Taking Osteopathy in Hand
An advert for a local osteopath appeared in my local free paper.
You know what’s coming next…
I’ve just sent the following complaint to the Advertising Standards Authority:
The advert makes claims about the following medical conditions:
Aches and pains
Lower back pain
Sciatica and slipped disc
Frozen shoulder & RSI
Arthritis & joint stiffness
Headaches & migraines
Whiplash & neck pain
Stress
Occupational injuries.I challenge whether:
1. osteopathy treatment is effective for any of these conditions;
2. the ad breaches the Code because it could discourage readers from seeking treatment of serious medical conditions, such as whiplash, by medically qualified practitioners.
It doesn’t need any more than that.
I’ll keep you updated and I’ll be blogging on the General Osteopathic Council‘s Code of Practice sometime soon.
Update: 26 July 2009
Enter the name of the clinic into Google and this blog post is already the first hit. Second hit is the clinic’s own website, Head 2 Toe UK.
126 Responses to “Taking Osteopathy in Hand”
What you call ‘evidence’ is corporate bollocks. Either you know the whole peer review medical bandwagon is totally bent or you are part of it or you are totally naive. The main theme of this blog is ‘experts’ know best, it’s a pity the experts you quote are living in the dark ages and are paid to keep it that way. If you build a premise on sand Zeno there is no point discussing the building.
The good news is you have no public support. So why do you think the septic uk tank bit the dust?
I too could post a list of ‘claims for treatment’ from my local NHS trust and we find an interesting conundrum. How do they explain painkiller management as a treatment for arthritis when it is only suppressing the pain? It is not treating the arthritis. We could probably list every chronic illness and come to the same conclusion. The septic uk tank used to constantly think they had scored a point by saying treatment equated with cure and therefore CAM is weaselling.
Medicine doesn’t cure anything, it buys time. If I went to a mechanic with a noisy car engine and he gave me earplugs I would not be impressed, when it eventually blew up being told it was genetic wouldn’t impress me either.
Why are you obsessed with only applying your critique to CAM therapies, yes there is some bonkers CAM but most ordinary citizens can spot that the jalapeño pepper enema/LSD cure for cancer is probably bollocks. There is also a lot of far more dangerous ‘orthodox medicine’ that warrants more than just supporting as mainstream.
A real scientist would properly engage with looking at hypothesis of approach, theories of application – the pathway of logic that has led to the approach. A PR scientist just sides with his peer group, nah nahs anything that challenges what he/she was taught. If you actually read the meta-reviews that Ernst cobbled together it only reveals that the studies he chose were done by people who had no understanding of the subject under analysis and nor does he.
Remember the church used to burn people for believing in the vacuum, it wasn’t in the book so it didn’t exist. It is very parallel to your thinking process, a kind of churchytruthy science, only ‘respected people’ can speak sense.
Medical science is the only branch of science that is not scientific, if you were in any way scientifically orientated you would see that. Telling us that you are only interested in highlighting claims to the ASA is just not good enough, what kind of weirdo gets off on telling tails on people but shows no interest in discussing what the problem is?
‘Fraid I’ve only had a quick skim and I still don’t see an answer to my original question so thanks for the confirmation.
I heard the UK skeptics forum had been closed because one person – its owner – decided he didn’t want to keep it going. All the regular posters there are now posting at another place. I’m sure it won’t take you long to find it.
Zeno is at the QED conference by the way.
Oops, sorry – I shouldn’t have posted that last bit of info. I hope your crazed online stalker of the multiple user names doesn’t turn into your real life assassin, Zeno, but at least the evidence posted here speaks for itself.
Jrm, in your dreams/fantasy, I don’t have any interest in stalking anyone, only a paranoid medical fantasist could dream that up.
The real debates that are not taking place are ‘has the orthodox medical system got the right approach in the way it sees health and disease’ etc. Are the orthodox experts fit for purpose and actually experts at all?
I have no interest in finding those boring people and then wasting hours of time talking with dolts. They all speak from the same hymn sheet and refuse to discuss anything outside their very narrow comfort zone, which has more holes than alpine cheese.
Just looked at the QED conference line up, what a boring gig that looks like.
“Speaking about ‘policy-based evidence’, Wendy will to show the danger of letting ideology lead the research.” So what exactly is the difference between ‘policy led’ and ‘biblical’ or ‘corporate’ led then Jrm?
“It’s essentially a bit like Blue Peter, but with more swearing.” !!!!!!!!!!
“The 10:23 Campaign seeks to raise public awareness about homoeopathy, what it is, what it’s not, how we know it doesn’t work and why you should care.” If you put ‘swine flu’ instead of the H word it would make more sense.
Stunning line up then, not one rational discussion that attempts to look at whether or not the orthodox scientific view of things is either right or even going in the right direction. Bit like Noddy science meets Dame Cruela De Vile, I can’t think of anything more boring. I see you have Simple Simon talking about his self referential tricky book, don’t you accuse the alternative movement with this?
I would love to know how many people actually go to this.
Not answering questions is a feature of this blog jrm so I suppose you will just have to read between the lines.
Here we are Zeno, this is the kind of standard you are supporting, perhaps you could bring this up at the Quids conference you are going to?
Finnish medical journal Mediuutiset reported Friday that British drug maker GlaxoSmithKline was not liable to pay compensation for narcolepsy cases caused by the Pandemrix influenza vaccine. The National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL) confirmed that GlaxoSmithKline had been contractually relieved from liability. Mediuutiset added that other countries had signed similar agreements with vaccine makers.
Our respective governments have given the vaccine manufacturers freedom from any liability / damage that their products may cause, thus serving the best interests of the pharmaceutical industry rather than their own electorate. Before you put that needle into your body or that of your child in the future, it is best to remember that if you lose this deadly vaccine Russian roulette as so many have done before you, you’re entirely on your own with the consequences.
Helsinki Times, Finland
How’s that for a boring piece of evidence then, I suppose it conflicts with your religious belief that vaccination is all good, does no harm……………………….
Hey just checked out the now defunct septics uk forum on the quackometer and guess what it scores I cunard!
Here’s something else for your conference Zeno, guess what patients who have GP’s trained in alternatives have lower costs and health insurers have spotted it!
A small fraction of general practitioners (GPs) in the Netherlands has completed additional training in complementary medicine after obtaining their conventional medical degree. Using a data set from a health insurer, this paper documents that patients whose GP has additional training in anthroposophic medicine, homoeopathy, or acupuncture have substantially lower health care costs and lower mortality rates.
The lower costs result from fewer hospital stays and fewer prescription drugs. Since the differences remain once we control for neighbourhood specific fixed effects at a highly detailed level, the lower costs and longer lives are unlikely to be related to differences in socio-economic status. Possible explanations are selection (e.g. people with a low taste for medical interventions might be more likely to choose CAM) and better practices (e.g. less over treatment, more focus on preventive and curative health promotion) by GPs with knowledge of complementary medicine.
Peter Kooreman & Erik Baars, Tilburg University
I heard a rumour that this site was dead too! Is it true that the funding’s run out for all this septic nonsense, please do let us know, it’s so exciting.
Has the pussyseptic got the clap?
Obviously not. But I’ll leave your comment there for all to see.
Oh it’s your site that’s dead, sorry Alan somehow you both got mixed up, thanks for filling us all in.
When’s the next exciting installment from the man from uncle, please do tell us all the free world depends on people like you.
Glad pussyseptic hasn’t got the clap, maybe that got mixed up too, maybe it was mousetrap or claptrap?
Have you got any replies in your mailbag or are they ignoring you too?
The alanstar said in a previous bloggy:
I’ll keep you updated and I’ll be blogging on the General Osteopathic Council‘s Code of Practice sometime soon.
Update: 26 July 2009
It will be the anniversary of this stunning action Alan, are you planning a party?
What on earth are you talking about? On second thoughts, don’t bother.
Well you started it Alan! I suppose most people not suffering from delusions of importance and other kinds of religious reverence would take no posting on a blog or lack of definitive action as real evidence that the site has ceased to be?
What religion will you be filling in on the census Alan, medical science, EBM, must be hard to choose. Maybe Dwarkinian or priest of the latter day Ernst?
One good reason to avoid that ‘proper doctor’ offer of a ‘heatlh check’ then Allan?
Bias for Interventional Procedures
Now we turn to a more tacit institutional and specialty bias that exists in the US medical system in favor of interventional procedure-oriented medicine and against primary prevention. Let us consider the radiology department.
As early as 1970, John Gofman, MD, PhD, expressed concern in The Lancet that the amount of radiation capable of doubling the risk of breast cancer is very low.41 In 2002, the Life Extension Foundation warned of the dangers of computed tomography (CT) and electron-beam radiation, noting that “a chest CT is equivalent to 400 chest x-rays, or 3.6 years of background radiation.” In 2007, Fred Mettler, MD, reported at the annual meeting of the National Council on Radiation Protection and Measurements that patients’ radiation exposure had increased more than 750% in the previous 25 years.
The use of CT scanning in the United States increased at least 10% per year during that 25-year period, climbing from 3 million scans in 1980 to 60 million scans in 2005.
Dr Mettler was quoted as saying, “I don’t think radiologists have a clue about how much this has grown.”
Ooooh look, nothings happening Alan, way to go
@itsallok
“The International Medical Council on Vaccination has released a groundbreaking report signed by over 80 doctors, surgeons, clinicians and researchers who all refute the mythology and propaganda of the vaccine industry.
http://www.naturalnews.com/031173_vaccines_science.html”
Interesting, thanks for the link. The fact that they only managed to get 83 signatories is reassuring. Most, if not all, of the signatories are American, which means that it was signed by 0.006% of physicians, about .0004% of PhD’s and .00017% of nurses in the USA.
I bet the vaccine makers are quaking in their boots.
http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/?p=10725
Zeno: can you tell me how many complaints you have made to the GOC regarding improper advertising? While you’re at it, can you tell me how nay other regulatory CAM bodies you have complained to regarding improper advertising or indeed any other impropriety?
apolgies, that should have read ‘..how many…’
Emmm…no.
Emmm…..would 0 complaints to the GOC be accurate?
Let’s stop pussyfooting around, Will.
Zeno, I’m afraid your complaint to the ASA about just one osteopath isn’t fooling the chiros. It’s obvious you hate the chiros and love the osteos. Therefore you are, according the definition of the word invented by chiros expressly for the purpose, a bigot.
I have to wonder how you can live with yourself.
Skepticat: most helpful, thank you.
Blimey Alan, no ones posting except me, how exciting. How’s it going over at the Nightypants colloberation, must be so exciting planning the next mission failure!
Does Ernsty have any plans to continue writing in the Daily Mail?
Eh Skepticat what about Poland then that refused to accept the swine flu vaccine, that’s quite a lot of doctors saying boo to bullshit.
http://www.dddmag.com/news-Poland-Refuses-Swine-Flu-Vaccine-11910.asp
Just think if we sort the libel laws, I and others won’t just have to think you are an asshole, we could actually say it!