About the Authors

Bart N. Green

Contributed equally to this work with: Bart N. Green, Claire D. Johnson, Scott Haldeman, Erin Griffith, Michael B. Clay, Edward J. Kane, Juan M. Castellote, Shanmuganathan Rajasekaran

Roles Conceptualization, Funding acquisition, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Resources, Supervision, Validation, Visualization, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing

bgreen@stanfordhealthcare.org

Affiliations Qualcomm Health Center, Stanford Health Care, San Diego, California, United States of America, Publications Department, National University of Health Sciences, Lombard, Illinois, United States of America

Claire D. Johnson

Contributed equally to this work with: Bart N. Green, Claire D. Johnson, Scott Haldeman, Erin Griffith, Michael B. Clay, Edward J. Kane, Juan M. Castellote, Shanmuganathan Rajasekaran

Roles Conceptualization, Funding acquisition, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Resources, Supervision, Validation, Visualization, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Publications Department, National University of Health Sciences, Lombard, Illinois, United States of America

Scott Haldeman

Contributed equally to this work with: Bart N. Green, Claire D. Johnson, Scott Haldeman, Erin Griffith, Michael B. Clay, Edward J. Kane, Juan M. Castellote, Shanmuganathan Rajasekaran

Roles Conceptualization, Funding acquisition, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Resources, Supervision, Validation, Visualization, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing

Affiliations Department of Neurology, University of California, Irvine, California, United States of America, Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of California, Los Angeles, California, United States of America, World Spine Care, Santa Ana, California, United States of America

Erin Griffith

Contributed equally to this work with: Bart N. Green, Claire D. Johnson, Scott Haldeman, Erin Griffith, Michael B. Clay, Edward J. Kane, Juan M. Castellote, Shanmuganathan Rajasekaran

Roles Investigation, Validation, Visualization, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Emergency Medicine, Carlsbad, California, United States of America

Michael B. Clay

Contributed equally to this work with: Bart N. Green, Claire D. Johnson, Scott Haldeman, Erin Griffith, Michael B. Clay, Edward J. Kane, Juan M. Castellote, Shanmuganathan Rajasekaran

Roles Investigation, Validation, Visualization, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Rehabilitation Care Line, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Cincinnati Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio, United States of America

Edward J. Kane

Contributed equally to this work with: Bart N. Green, Claire D. Johnson, Scott Haldeman, Erin Griffith, Michael B. Clay, Edward J. Kane, Juan M. Castellote, Shanmuganathan Rajasekaran

Roles Investigation, Validation, Visualization, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation College of Rehabilitative Sciences, Doctor of Physical Therapy Program, University of St. Augustine for Health Sciences, San Marcos, California, United States of America

Juan M. Castellote

Contributed equally to this work with: Bart N. Green, Claire D. Johnson, Scott Haldeman, Erin Griffith, Michael B. Clay, Edward J. Kane, Juan M. Castellote, Shanmuganathan Rajasekaran

Roles Investigation, Resources, Validation, Visualization, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation National School of Occupational Medicine, Carlos III Institute of Health, Complutense University of Madrid, Madrid, Spain

Shanmuganathan Rajasekaran

Contributed equally to this work with: Bart N. Green, Claire D. Johnson, Scott Haldeman, Erin Griffith, Michael B. Clay, Edward J. Kane, Juan M. Castellote, Shanmuganathan Rajasekaran

Roles Investigation, Resources, Validation, Visualization, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Department of Orthopaedics, Ganga Hospital, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India

Matthew Smuck

Roles Validation, Writing – review & editing

‡ These authors also contributed equally to this work.

Affiliation Section of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation and Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Stanford University, Redwood City, California, United States of America

Eric L. Hurwitz

Roles Conceptualization, Writing – review & editing

‡ These authors also contributed equally to this work.

Affiliation Office of Public Health Studies, University of Hawai`i, Mānoa, Honolulu, Hawaii, United States of America

Kristi Randhawa

Roles Conceptualization, Investigation, Methodology, Resources, Writing – review & editing

‡ These authors also contributed equally to this work.

Affiliations UOIT-CMCC Centre for Disability Prevention and Rehabilitation, University of Ontario Institute of Technology, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Department of Undergraduate Education, Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Hainan Yu

Roles Investigation, Writing – review & editing

‡ These authors also contributed equally to this work.

Affiliation UOIT-CMCC Centre for Disability Prevention and Rehabilitation, University of Ontario Institute of Technology, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Margareta Nordin

Roles Conceptualization, Investigation, Methodology, Writing – review & editing

‡ These authors also contributed equally to this work.

Affiliations World Spine Care, Santa Ana, California, United States of America, Department of Orthopedic Surgery, New York University, New York, New York, United States of America, Department of Environmental Medicine, New York University, New York, New York, United States of America

Competing Interests

BNG receives speaker fees and travel reimbursement, NCMIC Speakers’ Bureau; book royalties, McGraw-Hill; is secretary and chief financial officer of Brighthall Inc and is a stockholder. CDJ is a member of the NCMIC Board of Directors, however she, nor this board, make funding decisions for the NCMIC Foundation; book royalties, McGraw-Hill; is president of Brighthall Inc and is a stockholder. Brighthall, Inc provided funding only for open access publishing fees for PLOS ONE and had no other financial participation in this study. BNG and CDJ received no compensation from Brighthall, Inc for participation in this study, as they were volunteers for the Globa l Spine Care Initiative. SH is president, World Spine Care; Clinical advisory board and stock holder, Palladian Health; advisory board, SpineHealth.com; book royalties, McGraw Hill; travel expense reimbursement, Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College Board. MS is board of directors, North American Spine Society; board of directors, Foundation for PM&R; board of directors, Spine Intervention Society; deputy editor, The Spine Journal; scientific advisor, NuSpine; consultant, State Farm. This does not alter the authors’ adherence to PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials. The following authors have no potential conflicts of interest to declare: EG, MBC, EJK, JMC, SR, ELH, KR, HY, MN.