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Orthopedics 209 — at a Glance
| Course: | The Romberg Sign · 2 PACE-approved CE hours |
| Faculty: | Michael Hall, DC, FIACN · Neurology and 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
The Romberg sign has been a fixture of the neurological examination since Moritz Romberg described it in the nineteenth century, and most chiropractors still perform it exactly as they were taught. Orthopedics 209 asks whether they should: what the sign was designed to detect, what quantitative posturographic research now says about its ability to separate proprioceptive, vestibular and cerebellar imbalance, and the modified versions — the sharpened tandem-stance Romberg, the foam-pad vestibular Romberg and single-limb variants — that improve its diagnostic value.
Dr. Michael Hall traces the sign from tabes dorsalis and the dorsal column–medial lemniscus pathway through the traditional teaching that a fall with eyes closed means posterior-column disease, then puts that teaching against the evidence: modest discrimination between sensory neuropathy and healthy controls, elevated eyes-open sway that blunts the contrast, and the failure to separate vestibular from somatosensory ataxia under conventional administration. The course closes with the practical question — keep it, modify it, or replace it — and the clinical utility of each answer.
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 209.
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 209
Critique the performance and administration of the Romberg sign within a chiropractic neurological examination.
Evaluate the usefulness and limitations of the Romberg procedure based on current peer-reviewed research.
Distinguish the proprioceptive and vestibular contributions to balance and how the Romberg sign relates to each.
Apply evidence-based clinical reasoning to determine when the Romberg sign adds diagnostic value in practice.
Your Orthopedics Faculty
Michael Hall, DC, FIACN — instructor of this course. Board-certified chiropractic neurologist and Fellow of the International Academy of Chiropractic Neurology, founder of BrainDC.org, with more than 30 years of clinical and academic experience. He teaches 16 of the 26 courses in the CCEDseminars Orthopedics library and brings the ortho/neuro lens to joint and spine evaluation — here, a critical review of the Romberg sign — what it was built to detect, what the posturographic research says it actually discriminates, and the sharpened and foam-pad variants that improve it.
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. The Romberg Sign pairs naturally with Orthopedics 211 on cervical position sense testing and Orthopedics 207 on flexibility testing — three assessment courses that 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 209 — Frequently Asked Questions
What does Orthopedics 209 cover?
Orthopedics 209 covers the Romberg sign for chiropractors: its origin and traditional teaching, an applied critical review of what the peer-reviewed research shows about its diagnostic discrimination, the proprioceptive and vestibular contributions to balance, the sharpened and foam-pad Romberg variants and the vestibular Romberg quotient, and the clinical utility of the procedure in chiropractic practice. Also known as the Romberg test course, the balance testing course, or the proprioception versus vestibular ataxia course.
Is the Romberg test still worth doing?
Yes, with a clearer idea of what it can and cannot tell you. The classical test discriminates sensory neuropathy from healthy controls only modestly and does not reliably separate vestibular from somatosensory imbalance; the sharpened and foam-pad versions perform better. Dr. Hall lays out the evidence and a reasoned position on when the sign earns its place in the examination.
Why do I lose my balance when I close my eyes?
Balance draws on three inputs — vision, the vestibular system and proprioception from the joints and the posterior columns. Closing the eyes removes one; if proprioception or vestibular input is impaired, sway increases or the patient falls. The course explains which system a positive Romberg implicates, why that inference is less clean than the textbooks suggest, and how the foam-pad variant helps tell them apart.
How is this different from Orthopedics 211, Cervical Position Sense Testing?
Both are proprioception courses in the same lane. Orthopedics 209 is whole-body postural control tested with the Romberg sign and its variants. Orthopedics 211 is cervical proprioception tested by head repositioning accuracy and managed with sensorimotor rehabilitation. Together they cover the two sensory systems the chiropractic examination most often relies on.
How many CE hours is it, and where does it sit in the Orthopedics series?
It is 2 PACE-approved CE hours. Orthopedics 209 sits in the spine, stability and red-flags lane of the Orthopedics series with Dr. Michael Hall, alongside Orthopedics 207 (Finger to Floor & Sit-n-Reach), 211 (Cervical Position Sense Testing), 213 (Coronal Plane Movement & Neuroplasticity) 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 209?
You have performed the Romberg sign a thousand times. Two hours here tell you what the research says it measured, what it missed, and how to run the version that actually answers the question.
CCEDseminars · PACE Provider #34015544 · Reviewed by Monte Horne, DC · Last updated September 2026 (CT)