing backpacks, pianists playing the piano, and the examination of arm symmetry during normal walking.

 I am currently the chair of Life University’s research ethics committee (the Institutional Review Board); a member of the Research Advisory Council, evaluating proposals for internal funding; and one of the advisors for the Research Track, an alternative curriculum with scholarship support for chiropractic students who receive academic credit during their pursuit of research projects. I am also a member of the Georgia Chiropractic Association and the Chiropractic Educators Research Forum.