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Home › Online Course Categories › Case Studies & Clinical Pearls › 204: Thorax Conditions & Clinical Pearls
Case Studies & Clinical Pearls 204 — at a Glance
| Course: | Thorax Conditions & Clinical Pearls · 2 CE hours · $40 |
| Faculty: | Monte Horne, DC · founder of CCEDseminars · 39+ years in practice · former Designated Doctor, Texas Department of Insurance |
| Format: | On-demand online video with handouts and assessment · instant certificate |
| Pricing: | $20/hr · automatic 10% off at 6–9 hrs, 20% off at 10+ hrs in one order · no promo codes |
| Approval: | PACE Provider #34015544 · co-sponsored by Texas Chiropractic College · acceptance varies by state |
Board-approved · PACE Provider #34015544 · CE Broker auto-reporting for states served · Instant certificate
Case Studies & Clinical Pearls 204 — Thorax Conditions & Clinical Pearls — is a chiropractic course that bridges the gap between academic theory and Monday-morning practice, mastering advanced clinical reasoning for complex thoracic spine and rib conditions through real-world scenarios drawn from 39 years of clinical experience. Dr. Monte Horne takes the doctor through the Clinical Audit Process for the mid-back — thoracic mobility and rib excursion tests as objective proof of progress and documentation of medical necessity — into “The Great Mimics,” the high-speed diagnostic sequences that separate costotransverse joint dysfunction from cardiac and gallbladder referral, and the postural syndromes that reveal Upper Crossed Syndrome and its effect on cervical and shoulder kinetic-chain function, with trench-tested protocols for rib subluxations and thoracic disc pathologies refined across thousands of patient encounters.
The thorax is the region where a chiropractic office is most likely to meet a problem that is not chiropractic at all: the rib that is a gallbladder, the mid-back ache that is a heart. This 2-hour online course — written by CCEDseminars' founder, a former Designated Doctor for the Texas Department of Insurance and a working expert witness and peer reviewer, and delivered with handouts — is the fourth region of the first-pass series, and it teaches the sixty-second separation of mechanical thoracic pain from systemic and visceral conditions before the adjustment, not after. Every completion generates an instant certificate for your renewal file.
Choose Your Case Study Path — Three Lanes, One Curriculum
The catalog is organized as a curriculum, not a pile of hours — two complete head-to-foot regional series, then specialist case files on the conditions that fill a schedule. Work the regions in order, deepen with the second pass, or pull the file that matches this week's patient; the full catalog lives on the Case Studies & Clinical Pearls category page.
1 · The Regional Series — First Pass (201–206)
A complete head-to-foot tour of case-based diagnosis — the foundation lane. You are here: Case Studies & Clinical Pearls 204.
201: Headache Diagnosis & Clinical Pearls
202: The Cervical Spine
203: Upper Extremities
204: Thorax Conditions & Clinical Pearls
205: Lumbar Spine Diagnosis
206: Lower Extremity Conditions & Clinical Pearls
2 · The Regional Series — Second Pass (207–212)
The same regions revisited with new cases and deeper differentials — the lane that turns pattern recognition into judgment.
207: The Head II
208: The Cervical Spine II
209-A / 209-B: The Upper Extremities II, Parts I & II
210-A / 210-B: The Thorax II, Parts I & II
211: Lumbar Spine Conditions II
212: Lower Extremity Conditions II
3 · Specialist Case Files (213–221)
Board-credentialed faculty open their own files — condition-specific cases from orthopedic, sports, extremity, and nutrition practice.
213: Headache Management & Diagnosis
214: From Anatomy to Diagnoses
215: Case Studies Related to the TMJ
216: Disc Herniation
217: Spondylolisthesis Treatment
218: Carpal Tunnel Syndrome Treatment
219: TMD
220: Soft Tissue Injuries
221: Headache Management & Treatment
New case study courses are added to these lanes as faculty release them.
What You'll Learn in Case Studies & Clinical Pearls 204
• Execute the Clinical Audit Process (CAP) for the mid-back: use thoracic mobility and rib excursion tests to provide objective proof of progress and document medical necessity.
• Identify “The Great Mimics”: differentiate between costotransverse joint dysfunction and visceral referral patterns (cardiac/gallbladder) using high-speed diagnostic sequences.
• Analyze Postural Syndromes: isolate the clinical markers of Upper Crossed Syndrome and its impact on cervical and shoulder kinetic chain function.
• Implement trench-tested protocols for rib subluxations and thoracic disc pathologies refined across thousands of patient encounters.
Your Case Study Faculty
Monte Horne, DC — instructor of this course and author of the fourteen-course regional core (201–212), both head-to-foot passes — is the founder of CCEDseminars and postgraduate faculty at Texas Chiropractic College: a 1985 graduate of Southern California University of Health Sciences with three years of postdoctoral training in chiropractic orthopedics, a peer-reviewed author in the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics, more than 39 years in practice, a former Designated Doctor for the Texas Department of Insurance, and a working expert witness and peer reviewer. The cases teach decision-making the way case review demands it: reasoning a second reader can follow.
Steven Yeomans, DC, FACO brings orthopedic board credentials to the three highest-stakes structural files — disc herniation, spondylolisthesis, and carpal tunnel syndrome (216–218) — the same conditions at the center of his documentation and personal injury teaching.
Heather Wright, DC, CCEP teaches headache management and diagnosis, the anatomy-to-diagnosis bridge, and TMJ case studies (213–215) with an extremity-certified chiropractor's structural precision, and Howard Benedikt, DC, DCBCN — board-certified in clinical nutrition — works the TMD and headache management files (219, 221) where structure, physiology, and nutrition intersect. Dennis O'Hara, DC, DACBSP opens the soft tissue injury file (220) with a sports diplomate's tissue-healing timeline.
Full bios and the complete instructor roster: CCEDseminars faculty page.
Where Case Study Hours Count — State Rules Worth Knowing
Case study coursework is clinical subject matter in its purest form — assessment, diagnosis, and case management — which is exactly what several state boards ask for. In Iowa, these hours feed the 36-hour clinical case-management minimum (this category is case management by name and by content); in Rhode Island, they serve the 50-of-60 clinical requirement; and in Vermont — where practice-building coursework earns no credit at all — patient-care education like this counts fully under the clinical-focus rule.
Online-format allowances still vary by state — some accept every hour online, others cap distance learning or require in-person blocks. Check your state's guide in the full state directory before building your renewal plan.
Build Your Case Study Block
Most courses in the series run 2 hours at $40; the four Series II split-courses (209-A/B, 210-A/B) run 1 hour at $20 each, so the automatic discounts stack naturally: 6–9 hours in one order earns 10% off, and 10 or more earns 20% off — the full first-pass regional series (201–206, 12 hours) lands at roughly $192 instead of $240, and all 42 hours at roughly $672 instead of $840, with no promo codes. The natural pairing for this course is its lane partner, 205 Lumbar Spine Diagnosis — the next region in the first pass — plus 203 Upper Extremities for the shoulder end of the Upper Crossed kinetic chain, 210-A / 210-B The Thorax II for the second-pass cases, and 216 Disc Herniation, the specialist file behind the thoracic disc protocols. Browse Case Studies & Clinical Pearls Courses
Case Studies & Clinical Pearls 204 — Frequently Asked Questions
What does Case Studies & Clinical Pearls 204 cover?
The thorax case by case: the Clinical Audit Process for the mid-back, using thoracic mobility and rib excursion tests as a pre- and post-adjustment documentation tool that provides objective proof of progress and medical necessity; “The Great Mimics” — the high-speed diagnostic sequences that differentiate costotransverse joint dysfunction from cardiac and gallbladder referral patterns; the postural syndromes, isolating the clinical markers of Upper Crossed Syndrome and its impact on cervical and shoulder kinetic-chain function; and trench-tested protocols for rib subluxations and thoracic disc pathologies, with the documentation pearls that establish medical necessity in thoracic cases. Also known as thoracic spine differential diagnosis CE, rib pain versus visceral referral course, costotransverse dysfunction for chiropractors, Upper Crossed Syndrome course, and thoracic clinical pearls.
How many CE hours is Case Studies & Clinical Pearls 204, and what is the format?
2 CE hours, fully online and self-paced — a recorded online presentation with handouts, available 24/7 to pause and resume at any time, followed by an assessment. Your certificate is available in your account immediately upon successful completion, and you have up to one year from the date of purchase to complete the course.
How do I tell a rib or costotransverse problem from a heart or gallbladder referral?
That is what the course calls the Great Mimics, and it gives each one a high-speed sequence — the mechanical findings that a costotransverse joint reproduces on demand against the visceral pattern that does not care what the rib is doing: pain that ignores breathing and position, that arrives with exertion or a meal, that carries systemic company. The point is to make the separation in under a minute, before the adjustment rather than after, and to know when the right next step is a referral, not a treatment plan.
Is this course accepted for my state's chiropractic license renewal?
Case Studies & Clinical Pearls 204 is a PACE Provider #34015544 program co-sponsored by Texas Chiropractic College and is accepted in most U.S. states plus the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, seven Canadian provinces, and more than 50 international jurisdictions. The complete approval list appears at the bottom of this page, and your state's online-hour rules are summarized in its CE guidelines page.
How do discounts and certificates work?
Courses are $20 per credit hour, and discounts apply automatically in a single order — 10% off at 6–9 hours, 20% off at 10 or more. No promo codes. Each completion generates an instant certificate with a permanent copy in your account dashboard, and CE Broker reporting is handled automatically for states served.
State Approval and Licensing Reminder
Continuing education requirements — including online-hour caps and clinical-hour minimums — vary by jurisdiction. Review the online chiropractic CE guidelines page and contact CCEDseminars with questions about your specific licensing requirements before registering.
Ready to Enroll in Case Studies & Clinical Pearls 204?
2 CE hours · $40 · online & self-paced · instant certificate. Add it to your cart, or pair it with 205 to continue the first-pass regional series.
CCEDseminars · PACE Provider #34015544 · Reviewed by Monte Horne, DC · Last updated September 1, 2026 (CT)