Can UK-trained Osteopaths Cure Baldness?A certain amusing UK-trained osteopath was busted recently for falsely claiming to be a doctor (he protests: "I only use the title occasionally").
To deflect criticism, he charges that skeptics mock only obsolete osteopathic treatments. As usual, he's missed the point. The object is to demonstrate osteopaths' continuing inadequate criteria for evidence. Andrew Taylor Still, the founder of Osteopathy, claimed, for example, to absolutely cure yellow fever, malaria, diphtheria, rickets, piles, diabetes, dandruff, constipation and obesity, all through physical manipulation. He also claimed absolutely to be able to grow 3" of hair on a bald head in one week, also through physical osteopathic manipulation.
So, was Still lying, or was he delusional? Which is it? Probably both. Still was widely judged (even by his own family) of being mentally ill. Almost all the biographical data in Still's highly amusing autobiography has been found false or grossly exaggerated (this seems to be a common pattern among osteopaths...).
The point is, delusion and sloppy standards of evidence are regular characteristics of UK-pattern osteopathy even today. Take, for example, today's Cranial Osteopathy (or its close cousin craniosacral therapy, or several other variations). Practitioners, (such as our bogus "doctor") convince themselves they can place their fingers on a patient's skull and command brain fluids to change direction, this "facilitating" some vaguely positive change in the body. Cranial osteopaths claim TODAY to treat the following diseases with cranial osteopathic skull feel-ups:
allergy, arthritis, asthma, autism, birth trauma, bone disorders, bronchitis, cerebral palsy, colic, depression, digestive problems, dyslexia, hormonal imbalance, impotence, infertility, rheumatism, spinal curvature, stroke, cancer, and many other diseases.
(Incidentally, the Advertising Standards body of the UK recently told them to stop making these bogus claims).
So what do responsible (mostly USA-based) Osteopaths think of Cranial Osteopathy and its variants? Two professors at University of New England College of Osteopathic Medicine:
"Our own and previously published findings suggest that the proposed mechanism for cranial osteopathy is invalid and that interexaminer (and, therefore, diagnostic) reliability is approximately zero. Since no properly randomized, blinded, and placebo-controlled outcome studies have been published, we conclude that cranial osteopathy should be removed from curricula of colleges of osteopathic medicine and from osteopathic licensing examinations".
Osteopathy, as practiced in the UK (and unfortunately among too many USA-based osteopaths) remains deeply quacky and delusional. So, if as some osteopaths claim, A. T. Still was not a liar, do they believe osteopathic manipulation can cure baldness?
Posted by Nemisis of Weise Ente and Rhianna
Leave Lightning alone. You are jealous.
Posted by Mr E
i don't know. i suppose if you needed to grow something, you would first seek medical help. they are well known for their fertilizer.
Posted by Marc
Where is your question? This seems like you are trying to single out another user of YA. Don't you have something else to do with your time. I find it amusing as i peruse questions that the only questions that most of the "medical" people on here answer are solely interesting in the "quackery". They don't answer other questions in the health category. Why is this? If you want to help the public and educate them, start answering some health questions.Not just the ones where you can debate.
Its time to grow up and stop acting like this is a school playground where your power comes from how many people back you and say that you are right. The rhetoric and bashing is utterly disgusting. Arent there enough problems in the world? Is this issue so much that you have to spend time and energy just trying to prove how right you are and how wrong someone else is? Professionals should act professionally. Yes...you have the science. Yes...you have the proof. Just apply Occam's Razor to this argument and you will have your answer. Sometimes I wish I could just set up and alt acct to come here and just let loose and say some things that I just wouldnt say under this account. Not my style however.
Just ask yourself this question. If all of alt med unanimously said that you are right then what would you do? What would be the next group you would target to discredit? What would you win? Nothing...because people are still going to do what they want regardless of what anyone tells them. its human nature.
I just read a whole problem surfacing about a new epidemic called Morgellons Disease. The CDC and Kiaser Permanete in N. California are doing a large scale investigation to determine what is going on. Why don't you put some of your great scientific minds to work on this and help people who are suffering. Oh yea, its probably more fun to go on YA and bash alties.
Posted by Troll_nemesis
Ah Kalos...
I see you are still doing this nonsense of Humiliating yourself exposing a very personal vendetta against UK trained Osteopaths.
Whats your beef?
As for the Guy who was bald and recovered. This probably happened on 1 occasion. Alopecia totalis can resolve as it is an Auto-immune disorder. Did it grow 3'' in a week? No I don't think so. 3mm's maybe.
Did it happen to everyone who was bald? No of course not. Yes this was anecdotal indeed. Does that mean everything he said was anecdotal or a fabrication? Of course not!
There were lots of "cures" for all these diseases you mention that he treated.
The difference between Stills methodology and the medical profession at the time is you had a greater chance of survival because you weren't being administered poison such mercury Poultices.
Bear in mind A T Still was a practicing physician apprenticed under his father and one of the few of his era who actually attended medical school because he was able to read and write. Quite unlike about ½ the MD's of the time.
Now.....
Why do you have such a problem believing that optimising blood supply to tissues can restore health or maintain it?
Ever seen what happens to the lower extremities of an individual with right sided heart failure?
Yeah their legs look the picture of health aye!!
Met anyone with diabetes starting to get vascular insufficieny in the Lower extremities? What happens in this scenario fella? Come on you know so much about healthcare afterall.
In both of these situations I can do manual techniques which would help them if the condition isn't too far gone. What can you do? Tell them to see their doc? What will they do? Give them some more toxic substance for their Liver to metabolise while they are already health compromised?
####The point is, delusion and sloppy standards of evidence are regular characteristics of UK-pattern osteopathy even today.###
What like surgeons and Psychiatrist you mean? Practiced on the Anecdotal evidence of HIGHLY skilled practitioners.
## Take, for example, today's Cranial Osteopathy etc. ###
Where are you RCT's proving this doesn't happen? I mean RCT's not refences from the very discredited Quackwatch?
####allergy, arthritis, asthma,etc...###
We treat people not conditions. Most of these are not going to resolve with CST or cranial Osteopathy but you will be able to help most of the people with these conditions function more comfortable.
Incidentally I have treated colic and it has completely resolved it wouldn't have done 2 days later anyway, this poor fellow had it for 6 months). I regularly treat digestive disorders successfully. Just recently a lady I treated reported that her period was on time for the first time in 6 months.Prior to that it was irregular and made her feel very uncomfortable. Obviously something changed in her hormone levels after treatment. I treat all of these people with a combination of Structural, cranial and visceral techniques. These changes happen because we help the body adjust itself with its own self correcting mechanisms.
I would apologise for being able to help someone do this without drugs.......
.......But actually I don't think I should! So the drug companies make less money because of my intervention. I'm cool with that.
The article you have quoted from is by no means conclusive. It was written by authors with a very biased agenda.
Lots of other studies are around which say exactly the opposite of this.
### Osteopathy, as practiced in the UK (and unfortunately among too many USA-based osteopaths) remains deeply quacky and delusional. So, if as some osteopaths claim, A. T. Still was not a liar, do they believe osteopathic manipulation can cure baldness?###
I think he exaggerated his Claims. This was the early 1900's after all. Everybody did at that time.
WE"VE MOVED ON SINCE THEN:o)
NB. There are more cranial and visceral osteopath in the USA than anywhere else in the world.
Edit:
###An article found in the British Medical Journal: "Parachute use to prevent death and major trauma related to gravitational challenge: systematic review of randomised controlled trials."
In this paper researchers reviewed all of the RCTs in the world's scientific literature that documented the effectiveness of the use of parachutes. Unfortunately, they were not able to find even one RCT proving parachutes actually work!
Here are their conclusions: "As with many interventions intended to prevent ill health, the effectiveness of parachutes has not been subjected to rigorous evaluation by using randomized controlled trials. Advocates of evidence based medicine have criticised the adoption of interventions evaluated by using only observation data. We think that everyone might benefit if the most radical protagonists of evidence based medicine organised and participated in a double blind, randomised, placebo controlled, crossover trial of the parachute."
BMJ 2003 Dec. 20;327(7429)1459-1461.####
Posted by Gary Y
Lightning, after all that you didn't answer the question. Do osteopaths believe osteopathic manipulation can cure baldness?
I have a personal interest...
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EDIT: @Goodhealth Surfing, no - that wasn't the question buddy. In any case I don't see any claims here that 'conventional' medicine can cure baldness, so you are setting up a strawman and that is NOT the logic used in the skeptical process. FAIL.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Straw_man
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