charlatan
Dysmenorrhea affects 40–80% of women causing discomfort, pain and absenteeism. This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of shiatsu massage and abdominal stretching exercises in reducing primary dysmenorrhea among adolescent girls.
A quasi-experimental design with a pre-post test two-group comparison was employed. Sixty-six adolescent girls
with primary dysmenorrhea were purposively selected and divided into two groups: one received shiatsu massage therapy, and the other performed abdominal stretching exercises. Data were analyzed using the Wilcoxon and Mann-Whitney tests with a significance level set at p < 0.05.
The results showed that both interventions significantly reduced menstrual pain (p = 0.000). However, the shiatsu group experienced a greater average pain reduction (2.36 points) compared to the stretching group (1.55 points).
The authors concluded that their results of this study indicate that shiatsu massage therapy demonstrates a greater effectiveness in alleviating primary menstrual pain, commonly referred to as dysmenorrhea, when compared to abdominal stretching exercises, exhibiting a notable difference of 0.8 points in pain reduction between the two interventions.
The authors also offer the following suggestion: This intervention can be used in midwifery and healthcare settings, with Shiatsu materials serving as educational tools for adolescents on dysmenorrhea and reproductive health.
In my recent book, I reviewed the evidence on shiatsu (for references, see the original): It is a (mostly) manual therapy that was popularised by Japanese Tokujiro Namikoshi (1905–2000). It developed out of the Chinese massage therapy, ‘tui na’. The word shiatsu means finger pressure in Japanese; however, a range of devices is also being promoted for shiatsu. In 1940, Tokujiro Namikoshi established the Japan Shiatsu College in Tokyo. He taught many practitioners, some of whom subsequently developed their own version of shiatsu. Shiatsu follows the principles of Traditional Chinese Medicine based on chi, meridians, yin and yang, etc. These are philosophical concepts at best but lack scientific and biological plausibility. The amount of pressure used during treatment can be considerable and therefore, Shiatsu is experienced by some patients as (mildly) painful. Shiatsu is a treatment which includes not just the pressure applied by the therapist at specific points but also awareness of body posture, breathing and exercise. Shiatsu is claimed to stimulate the body’s vital energy. One observational study concluded that “clients receiving shiatsu reported improvements in symptom severity and changes in their health-related behaviour that they attributed to their treatment, suggestive of a role for shiatsu in maintaining and enhancing health.” A similar study observed a wide range of common, immediate and longer term effects. These included effects on initial symptoms, relaxation, sleeping, posture, and experiences of the body. There have been very few controlled clinical trials. One low-quality trial suggested that shiatsu massage seems to be effective in managing agitation in mechanically ventilated patients . A systematic review found no convincing data to suggest that shiatsu is effective for any specific health condition. Even though some patients experience the treatment as painful, Shiatsu is generally considered to be a safe therapy. It is, however, not totally free of risks. One observational study found that 12–22% “of patients reported ‘negative effects’ after shiatsu treatment,” and several case reports have associated Shiatsu also with serious complications (END OF QUOTE).
Because ther are so few studies of shiatsu, every new trial is potentially valuable. The present study, however, is a disappointment in this respect. It did not make the slightest attempt to control for any type of bias. Its findings are thus entirely meaningless. Most likely, they have little or nothing at all to do with the treatments administered but are due to placebo effects, natural history of the condition, selection bias, etc.
My suggestion, therefore, differs dramatically from that of the authors: if you suffer from dysmenorrhea – or, indeed, any other condition – you are well advised to avoid implausible and unproven treatments and opt for one of the many therapies thaat are supported by sound evidence.
Homeopaths regularly claim that the main reason why homeopathy is not accepted in science or responsible healthcare must be that science is not sufficiently advanced to understand how it works. According to Indian researchers, this obstacle has now been removed: they claim to have found the mechanism by which homeopathy works:
The outcome of the research done during 64 years has revealed that homeopathic potencies are specifically structured water preserved by ethanol. The primary target of homeopathic potencies is structured water in the living body. A potency is capable of converting the water structure in the living body into a different form. The converted water structure interacts with proteins suspended in water in the living body. Water structures in different organs of living organisms are different from each other. Water structures in the entire body of an organisms are interconnected by hydrogen bonded network. Any change at one location due to application of homeopathic potencies brings about rearrangement of the entire hydrogen bonded network of water in the whole body. In this way the effect of a potency spreads throughout the body including the affected organ without actual movement of the molecules of the potentized drug. A well selected homeopathic potency restores health by changing the water structures favorably in the affected organ or part of the body.
The autors concluded that “the phyco-chemical basis of homeopathic potencies are activated specifically structured water. The specificity has been conferred on the potencies by the original drugs, and mechanical agitation applied during the preparation of the potencies has provided activation. Homeopathic potencies are capable of changing the water structure in the living body. Water structures in the entire body of a living organism is not uniform. Different organs / tissues have different water structures. Water structures undergo a change in living tissues during stress / disease. A well selected remedy would change water structures of different tissues in the living body briefly, but its specific action manifests itself in the diseased tissue. The right remedy targets the diseased tissue because it is selected on the basis of the symptoms of the concerned papient. A remedy dropped on the tongue / mouth of a patient would reach the target not by itself, but by changing the hydrogen bonded network of the structured water in the living body. While the primary target of homeopathic potencies is water, the secondary target is protein suspended in the water structures. A changed water structure influences the conformation and function of the protein. Homeopathic potencies act on the binding sites of a protein. Here the potencies serve as ligands. Ordinary water also serves as a ligand in a non-specific way. Homeopathic potency is structured water which is capable of binding a protein in a specific way.”
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I am so glad that, after over 200 years of uncertainty, this is all ceared up. All that is left to do now is to
- firstly show that these concepts have any bearing on reality,
- and secondly demonstrate that homeopathic remedies cause health benefit that differ from placebo.
In other words, this [and all other similarly far-fetched] speculations about the mode of action of homeopathy leave us exactly where Hahnemann left it more than 200 years ago when he proclaimed in his ‘Organon’ that homeopathy’s “actions must be called spirit-like”.
Amelia RANDALL is the owner and director of “MYSTIC PSYCHIC LIMITED“. She sells psychic readings and used to advertise on a porn site. On her website, she informs us:
My psychic abilities have grown as the years have gone by. I love my gifts as it means I can assist many people on their day to day lives. I have been a part of an international psychic line for years, but it is now time that I focus on my own psychic and spiritual business. I do psychic readings with and without tarot cards and Angel Harmony readings. I also do numerology forecasts and am learning astrology. Candle Magic is also something I like to do. Every Christmas I do a spell of hope at an alter that I make, for anyone who needs a moments inspiration. I have had a life of many revelations and I am sure there are more to come, but if I can offer some assurance to my children, it will be; there are many people out there willing to give you the chance to shine if you want it enough.
Amelia Randall is also the Interim Branch Chairman of the right-wing ‘Reform Party’ UK in Herne Bay and Sandwich. In her role as a politician, she states:
When it comes to local politics, Reform UK do not have us under a whip. This means that we can do what is right for our own constituency. I know that I will never be able to please everybody all of the time, but I promise that I will always listen to both sides of an opinion, be open minded and where possible attempt to even find a mutual middle ground that could benefit as many people as possible. There are definitely a few things that I am passionate about on a local level and will strive to get on top of: Affordable Housing – I know what it is like to not be able to afford a decent home and to worry about homelessness. Saving our agricultural land – It is basic common sense that we need farmland as much as we need houses. There is no point in building more and more houses and then not being able to feed the population, because we have built on our agricultural land. Support Networks – I have spoken to residents who would like more support within the community and especially if there was some new form of pandemic. Sewage In Our Seas – We cannot say we are proud of our beaches while there is sewage being pumped into the seas. As a coastal town, our beaches attract tourism so we rely on them and what they have to offer. There are many more issues that we need to look into including potholes, rubbish, job opportunities, safety on our streets and of course our event venues. Having lived in Thanet since I was 13 years old and bringing my boys up here, I have seen first-hand how much things have changed. Leaving school at a young age myself, I have had many jobs locally in restaurants and cafes, insurance, office management and I currently work from home.
Being quite a spiritual person, I am very open minded, non-judgemental and I love motivating people with quotes or creativity.
Ms Randall recently posted a memory on Facebook of her campaigning in London for Reform UK during the 2024 London elections, with the added caption: “A year ago! My first street stall canvassing experience. I think my 4yr plan should be to move nearer to London, find work in greater London and then stand in the London Assembly Elections. I just have to prove to my boys that Hertfordshire is a great place with more opportunities and better than Kent!” Whereupon Labour’s County Council candidate for Birchington, Laurie Hudson, commented: “Ignoring his voters in Clacton while pursuing political stardom elsewhere might work for her boss Nigel Farage, but it beggars belief that Reform UK’s council candidate in Birchington has admitted she wants to dump Thanet for a political career in London at the earliest opportunity. Voters in Thanet need to know that those they elect on 1 May will not just serve for the full term but will stand up for the action that is needed to revitalise our high streets, tackle crime and antisocial behaviour, and fix our pothole-riddled roads. Given Amelia Randall’s open admission that has she has no intention of sticking around for the next four years, it’s clear that only a vote for Labour in the May local elections can deliver the fresh start Thanet desperately needs.”
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I have to admit that I am confused.
As Amelia Randall is such a gifted psychic – a person who is able to know what will happen in the future – she surely already knows:
- where she will be in 4 years;
- that the Reform Party is not going anywhere;
- that her ability as a politician is embarrassingly limited.
But perhaps I am wrong!
Perhaps she is a fraud as a psychic???
PS
In any case, it does not need a psychic to predict that I will never vote for any party led by or associated with Nigel Farage.
A popular ‘TikTok creator’ claims that he became bedridden for months after a chiropractic adjustment to his neck left him with a herniated disc, causing him “the worst pain I’ve ever experienced” and the loss of his life savings in medical bills. Tyler Stanton, a Nashville-based ‘content creator’ stated that he’s been recovering from an injury sustained when a chiropractor adjusted his neck.
In a TikTok video Stanton said he’d been working out a lot before his birthday because “I wanted to be in the best shape of my life.” He’d been feeling some tightness in his back, so he went to see a chiropractor. At first, the chiropractor struggled to “get my back to crack,” but finally he was able to do it. Stanton said when they had the same trouble with his neck, “on the second time where he tried to crack my neck, he put a lot of force behind it, and I heard one huge and painful pop,” Stanton explained. “I knew immediately that something was wrong … the whole room was spinning. My equilibrium was just completely f—ked. I was like instantly, like, profusely sweating.”
It took him a half hour of lying down to “be good enough to walk out the door,” but as soon as he got home, he began “violently throwing up, uncontrollably. I can’t see straight.” Stanton says he went promptly to bed even though it was the middle of the day, and when he woke up the next morning moving to turn his phone alarm off caused him “the worst pain I’ve ever experienced in my entire life.” Stanton described it as “static” all over the “entire right side of my body. It was really scary, I had no idea what was happening, but I knew something was really wrong.”
He went to the hospital, where it was determined that the chiropractor had “herniated my C6,” the disc at the base of the neck. Over the next month, he spent a few weeks “on and off” in the hospital, because the “pain was so bad.” He received epidural injections, and “they didn’t even make a dent into the pain. Like, it literally did nothing.”
At this point, his options were surgery — which he said, “I’ve heard so many horror stories about that” — or physical therapy and learning to live with a herniated disc. He chose the second option, explaining he has a “a pharmacy” at home of pain medication. “I ended up just having to go home and lay down for about two more months. It took, like, three months to get my feeling back in my arm.”
He thought of legal action, as the injury “really hurt me financially … my savings just evaporated … I still deal with pain. I’m still limited on what I can do physically. It just destroyed me mentally, financially, physically — all of it.”
In a later update Stanton said that it’s been hard for him to create content since he herniated his disc. “People asking me why I keep disappearing and why I stopped posting … I didn’t really want to say much about it because one thing I’ve learned over the years being on the internet is that if you have a following, no one cares if you’re sad,” he said. “To be honest with you, I love to come on here and make you guys laugh, but it’s hard to when s—t just ain’t funny.”
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Having treated many patients with herniated discs, I can confirm: it’s not funny!
Having read about many cases of serious complications after chiropractic manipulations, I assume that this one – like so many others – will not enter into the medical literature where sufficient details might be provided to allow a fuller evaluation – doctors are simply too busy to write up the events and findings for publication. The case will also not appear in any system that monitors adverse events, because chiropractors have in their ~120 Years history not been able to establish such a thing. The result will be that this event – as so many like it – will pass virtually undocumented and unnoticed.
And this suits whom exactly?
Yes, it suits the chiros who can continue to falsely claim that, as there are just few records to the contrary,
“our maipulations are entireely safe!”
“Dr. Arleen Scholten” – rings a bell?
Yes!
She is the chiropractor who treated John Lawler who then tragically died. Since Scholten was found not guilty of any wrong-doing by the General Chiropractic Council (GCC), she is practising unabated. These days, she seems to be particularly fond of treating children. Here are some excerpts from what she claims on her website:
Subluxations, or misalignments, within the spine can disrupt the vital communication between the brain and the body. These subluxations induce stress on the nervous system, potentially leading to a diminished function in the affected area. Infants, children, and adults can all experience spinal subluxations. Birth trauma, minor or major traumas, and developmental stress can all cause subluxations in infants and children. During the initial five years of life, the body generates more neural pathways than at any other time. It is crucial to optimize this production through pediatric chiropractic care, as these early years are pivotal for each child’s potential…
Chiropractic adjustments are safe for patients of all ages, including newborns… Over time, chiropractic practitioners have received valuable feedback from parents and young patients, highlighting significant and unexpected improvements in various aspects of their lives, including:
- Sleep patterns
- Behavior and attitude
- Immune system functionality
Additionally, patients have reported improvements in conditions such as ADD/ADHD, colic, torticollis, ear infections, bed-wetting, digestive issues, allergies, asthma, seizures, and more.
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Allow me to add a few comments on these claims:
- Subluxations only exist in the imagination of chiropractors.
- Therefore, they cannot disturb vital communication between the brain and the body.
- Nor can they induce stress on the nervous system.
- Nobody experiences chiropractic subluxations because they are a chiropractic invention to fool patients and take their money.
- Pediatric chiropractic care does not enhance a child’s potential.
- Chiropractic adjustments are not safe; as we have often discussed on this blog, they cause not merely very frequent mild, transient adverse effects but also serious and often permanent complications of unknown frequency.
- Feedback received by chiropractors is a far cry from amounting to reliable evidence.
- Chiropractic does not improve sleep patterns.
- It does not alter behavior and attitude.
- It also does not enhance immune system functionality.
- Nor does it affect ADD/ADHD, colic, torticollis, ear infections, bed-wetting, digestive issues, allergies, asthma, seizures.
Some of these conditions can be potentially serious. Treating them with chiropractic would needlessly prolong the suffering; in a worst case scenarion, it could even cost the life of a child. This, I feel, begs the question: is one death not enough, ‘Dr.’ Scholten?
She has already once been let off the hook by the GCC, I wonder whether the ‘Advertising Standards Authority’ will be as lenient, or whether they could step in and prevent a further tragedy.
Prof Dr Sucharit Bhakdi is one of the most far-reaching disinformation disseminators of the COVID pandemic. He spread numerous bogus claims about the dangers of COVID vaccines and put forward scientifically untenable theories.
- Writing an open Letter in March 2020 to German Chancellor Angela Merkel regarding the “socio-economic consequences of the drastic containment measures which are currently being applied in large parts of Europe”
- Posting videos on YouTube claiming, for example, that the government was overreacting because the virus posed no more threat than influenza, and that any COVID-19 vaccine would be “pointless”.
- Participation in May 2020 in the writing of a “position paper of the BMI” by an employee of the German crisis management department. The Federal Ministry distanced itself from the position, calling the paper a “private opinion” circulating on official letterhead, and released the chief government councilor Stephan Kohn from duty.
- He is the co-author of Corona, False Alarm? Facts and Figures (2020), German: (‘Corona Fehlalarm?’) ISBN 978-3-99060-191-4 and Corona Unmasked. Neue Daten, Zahlen, Hintergründe. (Goldegg, Berlin/Wien 2021, ISBN 978-3-99060-231-7. An earlier book of his was published in 2016, Schreckgespenst Infektionen – Mythen, Wahn und Wirklichkeit (tr. “Bogeyman Infections – Myths, Delusions and Reality”) ISBN 978-3-903090-66-8. He published these books together with his wife, Karina Reiss, a biologist and biochemist at the Quincke Research Center, Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel.
- Describing Germany in December 2020 as a “health dictatorship”, saying he wanted to emigrate to Thailand because of this.
Now Bhakdi seems to have changed his tune: ‘There were few side effects’ he recently said during an interview. A remarkable admission, considering that Bhakdi had previously warned of literally millions of injured and dead people, destroyed immune systems and a ‘horror without end’ caused by the mRNA vaccines.
Bhakdi’s statement about the paucity of adverse effects is, of course, right – in fact, it might be one of the very few of his statements that are correct. Current figures from the Paul Ehrlich Institute confirm the safety of the COVID vaccines: with 65 million people vaccinated and around 182 million vaccine doses administered in Germany, only 573 vaccine injuries were noted. This corresponds to an incidence of around 0.00088 %. In contrast, it has been calculated that COVID vaccinations have saved about 166,000 lives in Germany alone.
So, how does Bhakdi explain the contradiction of first insisting on the danger of the vaccinations and now admitting that “there were few side-effects”? In the interview, he claims that the vast majority of doses administered had no effect whatsoever because they had rapidly lost their activity. He explains that, in most cases, the mRNA in the vaccines did not enter the body due to unstable packaging. Therefore the expected side effects did not materialise. An obviously fictitious explanation that is scientifically untenable and clearly a desperate excuse. When asked how someone can tell that she received an inactive vaccine, he replied that, if you did not fall ill after the vaccination, the dose you received was inactive.
I think Bhakdi deserves all the high honors that were bestowed on him. He deserves them not because he ever was right or truthful or honest about the danger of COVID vaccination. No! He deserves them for his ingenuity in finding yet another lie that enables him to bring all his previous lies (COVID vaccinations are frightfully dangerous) in line with reality (COVID vaccinations harmed almost nobody).
Yes, sometimes two lies can result in the truth:
there were indeed few side-effects!
This paper explored the intersection of science and pseudoscience in online discourse about detoxification, investigating how and to what extent they coexist on the web. Drawing on previous studies of internet health scams, it examines the discursive strategies used to either validate or refute alternative detox treatments. Using a corpus-assisted discourse studies approach, the present study analyses a corpus of texts (167,177 tokens) about detoxification randomly collected from the web.
The results show that corrective messages debunking the detox myth make up less than 10% of the corpus. Furthermore, many keywords in the corpus, such as “toxin(s),” are subject to constant renegotiation. Advocates of so-called alternative medicine (SCAM) use the term “toxin(s)” to justify detox treatments, while scientists criticize it as pseudoscientific.
The authors conclude thaat their study highlights how terminological ambiguity facilitates the mixing of science and pseudoscience, confusing readers. It also highlights the role of language in health-related misinformation and calls for interdisciplinary research to develop educational tools for health professionals.
Corpus-assisted discourse studies (CADSs) are related historically and methodologically to the discipline of corpus linguistics. Their principal endeavor is the investigation and comparison of features of particular discourse types, integrating into the analysis the techniques and tools developed within corpus linguistics. These include the compilation of specialised corpora and analyses of word and word-cluster frequency lists, comparative keyword lists and, above all, concordances. A broader conceptualisation of corpus-assisted discourse studies would include any study that aims to bring together corpus linguistics and discourse analysis.
The findings of this CADS can hardly surprise anyone who has been following this blog. We have often discussed the problem of pseudo-scientific language and the confusion it creates. Likewise, we have repeatedly dealt with the ‘detox myth’ and how it is being used by advocates of SCAM.
What is new is the finding that only 10% of of the discourse seems to come from people who debunk the ‘detox myth’. This is, of course, disappointing but not really surprising considering how much virtually the entire SCAM business relies on it.
So, to make it clear yet again:
- A toxin is a substance that is poisonous to our body.
- No ‘detox’ method from the realm of SCAM has been shown to remove a toxin from the human body.
As always, I would be delighted to learn more and to correct these statements, provided someone shows me good evidence to the contrary.
Robert F Kennedy Jr. (RFKJr.)recently said that he’s aiming to know the cause of the “autism epidemic” by September, and will be able to “eliminate those exposures” that he says are behind the condition. This and other statements lay bare the embarrassing ignorance of RFKJr. as it contains a surprising number of errors:
- There is no epidemic of autism. The figures he likes to quote are hugely inflated. According to a meta-analysis, 0.77% of children globally are diagnosed with ASD, with boys comprising 1.14% of this group. Notably, Australia showed the highest prevalence rate, with an effect size of 2.18, highlighting it as a critical area for public health focus. The increase observed by many is largely due to a widening of diagnostic criteria.
- He presupposes that autism is due to some type of exposure (he claimed: “We know it’s an environmental exposure.”). However, this is far from proven and several other possibilities exist; most experts think that a genetic predisposition is the most important factor.
- Even if he can identify an exposure, it is unclear that and how he might eliminate it.
- To do the necessary research by September is not realistic.
RFKJr. has hired another pseudo-scientist, David Geier, to conduct the research. If they approached the subject rationally, they would start by looking what research has already been done. Few areas of inquiry are more active that research into autism (Medline currently lists ~ 84 ooo papers on the subject).
Here are some examples of conclusions from recent meta-analyses showing subject areas where research might yield relevant findings and those that are likely to be dead ends:
Probable dead ends
- For children, strength of evidence was high for no increased risk of autism following measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine.
- Our study provides evidence that in utero exposure to ADHD medications does not increase the risk of long-term neurodevelopmental disorders in offspring. This study replicates safety data for methylphenidate and extends it with new safety data on amphetamines and atomoxetine. These findings are crucial for informing clinical guidelines and helping healthcare providers and expectant mothers make informed decisions.
- This study indicates that individuals with Kawasaki disease have a higher risk for ADHD but not for Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).
- Results found no evidence to support a link between genetically predicted Human Herpesviruses infection and the risk of NDDs based on existing datasets.
- These findings indicate that prenatal painkiller exposure is unlikely to be a major determinant of the severity of neurodevelopmental outcomes in autistic children.
Possibly relevant
- Our study summarized research evidence on the genetic variants of ASD and provides a broad and detailed overview of ASD risk genes.
- Maternal diabetes is associated with an increased risk of neurodevelopmental disorders and impaired neurodevelopmental performance in children. Further high-quality research is needed to establish causality and clarify the associations between specific types of diabetes and the full spectrum of neurodevelopmental disorders.
- Suggestive evidence included the associations between pregnancy O3 exposure and autism spectrum disorder.
- Gestational exposure to valproate was associated with an increased risk of autism spectrum disorder.
- This study indicated that Bisphenol A (BPA) exposure was associated with an increased risk of neurodevelopmental disorders and problems (NDPs) in children, particularly in boys, underscoring the importance of considering BPA exposure as a potential risk factor for children’s brain health.
- Our study found a significant difference in dental caries severity between children and adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and those without ASD.
- The development of childhood ASD may be associated with screen exposure.
- The total number of cannabis exposed pregnancies (with ASD and ADHD as the outcomes) in world literature is small. However, cannabis use during pregnancy is, at the very least, a clear marker for adverse neurodevelopmental outcomes
- In this meta-analysis, the relationships between air pollutants and ASD risk revealed significant associations, particularly for PM2.5 and NO2. Exposure during preconception exhibited a protective trend, while postnatal exposure, particularly during the second year of life uncovered substantially higher ASD risk.
- While there was weak evidence for associations between antibiotic use in early-life and later neurodevelopmental outcomes, these were attenuated in sibling-controlled subgroup analyses. Thus, associations may be explained by genetic and familial confounding, and studies failing to utilise sibling-control groups must be interpreted with caution.
- The current findings suggest that Anorexia Nervosa (AN) frequently overlaps with both autistic traits and autistic symptomatology. Therefore, it is essential to evaluate autism and autistic traits in individuals with AN to tailor individualized treatment plans.
- Increased risk of autism in children is significantly associated with greater parents’ ages.
- Parental PMADs are significantly associated with an increased risk of NDDs in children.
Above, I wrote that rational scientists would approach the subject by evaluating the research that has already been done. So, why will Kennedy, Geier et al not do that?
Simple!
The very first meta-analysis cited above (confirmed by multiple further reviews) firmly establishes that the pursuit of RFKJr.’s obsession (vaccines cause autism) is a dead end! The issue has been researched, re-researched ad nauseam and laid to bed.
So, in order to confirm his belief, RFKJr. needs to spend all this money in order to find (or manipulate) some evidence that questions a rock-solid consensus. Once he has succeeded in this task, he will to do what all pseudo-scientists do best: he will pretend that correlations are prove of causation.
In the end, this will amount to a spectecular waste of money. Because some people will nevertheless believe RFKJr., it will also strengthen the anti-vax movement and thus further endanger public health.
WATCH THIS SPACE!
Yes, this was the (rather sensationalist) headline of a recent article in the Daily Mail that I allegedly wrote. Its unusual genesis might interest some of you.
I was contacted by a journalist who asked for a telephone interview on the subject of chiropractic as well as my recent book. I agreed under the condition that we do this not over the phone but in writing via email. So, he sent me his questions and I supplied the responses; here they are:
· What’s the absolute worst case scenario of seeing a chiropractor?
The worst that can happen is that you die. Certain manipulations that chiropractors regularly do can injure an artery that supplies part of the brain. This would then result in a stroke; and a stroke can of course be fatal. This is what happened, for example, to the American model Katie May. She had pinched a nerve in her neck on a photoshoot and consulted a chiropractor who manipulated her neck. This caused a tear to an artery in her upper spine. The result was a massive stroke of which she died a few days later.
· How did you first become interested in the topic?
I learned hands on spinal manipulation as a junior doctor. Later, as the head of the department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at the University of Vienna, we used such techniques routinely. In 1993, I became chair of Complementary Medicine in Exeter, and my task was to scientifically investigate alternative therapies such as chiropractic. Recently, I decided to summarize all our research in a book.
· What did you learn from your research?
In essence, our investigations found that almost all the claims that chiropractors make are unsubstantiated. Their manipulations are not nearly as effective as they claim. More worryingly, they are also not free of risks. About 50% of patients who see a chiropractor suffer from side effects after spinal manipulation. These are usually not severe and disappear after 2 or 3 days. But, in addition, very serious complications like stroke, death, bone fractures, paralysis can also occur. Chiropractors say that these are rare, and I hope they are right, but the truth is that nobody knows because there is no system of monitoring such events. We once asked British neurologists to report cases of neurological complications occurring within 24 hours of cervical spine manipulation over a 12-month period. This unearthed a total of 35 cases. Particularly striking was the fact that none of these cases had previously been reported anywhere. So, the underreporting was exactly 100%. This tells me that, when chiropractors claim there are just a few such incidents, in truth there might be a few hundred or even thousand.
· Is there an especially shocking finding?
What I find particularly unnerving is the way chiropractors regularly disregard medical ethics. Take the issue of informed consent, for example. It means that we all have to fully inform patients about the treatment we plan to give. In the case of chiropractic spinal manipulation, it would need to include that the therapy is of doubtful effectiveness, that other options are more likely to help, and that the treatment carries very frequent minor as well as probably rare major risks. I do understand why chiropractors do often not provide this information – it would chase away most patients and thus impact of their income. At the same time, I feel that chiropractors should not be allowed to violate fundamental principles of medical ethics. This is not in the interest of patients!!!
· Why do you think patients are so keen on chiropractors?
I am not sure that they really are so keen; some are but the vast majority are not. Our own research suggests that, depending on the country, between 7 and 33% of the population see chiropractors. This means that between 93 and 67% have enough sense to avoid chiropractors.
· But what does the evidence actually show about the efficacy of chiropractic?
As it happens our most recent summary has just been published. It concluded that “it is uncertain if chiropractic spinal manipulation is more effective than sham, control, or deep friction massage interventions for patients with headaches” [Is chiropractic spinal manipulation effective for the treatment of cervicogenic, tension-type, or migraine headaches? A systematic review – ScienceDirect]. For other conditions the evidence tends to be even less convincing. The only exception might be chronic low back pain, according to another recent summary [Analgesic effects of non-surgical and non-interventional treatments for low back pain: a systematic review and meta-analysis of placebo-controlled randomised trials | BMJ Evidence-Based Medicine]. But here too, I would argue that other treatments are safer and cheaper.
· Are some chiropractors worse than others?
The profession is divided into 2 groups, the ‘straights’ and the ‘mixers’. The former believe in all the nonsense their founding father, DD Palmer, proclaimed 120 years ago, including that spinal manipulation is the only treatment for virtually all our ailments, and that vaccinations must be avoided at all cost. The mixers have realized that Palmer was a charlatan of the worst kind, focus on musculoskeletal conditions and use treatments borrowed from physiotherapy. Needless to say that the mixers might be bad, but the straights are even worse.
· What can patients do to keep safe?
Avoid chiropractors, go to a library and read my book.
· If you have backpain or joint pain what can you do instead?
There is lots people can do but advice has to be individualized. By far the best is to prevent back pain from happening. Here advice might include more exercise, loosing weight, changing your mattress, avoiding certain things like heavy lifting, etc. If you are acutely suffering, see a physio or a doctor, keep moving and be aware that over 90% of back pain disappears within a few days regardless of what you do.
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I had insisted that I see his edits before this gets published, and a little while later I received the edited version. To my big surprise, the journalist had transformed the interview into an article allegedly authored by me. I told him that I was uncomfortable with this solution, and we agreed that he would make it clear that the article was merely based on an interview with me. I then revised the article in question and the result was the mentioned article published still naming me as its author but with a footnote: “As told in an interview with Ethan Ennals”
Never a dull day when you research so-called alternative medicine!
After starting his trade war, Trump initiated a war on academia. The plan to do so is hardly new; months ago Trump stated: “The time has come to reclaim our once great educational institutions from the radical left. We spend more money on higher education than any other country and yet they are turning our students into communists and terrorists.” And about a year ago, Trump’s sycophant-in chief, JD Vance, proclaimed: THE ENEMY ARE THE PROFESSORS!
In view of the facts that Trump and his minions
- called climate change a hoax;
- support creationism;
- think that vaccinations cause autism;
- categorized math as ‘woke’;
- etc., etc.
it seems almost logic that they have to go after the universities. They want to control who teaches and what they teach; who is educated and who isn’t; what is news and what is ‘fake-news’; what is truth and what is not. This is not just an attack on academia but also an assault on the First Amendment as well as an unacceptable over-reach and a destruction of the very fabric of society.
Withholding billions in research funds, rescinding the universities’ tax-exempt status and disallowing to enroll foreign students are measures of blackmail, extortion and punishment for refusing to bow to Trump’s agenda. “Perhaps Harvard should lose its Tax Exempt Status and be Taxed as a Political Entity if it keeps pushing political, ideological, and terrorist inspired/supporting ‘Sickness?’ Remember, Tax Exempt Status is totally contingent on acting in the PUBLIC INTEREST!” Trump posted on Truth Social.
Harvard courageously stood up to Trump’s attack by rejecting his demands: “The university will not surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights. Neither Harvard nor any other private university can allow itself to be taken over by the federal government. Accordingly, Harvard will not accept the government’s terms as an agreement in principle.”
Trump’s attack on academia is not an isolated outburst but a strategic move in a culture war: a deliberate effort to delegitimize intellectual authority, critical thinking, and every form of knowledge production that cannot be directly controlled by populist power. Universities like Harvard become targets not because of specific failures, but because they embody a troubling idea: that knowledge requires distance, discipline, and method—and that not everything can be resolved with gut feeling or loud opinion.
Academia, with its specialized language, its commitment to evidence, and its tradition of critique, represents everything the anti-intellectual populist playbook seeks to dismantle: mediation, doubt, and nuance. The far right has learned that the most efficient way to win a culture war isn’t to offer better ideas—it’s to sabotage the very tools we use to judge ideas. That’s why universities, scientists, and journalists are now treated as enemies. The goal is not to debate the truth, but to make truth irrelevant.
Just like his trade-war, Trump’s war on academia can only end in disaster and must be stopped. I for one very much hope that Harvard’s refusal marks the turning point. It should unite and embolden US academia to resist and reclaim knowledge as a public good. Trump’s primitive McCarthyism must end for good.
