Login
Home › Online Course Categories › Orthopedics › Cervical Spine Instability: The How-To
Orthopedics 205 — at a Glance
| Course: | Cervical Spine Instability: The How-To · 2 PACE-approved CE hours |
| Faculty: | Steven Yeomans, DC, FACO · Orthopedics Faculty, CCEDseminars |
| Format: | On-demand online video with assessment · downloadable handouts · 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
Cervical spine instability is one of the most consequential findings a chiropractor can make and one of the most frequently mishandled — measured loosely, rated inconsistently, or left out of the report altogether. Orthopedics 205 is the how-to: the anatomy and biomechanics that define instability, translation and angulation measured on lateral flexion-extension radiographs, the AMA Guides methods for rating it in the 4th and 6th Editions, the 2020 study that updated the benchmarks, and a case study that carries the finding into a defensible impairment report.
Dr. Steven Yeomans, a board-certified chiropractic orthopedist with more than three decades of teaching, walks the measurement step by step — where to draw the lines, what the thresholds are, and how the 4th and 6th Edition methods differ and which applies in workers’ compensation, personal injury and independent medical examinations. The 2020 cervical instability research is set against the legacy AMA methods, and the closing case of a 21-year-old male shows how clinical findings, radiographic data and documentation combine into a rating that holds up.
Choose Your Orthopedics Path — Three Lanes, One Curriculum
The Orthopedics library — twenty-six courses by five CCEDseminars faculty: John Riggs III, MBA, DC, DIANM; Steven Yeomans, DC, FACO; Michael Hall, DC, FIACN; Dennis O’Hara, DC, DACBSP; and Howard Benedikt, DC, DCBCN — organizes into three working lanes: trace the nerve, evaluate the joint, and catch the presentations that change management. Orthopedics 201–224 together form the 48-hour Clinical Chiropractic Orthopedics Certification (CCO). Two hours each.
1 · Gut, Microbiome, Digestion and Detoxification
Dr. Riggs’ designed three-course sequence — the entrapment map from the shoulder girdle to the tarsal tunnel: median, ulnar and radial nerve entrapments of the upper limb, the thoracic outlet and scapular syndromes, piriformis, meralgia paresthetica, peroneal and tarsal tunnel — plus the athlete’s stinger.
201: Upper Extremity Entrapment Syndromes
202: Trunk & Upper Extremity Entrapment Syndromes
203: Nerve Entrapments of the Pelvis and Lower Extremities
221: Burner Syndrome
2 · Brain, Mood, Stress and the Nervous System
Regional evaluation and management down the kinetic chain — the joints your schedule is made of: the rotator cuff and the frozen shoulder, the neck-and-shoulder file, the hip, plica syndrome at the knee, the foot and ankle, Achilles tendinitis, the chronically unstable ankle, and the stress fracture that hides as focal pain.
204: Rotator Cuff Syndrome
206: Frozen Shoulder Evaluation
212: The Neck & Shoulder
215: Orthopedic Conditions of the Foot and Ankle
216: Plica Syndrome
217: Achilles Tendinitis
218: The Floppy Ankle
219: The Hip
225: Stress Fractures
3 · Musculoskeletal, Immune, Hormonal and Clinical Conditions
Stability testing, functional assessment and the presentations that demand recognition — cervical instability and position sense, cauda equina, dropped head syndrome, cervicovagopathy, gait and the lumbar spine, the Romberg sign and flexibility benchmarks — plus the chronic pain, inflammation and breathing science underneath. You are here: Orthopedics 205.
205: Cervical Spine Instability: The How-To
207: Finger to Floor & Sit-n-Reach
208: Managing Chronic Pain
209: The Romberg Sign
210: Inflammatory Properties of Contained and Non-Contained Disc Disease
211: Cervical Position Sense Testing
213: Coronal Plane Movement & Neuroplasticity
214: Cauda Equina & Lumbar Radiculopathy
220: Cervicovagopathy
222: Dropped Head Syndrome
223: Chronic Inflammation and Close Relationships
224: Breathe — Mouth Breathing and Health
226: Gait & the Lumbar Spine
Every course in the series is 2 PACE-approved CE hours at $40, and the automatic bundle discounts apply across the whole lane. The full 26-course catalog continues on the Orthopedics category page.
What You’ll Learn in Orthopedics 205
Define cervical spine instability and identify the radiographic criteria for its diagnosis.
Apply AMA Guides methodology for rating cervical spine instability in impairment evaluations.
Compare the findings of the 2020 cervical instability study with legacy AMA Guides methods.
Apply clinical and medico-legal documentation principles through a real-world case study.
Your Orthopedics Faculty
Steven Yeomans, DC, FACO — instructor of this course. Fellow of the Academy of Chiropractic Orthopedists and a board-certified chiropractic orthopedist since 1985, author of The Clinical Application of Outcomes Assessment, with teaching experience at seven chiropractic colleges. He teaches the rotator cuff, cervical spine instability and chronic pain courses in the CCEDseminars Orthopedics library — here, how to measure translation and angulation on flexion-extension films, rate instability under the AMA Guides, and defend the finding in a medico-legal report.
Full bio and the complete instructor roster: CCEDseminars faculty page.
Where Orthopedics CE Hours Count — State Rules Worth Knowing
Orthopedics coursework is clinical subject matter — examination, diagnosis and case management — which is exactly what several state boards ask for. In Iowa, these hours serve the 36-hour clinical case-management minimum; in Rhode Island, they address the 50-of-60 clinical requirement; and in Vermont — where practice-building coursework earns nothing — 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 Orthopedics Block — or Take the Credential
Every course in the Orthopedics series runs 2 hours at $40, so the automatic discounts do the bundling for you: 6–9 hours in one order earns 10% off, and 10 or more earns 20% off — any ten courses from the series is 20 hours, which clears the 20% tier at roughly $320 instead of $400, with no promo codes. Cervical Spine Instability pairs naturally with Orthopedics 211 on cervical position sense testing and Orthopedics 222 on dropped head syndrome and cervical myelopathy; the three together make a 6-hour cervical block and reach the 10% tier. Pursuing the credential? The Clinical Chiropractic Orthopedics Certification (CCO) packages Orthopedics 201–224 — 48 hours — in a single $960 checkout. Browse Orthopedics Courses
Orthopedics 205 — Frequently Asked Questions
What does Orthopedics 205 cover?
Orthopedics 205 covers cervical spine instability for chiropractors: the anatomy, biomechanics and clinical definitions of instability, radiographic assessment of translation and angulation on flexion-extension films, AMA Guides methods for rating instability with a 4th versus 6th Edition comparison, the 2020 research study that updated the evidence, and a medico-legal case study. Also known as the cervical instability course, the flexion-extension radiograph course, or the AMA Guides cervical rating course.
How is cervical instability measured on X-ray?
On lateral flexion and extension views, by measuring sagittal translation of one vertebral body on the next and the angular motion between adjacent segments against published thresholds. Dr. Yeomans shows the line construction, the measurement, the thresholds in the AMA Guides and the 2020 study, and the common errors that make a measurement indefensible.
Is neck instability something a chiropractor can diagnose and rate?
Yes, when it is measured and documented correctly, and that is what the course teaches. The AMA Guides provide the rating methodology used in workers’ compensation, personal injury and independent medical examinations; the course compares the 4th and 6th Edition approaches and shows how to write the finding into a report that a reviewer, an attorney or a board can follow.
How is this different from Orthopedics 211, Cervical Position Sense Testing?
Orthopedics 205 is structural — segmental instability measured on radiographs and rated for impairment. Orthopedics 211 is functional — proprioceptive accuracy of the cervical spine measured by repositioning error and managed with sensorimotor rehabilitation. Together they cover the two questions the unstable-feeling neck raises: is the segment moving too much, and can the patient sense where it is?
How many CE hours is it, and where does it sit in the Orthopedics series?
It is 2 PACE-approved CE hours. Orthopedics 205 sits in the spine, stability and red-flags lane of the Orthopedics series with Dr. Steven Yeomans, alongside Orthopedics 211 (Cervical Position Sense Testing), 214 (Cauda Equina & Lumbar Radiculopathy), 222 (Dropped Head Syndrome) and 208 (Managing Chronic Pain).
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 Orthopedics 205?
An instability finding is only as good as the measurement and the report behind it. Two hours here give you the radiographic method, the AMA Guides rating and the documentation to make it defensible.
CCEDseminars · PACE Provider #34015544 · Reviewed by Monte Horne, DC · Last updated September 2026 (CT)