Updated Edition!
Homeopathy has always enjoyed a special status in Germany, its country of origin. Germans use homeopathy more often than the citizens of most other countries, they spend more money on it, and they even have elevated it to some kind of medical speciality. In 2003, the German medical profession re-considered the requirements for carrying the title of ‘Doctor of Homeopathy’. It was decided that only physicians who already were specialists in one medical field were allowed to be certified with this title after a post-graduate education and training programme of 6 months, or 100 hours of case studies under supervision plus 160 hours of course work. Many German physicians seem to find this rigorously regulated programme attractive, opted for it, and earn good money with it; the number of ‘doctors of homeopathy’ has risen from 2212 to 6712 between 1993 and 2009.
Personally, I find much of this surprising, even laughable, and have repeatedly stated that even the most rigorously regulated education in nonsense can only result in nonsense.
Luckily, I am not alone. A multidisciplinary group of experts (Muensteraner Kreis) has just filed an official application with the current 121st General Assembly of the German medical profession to completely abolish the title ‘Doctor of Homeopathy’. Our application itself is a lengthy document outlining in some detail the nature of our arguments. Here, I will merely translate its conclusion:
Even though present in science-business, homeopathy is not scientifically founded. Its basis – potentisation and the simile principle – contradicts scientific facts; homeopathy therefore must be categorised as esoteric. The international scientific community does not interpret the clinical studies of homeopathy as a sufficient proof for its efficacy. Giving an esoteric approach to medicine the veneer of credibility by officially establishing the title ‘Doctor of Homeopathy’ contradicts the physicians’ claim of a scientifically-based medicine and weakens the status of the science-based medicine through blurring the boundaries between science and belief. Problems within science-based medicine must be solved internally and cannot be unburdened onto an unscientific approach to medicine. We consider the abolishment of the ‘Doctor of Homeopathy’ to be urgently indicated.
END OF MY TRANSLATION
I think it would be more than a little over-optimistic to assume that the Assembly will swiftly adopt our suggestion. Perhaps this is also not the intention of our application. In Germany (I learnt my homeopathy in this country), homeopathy is still very much protected by powerful lobby groups and financial interests, as well as loaded with heavy emotional baggage. Yet I do hope that our application will start a discussion which, eventually, will bring a rational resolution to the embarrassing anachronism of the ‘Doctor of Homeopathy’ (Arzt fuer Homoeopathie).
The German medical profession might even have the opportunity to be internationally at the forefront of reason and progress.
Today, the BMJ published our ‘head to head‘ article on the above question. Dr Mike Cummings argues the pro-part, while Prof Asbjorn Horbjardsson and I argue against the notion.
The pro arguments essentially are the well-rehearsed points acupuncture-fans like to advance:
- Some guidelines do recommend acupuncture.
- Sham acupuncture is not a valid comparator.
- The largest meta-analysis shows a small effect.
- Acupuncture is not implausible.
- It improves quality of life.
Cummings concludes as follows: In summary, the pragmatic view sees acupuncture as a relatively safe and moderately effective intervention for a wide range of common chronic pain conditions. It has a plausible set of neurophysiological mechanisms supported by basic science.12 For those patients who choose it and who respond well, it considerably improves health related quality of life, and it has much lower long term risk for them than non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. It may be especially useful for chronic musculoskeletal pain and osteoarthritis in elderly patients, who are at particularly high risk from adverse drug reactions.
Our arguments are also not new; essentially, we stress that:
- The effects of acupuncture are too small to be clinically relevant.
- They are probably not even caused by acupuncture, but the result of residual bias.
- Pragmatic trials are of little value in defining efficacy.
- Acupuncture is not free of risks.
- Regular acupuncture treatments are expensive.
- There is no generally accepted, plausible mechanism.
We concluded that after decades of research and hundreds of acupuncture pain trials, including thousands of patients, we still have no clear mechanism of action, insufficient evidence for clinically worthwhile benefit, and possible harms. Therefore, doctors should not recommend acupuncture for pain.
Neither Asbjorn nor I have any conflicts of interests to declare.
Dr Cummings, by contrast, states that he is the salaried medical director of the British Medical Acupuncture Society, which is a membership organisation and charity established to stimulate and promote the use and scientific understanding of acupuncture as part of the practice of medicine for the public benefit. He is an associate editor for Acupuncture in Medicine, published by BMJ. He has a modest private income from lecturing outside the UK, royalties from textbooks, and a partnership teaching veterinary surgeons in Western veterinary acupuncture. He has participated in a NICE guideline development group as an expert adviser discussing acupuncture. He has used Western medical acupuncture in clinical practice following a chance observation as a medical officer in the Royal Air Force in 1989.
My question to you is this: WHICH OF THE TWO POSITION IS THE MORE REASONABLE ONE?
Please, do let us know by posting a comment here, or directly at the BMJ article (better), or both (best).
The ‘best homeopathy doctor in Delhi‘ is so ‘marvellous’ that he and his colleagues offer homeopathic treatment for HIV/AIDS:
START OF QUOTE
Antiretroviral Therapy (ART) is recommended for each and every case of AIDS where CD4 count goes less than 350. Aura Homeopathy does not offer cure for AIDS. However, several research and clinical studies done by various Research centre including few from CCRH (Central Council for Research in Homeopathy, Govt. of India), have prove the supportive role of homeopathic medicines. Homeopathy medicine only relief symptoms but also reduced frequency of opportunistic infections, increase appetite, weight, and sense of well being, etc. At Aura Homeopathy, we apply classical homeopathy protocols on HIV/AIDS patients, as a part of our Clinical trial and Research projects. The results were very encouraging.
At Aura Homeopathy, we have seen an increase in the CD4 count in number of patients, after using Aura homeopathy medicines. Dr.Abhishek recommend’s Homeopathy as supporting line of therapy for all HIV patients.
END OF QUOTE
When I read this I wanted to be sick; but instead I did something a little more sensible: I conducted a quick Medline search for ‘homeopathy, AIDS’.
It returned 30 articles. Of these, there were just 4 that presented anything remotely resembling data. Here are their abstracts:
Allopathic practitioners in India are outnumbered by practitioners of traditional Indian medicine and homeopathy (TIMH), which is used by up to two-thirds of its population to help meet primary health care needs, particularly in rural areas. India has an estimated 2.5 million HIV infected persons. However, little is known about TIMH use, safety or efficacy in HIV/AIDS management in India, which has one of the largest indigenous medical systems in the world. The purpose of this review was to assess the quality of peer-reviewed, published literature on TIMH for HIV/AIDS care and treatment.
Of 206 original articles reviewed, 21 laboratory studies, 17 clinical studies, and 6 previous reviews of the literature were identified that covered at least one system of TIMH, which includes Ayurveda, Unani medicine, Siddha medicine, homeopathy, yoga and naturopathy. Most studies examined either Ayurvedic or homeopathic treatments. Only 4 of these studies were randomized controlled trials, and only 10 were published in MEDLINE-indexed journals. Overall, the studies reported positive effects and even “cure” and reversal of HIV infection, but frequent methodological flaws call into question their internal and external validity. Common reasons for poor quality included small sample sizes, high drop-out rates, design flaws such as selection of inappropriate or weak outcome measures, flaws in statistical analysis, and reporting flaws such as lack of details on products and their standardization, poor or no description of randomization, and incomplete reporting of study results.
This review exposes a broad gap between the widespread use of TIMH therapies for HIV/AIDS, and the dearth of high-quality data supporting their effectiveness and safety. In light of the suboptimal effectiveness of vaccines, barrier methods and behavior change strategies for prevention of HIV infection and the cost and side effects of antiretroviral therapy (ART) for its treatment, it is both important and urgent to develop and implement a rigorous research agenda to investigate the potential risks and benefits of TIMH and to identify its role in the management of HIV/AIDS and associated illnesses in India.
2nd paper (I am a co-author of this one)
The use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) is widespread. Yet, little is known about the evidence supporting its use in HIV/AIDS. We conducted a systematic review of randomized clinical trials assessing the effectiveness of complementary therapies for HIV and HIV-related symptoms. Comprehensive literature searches were performed of seven electronic databases. Data were abstracted independently by two reviewers. Thirty trials met our predefined inclusion/exclusion criteria: 18 trials were of stress management; five of Natural Health Products; four of massage/therapeutic touch; one of acupuncture; two of homeopathy. The trials were published between 1989 and 2003. Most trials were small and of limited methodological rigour. The results suggest that stress management may prove to be an effective way to increase the quality of life. For all other treatments, data are insufficient for demonstrating effectiveness. Despite the widespread use of CAM by people living with HIV/AIDS, the effectiveness of these therapies has not been established. Vis à vis CAM’s popularity, the paucity of clinical trials and their low methodological quality are concerning.
3rd paper (author is our old friend Dana Ullman!)
Homeopathic medicine developed significant popularity in the nineteenth century in the United States and Europe as a result of its successes treating the infectious disease epidemics during that era. Homeopathic medicine is a medical system that is specifically oriented to using nanopharmacologic and ultramolecular doses of medicines to strengthen a person’s immune and defense system rather than directly attacking the microbial agents.
To review the literature referenced in MEDLINE and in nonindexed homeopathic journals for placebo-controlled clinical trials using homeopathic medicines to treat people with AIDS or who are human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-positive and to consider a different theoretical and methodological approach to treating people with the viral infection.
A total of five controlled clinical trials were identified. A double-blinded, placebo-controlled study was conducted on 50 asymptomatic HIV-positive subjects (stage II) and 50 subjects with persistent generalized lymphadenopathy (stage III) in whom individualized single-remedy homeopathic treatment was provided. A separate body of preliminary research was conducted using homeopathic doses of growth factors. Two randomized double-blinded, placebo-controlled studies were conducted with a total of 77 people with AIDS who used only natural therapies over a 8-16-week period. Two other studies were conducted over a 2.5-year period with 27 subjects in an open-label format.
The first study was conducted by the Regional Research Institute for Homeopathy in Mumbai, India, under the Central Council for Research in Homeopathy, with the approval of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India. The second body of studies was conducted in clinic settings in California, Oregon, Arizona, Hawaii, New York, and Washington.
The first study found no statistically significant improvement in CD4 T-lymphocytes, but did find statistically significant pretest and post-test results in subjects with stage III AIDS, in CD4 (p = 0.008) and in CD8 (p = 0.04) counts. The second group of studies found specific physical, immunologic, neurologic, metabolic, and quality-of-life benefits, including improvements in lymphocyte counts and functions and reductions in HIV viral loads.
As a result of the growing number of people with drug-resistant HIV infection taking structured treatment interruptions, homeopathic medicine may play a useful role as an adjunctive and/or alternative therapy.
In 1996, [name removed] was convicted on charges of conspiracy and introducing an unapproved drug into interstate commerce and the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the conviction. [Name removed]’s company, Writers and Researchers Inc. sold a drug called 714X to individuals and physicians, promoting it as a nontoxic therapy for AIDS, cancer, and other chronic diseases. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warned [name removed] that his marketing was illegal because the product had not been proven safe and effective for use in treating disease. [Name removed] argued that the product was a homeopathic drug, revealed by FDA tests to contain 94 percent water, and a mixture of nitrate, ammonium, camphor, chloride, ethanol, and sodium. The courts found that 714X was subject to FDA scrutiny because it was touted as a cure for cancer and AIDS.
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So, what does this collective evidence tell us?
I think it makes it abundantly clear that there is no good reason to suggest that HIV/AIDS patients can be helped in any way by homeopathy. On the contrary, homeopathy might distract them from essential conventional care and it would needlessly harm their bank balance. It follows that claims to the contrary are bogus, unethical, reckless, and possibly even criminal.
Clinical trials are a most useful tool, but they can easily be abused. It is not difficult to misuse them in such a way that even the most useless treatment appears to be effective. Sadly, this sort of thing happens all too often in the realm of alternative medicine. Take for instance this recently published trial of homeopathy.
The objective of this study was to investigate the usefulness of classical homeopathy for the prevention of recurrent urinary tract infections (UTI) in patients with spinal cord injury (SCI). Patients were admitted to this trial, if they had chronic SCI and had previously suffered from at least three UTI/year. They were treated either with a standardized prophylaxis alone, or with a standardized prophylaxis in combination with homeopathy. The number of UTIs, general and specific quality of life (QoL), and satisfaction with homeopathic treatment were assessed prospectively over the period of one year. Ten patients were in the control group and 25 patients received adjunctive homeopathic treatment. The median number of self-reported UTI in the homeopathy group decreased significantly, whereas it remained unchanged in the control group. The domain incontinence impact of the KHQ improved significantly, whereas the general QoL did not change. The satisfaction with homeopathic care was high.
The authors concluded that adjunctive homeopathic treatment lead to a significant decrease of UTI in SCI patients. Therefore, classical homeopathy could be considered in SCI patients with recurrent UTI.
Where to begin?
Here are just some of the most obvious flaws of and concerns with this study:
- There is no plausible rationale to even plan such a study.
- The sample size was far too small for allowing generalizable conclusions.
- There was no adequate randomisation and patients were able to chose the homeopathy option.
- The study seems to lack objective outcome measures.
- The study design did not allow to control for non-specific effects; therefore, it seems likely that the observed outcomes are unrelated to the homeopathic treatments but are caused by placebo and other non-specific effects.
- Even if the study had been rigorous, we would need independent replications before we draw such definitive conclusions.
- Two of the authors are homeopaths, and it is in their clinics that the study took place.
- Some of the authors have previously published a very similar paper – except that this ‘case series’ included no control group at all.
- The latter paper seems to have been published more than once.
- Of this paper, one of the authors claimed that ” the usefulness of classical homeopathy as an adjunctive measure for UTI prophylaxis in patients with NLUTD due to SCI has been demonstrated in a case series”. He seems to be unaware of the fact that a case series cannot possible lend itself to demonstrate this.
- I do wonder: did they just add a control group to their case series thus pretending it became a controlled clinical trial?
What strikes me most with such pseudo-research is its abundance and the naivety – or should I call it ignorance? – of the enthusiasts who conduct it. Most of them, I am fairly sure do not mean to do harm; but by Jove they do!
Do chiropractors even know the difference between promotion and research?
Probably a rhetorical question.
Personally, I have seen them doing so much pseudo-research that I doubt they recognise the real thing, even if they fell over it.
Here is a recent example that stands for many, many more such ‘research’ projects (some of which have been discussed on this blog).
But first a few sentences on the background of this new ‘study’.
The UD chiropractic profession is currently on the ‘opioid over-use bandwagon’ hoping that this move might promote their trade. Most chiropractors have always been against using (any type of) pharmaceutical treatment and advise their patients accordingly. D D Palmer, the founder of chiropractic, was adamant that drugs are to be avoided; he stated for instance that Drugs are delusive; they do not adjust anything. And “as the Founder intended, chiropractic has existed as a drug-free healthcare profession for better than 120 years.” To this day, chiropractors are educated and trained to argue against non-drug treatments and regularly claim that chiropractic is a drug-free alternative to traditional medicine.
Considering this background, this new piece of (pseudo) research is baffling, in my view.
The objective of this investigation was to evaluate the association between utilization of chiropractic services and the use of prescription opioid medications. The authors used a retrospective cohort design to analyse health insurance claims data. The data source was the all payer claims database administered by the State of New Hampshire. The authors chose New Hampshire because health claims data were readily available for research, and in 2015, New Hampshire had the second-highest age-adjusted rate of drug overdose deaths in the United States.
The study population comprised New Hampshire residents aged 18-99 years, enrolled in a health plan, and with at least two clinical office visits within 90 days for a primary diagnosis of low-back pain. The authors excluded subjects with a diagnosis of cancer. They measured likelihood of opioid prescription fill among recipients of services delivered by chiropractors compared with a control group of patients not consulting a chiropractor. They also compared the cohorts with regard to rates of prescription fills for opioids and associated charges.
The adjusted likelihood of filling a prescription for an opioid analgesic was 55% lower among chiropractic compared to non-chiropractic patients. Average charges per person for opioid prescriptions were also significantly lower among the former group.
The authors concluded that among New Hampshire adults with office visits for noncancer low-back pain, the likelihood of filling a prescription for an opioid analgesic was significantly lower for recipients of services delivered by doctors of chiropractic compared with nonrecipients. The underlying cause of this correlation remains unknown, indicating the need for further investigation.
The underlying cause remains unknown???
Really?
Let me speculate, or even better, let me extrapolate by drawing an analogy:
Employees by a large Hamburger chain set out to study the association between utilization of Hamburger restaurant services and vegetarianism. The authors used a retrospective cohort design. The study population comprised New Hampshire residents aged 18-99 years, who had entered the premises of a Hamburger restaurant within 90 days for a primary purpose of eating. The authors excluded subjects with a diagnosis of cancer. They measured the likelihood of vegetarianism among recipients of services delivered by Hamburger restaurants compared with a control group of individuals not using meat-dispensing facilities. They also compared the cohorts with regard to the money spent in Hamburger restaurants.
The adjusted likelihood of being a vegetarian was 55% lower among the experimental group compared to controls. The average money spent per person in Hamburger restaurants were also significantly lower among the Hamburger group.
The authors concluded that among New Hampshire adults visiting Hamburger restaurants, the likelihood of vegetarianism was significantly lower for consumers frequenting Hamburger restaurants compared with those who failed to frequent such places. The underlying cause of this correlation remains unknown, indicating the need for further investigation.
Daaaahhhhhhh!
Yesterday, I saw a Tweet stating:
Homeopath in Cornwall specialising in Women’s Health #fertility #naturalconception #pcos #pms
It was followed by a list of specific indications:
- Pregnancy
- Infertility
- PCOS
- PMS
- Fibroids
- Depression
- Anxiety and much more…
I responded to this Tweet by tweeting:
Homeopath in Cornwall specialising in misleading women
Minutes later I received a response from a homeopathy-fan:
That could be called libel Edzard. I would be careful.
So, should I be careful, and if so why?
Reading the thinly veiled threat, I wasn’t exactly shaking in my boots with fear (I was deeply involved in helping Simon Singh in his defence against the BCA’s libel action), but I nevertheless wanted to be sure of my position and conducted some ‘rough and ready’ searches for recent evidence to suggesting that homeopathy is effective for any of the conditions mentioned above. Here is what I found:
- Pregnancy. Yes, there is an RCT! It concluded that “homeopathy does not appear to prevent excessive body mass gain in pregnant women…” And another one concluding that “neither Pentazocine, or Chamomilla recutita offer substantial analgesia during labor.”
- Infertility. No RCT or other sound evidence.
- PCOS. Nothing
- PMS. No clinical trials.
- Fibroids. No clinical trials
- Depression. Even leading homeopaths seem to agree that there is no good evidence.
- Anxiety. Again, I could not find any sound evidence.
Don’t get me wrong, these statements are not based on full systematic reviews; that would take a while and hardly seems worth it. (If you want a good systematic review, I recommend this one; it concluded: “Homeopathy should not be used to treat health conditions that are chronic, serious, or could become serious. People who choose homeopathy may put their health at risk if they reject or delay treatments for which there is good evidence for safety and effectiveness. People who are considering whether to use homeopathy should first get advice from a registered health practitioner. Those who use homeopathy should tell their health practitioner and should keep taking any prescribed treatments.“) But my quick glance at the evidence is enough, I think, to justify my statement that the above claims by a homeopath are misleading. In fact, I believe that I could have used much stronger terminology without the slightest risk of being sued.
PERHAPS NEXT TIME!
A friend recently sent me the link to a video about ‘FUNCTIONAL CRANIAL RELEASE’ (well-worth watching, particularly, if you need cheering up) and when I heard a patient after the treatment exclaim: “kind’a like an orgasm”, I needed no further convincing; I just had to look into this extraordinary and little-known jewel of an alternative therapy.
If you watched the video, you might think FCR is simply pumping some air up your nostrils, but you are wrong: it is much more, and it is very scientific!
Functional Cranial Release (FCR) is the art and science of restoring normal brain and nervous system function by using Functional Neurology along with NeuroCranial Restructuring to improve the brain’s ability to function better. FCR was created by Dr. John Lieurance who currently practices in Sarasota, Florida. Dr Timothy Lim was personally trained by Dr John Lieurance and now offers FCR or Functional Cranial Release in Singapore. We have clients who fly in from all over the South East Asia and Oceania regions just to receive FCR treatment.
Functional Cranial Release‘s (FCR) unique system improves the body’s function in the following ways:
- Restores the brain’s ability to oxygenate itself through both improving air flow through the nasal passage and also the normal pumping action inherent in cranial rhythm that moves nutrients such as oxygen and neurotransmitters that bath the central nervous system keeping it healthy.
- Utilizes neurological testing to determine which pathways and brain centers are either firing too much or too little by testing the following; Examination of your eye’s movements and reflexes, your muscles or motor system, the autonomic nervous system, your circulation, your sensory system, the vestibular system (or) your ability to balance [repeatedly using a computerized balance platform]. Adjusting those pathways through the specific use of various modalities including one or more of the following; Very Specific Chiropractic Adjustments of the spine, extremities, and cranium, Soft Tissue or Massage, Eye Pattern & Eye Exercises, Canalith Repositioning (or) Eply’s, Vestibular Rehabilitative Modalities or VRT, and many others too numerous to list. The modalities used depend on the specific needs of each patient.
- A series of Cranial Releases are performed where the connective tissues that surround your brain and spinal cord called the Dura Mater are specifically released using endonasal balloon inflations. This is done in combination with the above mentioned functional neurologic modalities to provide the therapeutic effect to balance and normalize brain function. This normalization results in healing.
I bet you now wonder who this fabulous doctor Lieurance is. Wonder no more; he describes himself very well here:
Dr. John Lieurance, is a Naturopathic & Chiropractic Physician who has been in private practice in Sarasota for 20 years. He works at Advanced Rejuvenation, a multi-disciplinary clinic, with a focus on Chiropractic Functional Neurology, Functional Cranial Release (FCR), and musculoskeletal ultrasound.
It is easy to see that he is a real doctor, just look at his white coat and stethoscope!
And this website provides more valuable information about FCR:
Is FCR a Chiropractic adjustment ? Yes, FCR falls under the scope of Chiropractic care and is billed as a Chiropractic adjustment. If you are covered for Chiropractic care under your health insurance plan, then your FCR procedure will also be covered.
But what makes FCR so very attractive is that the list of conditions for which it is recommended is impressive and long; it even includes serious diseases such as Parkinson’s and stroke …
and don’t forget: ORGASM!!!
Yesterday, I received the following interesting tweet from my friend Natalie Grams:
Edzard, YOU are just influenced by ideological biases (they told me so yesterday – so it must be true;-)
If I understand it correctly, Natalie was a guest in a public discussion about homeopathy somewhere in Austria during which my name must have been mentioned, and some homeopath or homeopathy-fan made the above allegation about me. Sadly, I was not present (but it is typical that allegations against me are rarely made to me in person) to discuss it further.
I am very much used to allegations against me and, in a strange way, have even grown to enjoy them. Here are some of my favourites:
- I have undeclared ties to the pharmaceutical industry.
- I am incompetent or not even qualified.
- I was employed at Exeter to ditch alternative medicine.
- I have never done any original research.
- I sit in the ivory towers of academia.
- I have no clinical experience.
- I am basically a liar.
Even though they have been repeated ad nauseam, all of these accusations are untrue and have been refuted so often that I do not want to go into them again (for those interested, see for instance here, here, here and here).However, the allegation that I am ‘influenced by ideological biases’ is a new one, at least to me. And therefore, it might deserve some serious consideration.
Let’s start by getting our definitions straight:
- An ideology is a system of ideas and ideals.
- Bias is an inclination or prejudice for or against one person or group, especially in a way considered to be unfair.
Now let’s see how these two terms apply to me and my work.
- According to the definition above, I am clearly influenced by an ideology. Yes, I do have ideals! For instance, I believe in science, want to see sound evidence, hope to improve healthcare, insist that patients deserve the best treatments available, and feel that ethics are of paramount importance in healthcare.
- To make things worse, I am even proud of this ideology and I pity those who do not share it.
- What about bias? Do I hold a grudge against one person or a group of people? As I just stated, I pity those who do not share my ideals, and if I am brutally honest, I do not like charlatans, liars or entrepreneurs selling false hope.
- The question is whether this attitude is unfair. Personally, I do not believe it is, but I have to not deny that this is merely my perspective. There may be – and clearly are – other viewpoints.
So, to conclude this somewhat rambling post, I ready to admit that the Austrian homeopaths might have had a point:
FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF A CHARLATAN, I PROBABLY DO SEEM TO BE INFLUENCED BY ‘IDEOLOGICAL BIASES’.
The question whether spinal manipulative therapy (SMT) has any specific therapeutic effects is still open. This fact must irritate ardent chiropractors, and they therefore try everything to dispel our doubts. One way would be to demonstrate a dose-effect relationship between SMT and the clinical outcome. But, for several reasons, this is not an easy task.
This RCT was aimed at identifying the dose-response relationship between visits for SMT and chronic cervicogenic headache (CGH) outcomes; to evaluate the efficacy of SMT by comparison with a light massage control.
The study included 256 adults with chronic CGH. The primary outcome was days with CGH in the prior 4 weeks evaluated at the 12- and 24-week primary endpoints. Secondary outcomes included CGH days at remaining endpoints, pain intensity, disability, perceived improvement, medication use, and patient satisfaction. Participants were randomized to 4 different dose levels of chiropractic SMT: 0, 6, 12, or 18 sessions. They were treated 3 times per week for 6 weeks and received a focused light-massage control at sessions when SMT was not assigned. Linear dose effects and comparisons to the no-manipulation control group were evaluated at 6, 12, 24, 39, and 52 weeks.
A linear dose-response was observed for all follow-ups, a reduction of approximately 1 CGH day/4 weeks per additional 6 SMT visits (p<.05); a maximal effective dose could not be determined. CGH days/4 weeks were reduced from about 16 to 8 for the highest and most effective dose of 18 SMT visits. Mean differences in CGH days/4 weeks between 18 SMT visits and control were -3.3 (p=.004) and -2.9 (p=.017) at the primary endpoints, and similar in magnitude at the remaining endpoints (p<.05). Differences between other SMT doses and control were smaller in magnitude (p > .05). CGH intensity showed no important improvement nor differed by dose. Other secondary outcomes were generally supportive of the primary.
The authors concluded that there was a linear dose-response relationship between SMT visits and days with CGH. For the highest and most effective dose of 18 SMT visits, CGH days were reduced by half, and about 3 more days per month than for the light-massage control.
This trial would make sense, if the effectiveness of SMT for CGH had been a well-documented fact, and if the study had rigorously controlled for placebo-effects.
But guess what?
Neither of these conditions were met.
A recent review concluded that there are few published randomized controlled trials analyzing the effectiveness of spinal manipulation and/or mobilization for TTH, CeH, and M in the last decade. In addition, the methodological quality of these papers is typically low. Clearly, there is a need for high-quality randomized controlled trials assessing the effectiveness of these interventions in these headache disorders. And this is by no means the only article making such statements; similar reviews arrive at similar conclusions. In turn, this means that the effects observed after SMT are not necessarily specific effects due to SMT but could easily be due to placebo or other non-specific effects. In order to avoid confusion, one would need a credible placebo – one that closely mimics SMT – and make sure that patients were ‘blinded’. But ‘light massage’ clearly does not mimic SMT, and patients obviously were aware of which interventions they received.
So, an alternative – and I think at least as plausible – conclusion of the data provided by this new RCT is this:
Chiropractic SMT is associated with a powerful placebo response which, of course, obeys a dose-effect relationship. Thus these findings are in keeping with the notion that SMT is a placebo.
And why would the researchers – who stress that they have no conflicts of interest – mislead us by making this alternative interpretation of their findings not abundantly clear?
I fear, the reason might be simple: they also seem to mislead us about their conflicts of interest: they are mostly chiropractors with a long track record of publishing promotional papers masquerading as research. What, I ask myself, could be a stronger conflict of interest?
(Pity that a high-impact journal like SPINE did not spot these [not so little] flaws)
Lock 10 bright people into a room and tell them they will not be let out until they come up with the silliest idea in healthcare. It is not unlikely, I think, that they might come up with the concept of visceral osteopathy.
In case you wonder what visceral osteopathy (or visceral manipulation) is, one ‘expert’ explains it neatly: Visceral Osteopathy is an expansion of the general principles of osteopathy which includes a special understanding of the organs, blood vessels and nerves of the body (the viscera). Visceral Osteopathy relieves imbalances and restrictions in the interconnections between the motions of all the organs and structures of the body. Jean-Piere Barral RPT, DO built on the principles of Andrew Taylor Still DO and William Garner Sutherland DO, to create this method of detailed assessment and highly specific manipulation. Those who wish to practice Visceral Osteopathy train intensively through a series of post-graduate studies. The ability to address the specific visceral causes of somatic dysfunction allows the practitioner to address such conditions as gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), irritable bowel (IBS), and even infertility caused by mechanical restriction.
But, as I have pointed out many times before, the fact that a treatment is based on erroneous assumptions does not necessarily mean that it does not work. What we need to decide is evidence. And here we are lucky; a recent paper provides just that.
The purpose of this systematic review was to identify and critically appraise the scientific literature concerning the reliability of diagnosis and the clinical efficacy of techniques used in visceral osteopathy.
Only inter-rater reliability studies including at least two raters or the intra-rater reliability studies including at least two assessments by the same rater were included. For efficacy studies, only randomized-controlled-trials (RCT) or crossover studies on unhealthy subjects (any condition, duration and outcome) were included. Risk of bias was determined using a modified version of the quality appraisal tool for studies of diagnostic reliability (QAREL) in reliability studies. For the efficacy studies, the Cochrane risk of bias tool was used to assess their methodological design. Two authors performed data extraction and analysis.
Extensive searches located 8 reliability studies and 6 efficacy trials that could be included in this review. The analysis of reliability studies showed that the diagnostic techniques used in visceral osteopathy are unreliable. Regarding efficacy studies, the least biased study showed no significant difference for the main outcome. The main risks of bias found in the included studies were due to the absence of blinding of the examiners, an unsuitable statistical method or an absence of primary study outcome.
The authors (who by the way declared no conflicts of interest) concluded that the results of the systematic review lead us to conclude that well-conducted and sound evidence on the reliability and the efficacy of techniques in visceral osteopathy is absent.
It is hard not to appreciate the scientific rigor of this review or to agree with the conclusions drawn by the French authors.
But what consequences should we draw from all this?
The authors of this paper state that more and better research is needed. Somehow, I doubt this. Visceral osteopathy is not plausible and the best evidence available to date does not show it works. In my view, this means that we should declare it an obsolete aberration of medical history.
To this, the proponents of visceral osteopathy will probably say that they have tons of experience and have witnessed wonderful cures etc. This I do not doubt; however, the things they saw were not due to the effects of visceral osteopathy, they were due to chance, placebo, regression towards the mean, the natural history of the diseases treated etc., etc. And sometimes, experience is nothing more that the ability to repeat a mistake over and over again.
- If it looks like a placebo,
- if it behaves like a placebo,
- if it tests like a placebo,
IT MOST LIKELY IS A PLACEBO!!!
And what is wrong with a placebo, if it helps patients?
GIVE ME A BREAK!
WE HAVE ALREADY DISCUSSED THIS AD NAUSEAM. JUST READ SOME OF THE PREVIOUS POSTS ON THIS SUBJECT.
