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Orthopedics 208 — at a Glance
| Course: | Managing Chronic Pain · 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
Chronic pain — pain that outlasts the expected healing time by three to six months — is a different clinical entity from the acute complaint, and it needs a different playbook. Orthopedics 208 is that playbook: the red and yellow Flag system for spotting the patient at risk of delayed recovery, subjective and objective detection methods, outcome assessment tools, the Diagnosis-Based Clinical Decision Rule, Waddell non-organic signs, the brain changes that occur when acute pain becomes chronic, and the return-to-work and self-help strategies that complete the plan.
Dr. Steven Yeomans, author of The Clinical Application of Outcomes Assessment, builds the course as a decision sequence: screen with the Flags, quantify with validated questionnaires, choose the plan through the DBCDR, read Waddell signs for what they do and do not mean, and then address the central sensitization and cortical changes of chronic pain — including the evidence that manual therapy can modulate them, which is the chiropractor’s unique contribution to the chronic pain patient.
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 208.
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 208
Outline pain management strategies and treatment protocols for the chronic pain patient, including the Diagnosis-Based Clinical Decision Rule (DBCDR).
Discuss the brain changes associated with chronic pain and how manual therapy modulates neuroplastic cortical adaptations.
Review the Flag system for identifying red and yellow psychosocial barriers to recovery, including Waddell non-organic signs.
Diagram return-to-work strategies for chiropractic patients presenting with chronic pain conditions.
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, the Flag system, outcome assessment, the Diagnosis-Based Clinical Decision Rule, Waddell signs, the brain changes of chronic pain and the return-to-work plan.
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. Managing Chronic Pain pairs naturally with Orthopedics 223 on chronic inflammation and close relationships and Orthopedics 210 on the inflammatory properties of disc disease; the three together reach 6 hours and 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 208 — Frequently Asked Questions
What does Orthopedics 208 cover?
Orthopedics 208 covers chronic pain management for chiropractors: the definition of chronic pain, the red and yellow Flag system, subjective and objective detection methods, outcome assessment tools, the Diagnosis-Based Clinical Decision Rule, Waddell non-organic signs, management and self-help strategies, the brain changes when acute pain becomes chronic, modulating those changes with manual therapy, and return-to-work strategies. Also known as the chronic pain course, the yellow flags course, or the central sensitization course for chiropractors.
What are yellow flags in chronic pain?
Psychosocial factors — fear-avoidance beliefs, catastrophizing, low expectations of recovery, workplace dissatisfaction — that predict chronicity and poor outcomes even when the tissue findings are modest. Red flags signal serious pathology needing referral; yellow flags signal a patient who needs a different management approach from the outset. The course covers how to screen for both and what to do with the result.
Does chronic pain change the brain, and can chiropractic care help?
Yes on both counts, and the evidence is one of the most compelling parts of the course. Chronic pain is associated with measurable changes in cortical gray matter and pain-processing pathways; research reviewed by Dr. Yeomans suggests manual therapy can modulate those changes, which reinforces the value of chiropractic intervention alongside education, activity and self-management.
How is this different from Orthopedics 223, Chronic Inflammation and Close Relationships?
Orthopedics 208 is the clinical management course — screening, assessment tools, decision rules and the neuroscience of chronic pain. Orthopedics 223 looks at the biology underneath from a whole-person angle: how social support, relationships and emotional stress influence inflammatory pathways. Many clinicians take both, because the chronic pain patient is usually both.
How many CE hours is it, and where does it sit in the Orthopedics series?
It is 2 PACE-approved CE hours. Orthopedics 208 sits in the spine, stability and red-flags lane of the Orthopedics series with Dr. Steven Yeomans, alongside Orthopedics 205 (Cervical Spine Instability), 210 (Inflammatory Properties of Contained and Non-Contained Disc Disease), 223 (Chronic Inflammation and Close Relationships) and 226 (Gait & the Lumbar Spine).
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 208?
The patient who is still hurting at six months needs a plan built for chronic pain, not a longer version of the acute one. Two hours here give you the Flags, the assessment tools, the decision rule and the neuroscience to build it.
CCEDseminars · PACE Provider #34015544 · Reviewed by Monte Horne, DC · Last updated September 2026 (CT)