These days, I live in France (some of my time) and I am often baffled by the number of osteopaths and the high level of acceptance of osteopathy in this country. The public seems to believe everything osteopaths claim and even most doctors have long given up to object to the idiocies they proclaim.
The website of the Institute of Osteopathy in Renne is but one of many examples. The Institute informed us as follows (my translation):
In addition to back pain, the osteopath can act on functional disorders of the digestive, neurological, cardiovascular systems or conditions related to ear, nose and throat. Osteopaths can promote recovery in athletes, relieve migraines, musculoskeletal disorders such as tendonitis, or treat sleep disorders. Less known for its preventive aspect, osteopathy also helps maintain good health. It can be effective even when everything is going well because it will prevent the appearance of pain. Osteopathy is, in fact, a manual medicine that allows the rebalancing of the major systems of the body, whatever the age of the patient and his problems. The osteopath looks for the root cause of your complaint in order to develop a curative and preventive treatment.
Who are osteopathic consultations for?
Osteopathic consultations at the Institute of Osteopathy of Rennes-Bretagne are intended for the following types of patients and pathologies
BABY / CHILD
GERD (gastric reflux), plagiocephaly (cranial deformities), recurrent ENT disorders (sinusitis, ear infections…), digestive, sleep and behavioural disorders, motor delay, following a difficult birth…
ADULT
Prevention, comfort treatment of osteoarthritis, musculoskeletal pain, functional abdominal pain, digestive disorders, headaches, dizziness, postural deficiency, facial pains…
PREGNANT WOMAN
Musculoskeletal pain (lumbago, back pain), digestive disorders, preparation for childbirth, post-partum check-up.
COMPANY
Prevention and treatment of MSDs (musculoskeletal disorders) linked to workstation ergonomics, stress, pain due to repetitive movements, poor posture at work, etc.
ADOLESCENT
Scoliosis, prevention of certain pathologies linked to growth, fatigue, stress, follow-up of orthodontic treatment.
SPORTSMAN
Musculoskeletal pain, tendonitis, osteopathic preparation for competition, osteopathic assessment according to the sport practised, repetitive injury.
In case you are not familiar with the evidence for osteopathy, let me tell you that as good as none of the many claims made in the above text is supported by anything that even resembles sound evidence.
So, how can we explain that, in France, osteopathy is allowed to thrive in a virtually evidence-free space?
In France, osteopathy started developing in the 1950s. In 2002, osteopathy received legislative recognition in France, and today, it is booming; between 2016 and 2018, 3589 osteopaths were trained in France. Osteopaths can be DO doctors, DO physiotherapists, DO nurses, DO midwives, DO chiropodists, or even DO dentists.
Thus, in 2018, and out of a total of 29,612 professionals practising osteopathy, there were 17,897 osteopaths DO and 11,715 DO health professionals. The number of professionals using the title of osteopath has roughly tripled in 8 years (11608 in 2010 for 29612 in 2018). There are currently around 30 osteopathic schools in France. About 3 out of 5 French people now consult osteopaths.
But this does not answer my question why, in France, osteopathy is allowed to thrive in a virtually evidence-free space! To be honest, I do not know its answer.
Perhaps someone else does?
If so, please enlighten me.
4 Responses to Osteopathy in France: widely accepted yet based on little more than wishful thinking
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Mr Ullman, before moving on to commenting on other matters, it would surely be appropriate to answer questions already put to you:
1) 5th time of asking – name the laboratory that can distinguish between serially diluted and succussed distilled water, and Nat Mur 30C water. 2) address the questions put to you in this thread concerning your assertions about resonance.
Sorry, posted that in wrong thread by accident, using tablet. It must be the Alzheimers…. again….
Just more French woo nonsense. See also: sophrologie, homeopathie, complements alimentaires, and the freaking surgeon who gave me ARNICA for post-surgery pain. (Spoiler alert: it didn’t work.)
I got pushed to an osteopath (a creepy guy who frankly freaked me out and I insisted my husband stay in the room for the entire “exam”) a few years ago for a really painful back injury that no local doctor seemed to believe had occurred and that, a year and a half and six doctors later, turned out to be a herniated disk. After the osteopath did no good, the doctor sent me to a “kine,” whose “treatment” involved gently squirting lukewarm water on my back.
French woo makes me really angry. Because often, when regular doctors push you in that direction, it feels very much like they just want you to go away and/or save the health system money. The experience I relate above resulted in 18 months of debilitating pain and I’m still pretty upset about it.
4 ans plus tard… votre post n’a pas pris une ride… et l’ostéopathie est plus que jamais le grand délire charlatanesque Français… bien plus qu’ailleurs (cf comparaison de la démographie des ostéo entre la France et le reste du monde)
Une exception française qu’on a du mal à comprendre… mais qui fait énormément de mal à notre système de soins, en poussant toujours plus les français à se sentir malade, et à devoir être « pris en charge » plutôt que d’être acteurs de leur propre bien être..
Mon explication : un marketing bien huilé et parallèlement un système de soin français qui s’écroule du fait d’une désertification non anticipée, les « vrais » pro de santé n’étant plus accessibles : car trop peu nombreux… ben voui plus facile d’être ostéo : vous avez juste à payer 5ans « d’études » versus passer le difficile concours d’entrée en étude de santé ) et donc pas « à l’écoute »… ben voui qd ça déborde toujours plus…
La nature ayant horreur du vide : l’ostéo est Accessible, partout, pour un peu cher (mais les mutuelles se sont engouffrées dans leur prise en charge… là encore pour du marketing, donnant un vernis « santé » à cette pratique, elles mêmes=les mutuelles, n’ayant plus rien à voir avec la santé… la boucle est bouclée), ce qui est cher étant forcément bien : autant augmenter les tarifs, au délà vrais des pro de santé remboursés une misère par la sécu,
Et ils prennent TOUT en charge (sauf le retour de l’être aimé peut-être)
Et même ils Inventent des « pathologies nouvelles » : syndrome de KISS, frein de langues… pathologies imaginaires qu’ils guérissent avec leurs mains magiques…
Et ça va plus loin, pour augmenter le besoin (marché) qui se tend… Ben voui 30 écoles qui se font du fric,, ça commence à se tendre niveaux débouchés…
Elles inventent la « prévention ostéopathique » : où comment l’ostéopathie peut vous aider avant même que vous n’y pensiez: c’est pas fort niveau débouché commercial…100% des français en auront besoin, tout le temps…
Des génies
En attendant ça fait un mal fou à l’EBM…
WE DON’T PUBLISH COMMENTS THAT ARE NOT I ENGLISH – AS AN EXCEPTION, i HAVE TRANSLATED THIS ONE:
Four years later… your post hasn’t aged a bit… and osteopathy is more than ever the great French quackery craze… much more so than elsewhere (see comparison of osteopathy demographics between France and the rest of the world).
A French exception that is difficult to understand… but which is doing enormous damage to our healthcare system, pushing French people to feel sick and to need to be ‘taken care of’ rather than being actors in their own well-being…
My explanation: well-oiled marketing and, at the same time, a French healthcare system that is collapsing due to an unexpected shortage of professionals, with ‘real’ healthcare professionals no longer accessible because there are too few of them… Well, yes, it’s easier to be an osteopath: you just have to pay for five years of ‘studies’ versus passing the difficult entrance exam for health studies) and therefore not ‘attentive’… Well, yes, when it’s getting more and more overwhelming…
Nature abhors a vacuum: osteopathy is accessible everywhere, for a little money (but mutual insurance companies have rushed to cover it… again for marketing purposes, giving this practice a ‘health’ veneer, even though they themselves have nothing to do with health… the circle is complete), what is expensive must necessarily be good: we might as well increase the rates, beyond what health professionals are reimbursed by social security, which is a pittance.
And they take care of EVERYTHING (except perhaps bringing back your loved one).
They even invent ‘new pathologies’: KISS syndrome, tongue-tie… imaginary pathologies that they cure with their magic hands…
And it goes further, to increase the need (market) that is growing… Well, yes, with 30 schools making money, it’s starting to get tight in terms of job opportunities…
They invent ‘osteopathic prevention’: how osteopathy can help you before you even think about it: it’s not great in terms of commercial opportunities… 100% of French people will need it, all the time…
Geniuses.
In the meantime, it’s doing a lot of damage to EBM…