Identifying sports chiropractic global research priorities: an international Delphi study of sports chiropractors

Objectives Developing a research agenda is one method to facilitate broad research planning and prioritise research within a discipline. Despite profession-specific agendas, none have specifically addressed the research needs of the specialty of sports chiropractic. This study determined consensus on research priorities to inform a global sports chiropractic research agenda. Methods A Delphi consensus methodology was used to integrate expert opinions. Clinicians, academics and leaders from the international sports chiropractic specialty were recruited using purposive sampling to participate in (1) a Delphi panel involving three voting rounds to determine consensus on research priorities and (2) a priority importance ranking of the items that reached consensus. Results We identified and contacted 141 participants, with response rates for rounds 1, 2 and 3, of 44%, 31% and 34%, respectively. From the original 149 research priorities, 66 reached consensus in round 1, 63 in round 2 and 45 items in round 3. Research priorities reaching consensus were collapsed by removing redundancies, and priority ranking identified 20 research priorities, 11 related to collaboration and 6 to research themes. Conclusions The top-ranked items for research priorities, research themes and collaborations included the effects of interventions on performance, recovery and return to play; clinical research in sport; and collaborations with researchers in chiropractic educational institutions, respectively. Implications The prioritisation of research items can be evaluated by key stakeholders (including athletes) and implemented to develop the first international research agenda for sports chiropractic.