To think osteopathy is "woo woo" therapy?

[candycoatedwaterdrops]

Apparently, this makes me UR and that it's not comparable to homeopathy. So, MNers what do you think?

I am completely with you on the woo woo. I think psychics and spirutalist are comment to a man/woman and homeopathy is a joke. However, osteopathy does have a physical effect, just massage and slight realignment I think.

I had bad SPD during pregnancy and I would hobble in barely able to walk and come out almost normal - dramatic improvement. I am the least suggestible person you could find. I really do think it is just mild physical manipulation which can help with thigs being out of whacks - like sciatica, trapped nerves etc. it was only ever temporary as everything would slip back out of place and is be in the same state by the following weeks appointment.

I am convinced it is just physical manipulation - no woo, no healing hands or any of that mumbo jumbo. The pregnancy hormones in my case over relaxed my pelvis (I am hyper mobile to start with) and now, after 3 pregnancies, I can feel it sliding around and don't bother going to the osteo as it is so loose I can put it back in place myself!

Con men !

You are right nice name, osteopathy treatment does automatically mean being 'popped' or ''clicked'. The most important part of the consultation is diagnosing the tissue that is causing the patients symptoms, much like a GP would, but 99.9% of the time it's the musculoskeletal system.
If the diagnosis of a disc injury or other contradictory problem is reached, then manipulation would not be used, but instead perhaps articulation ( moving the skeleton), massage, rehab, stretches would be more effective.
It's a bit like prescribing the correct medication for your pain!
Being able to have the skill to reach the correct diagnosis takes along time - 5 years, and even after that every registered osteopath in the UK has to undergo annual assessment to remain on the register. If you see an osteopath which is registered with the GOC you should have assurance that they are a decent practitioner.

The problems that people seem to have with Osteopathy, Chiropractic and even physiotherapy to an extent, are largely based in the professional historic foundations. A bit like allopathic medicine historically had some very odd beliefs and philosophies - think the four humours and bleeding, so too did osteopathy and chiropractic. However those beliefs are historical and, just like with allopathic medicine, chiropractic and osteopathy has moved on. There is still a long way to go before every mechanism is understood, there is a problem with funding large scale trials and there is also a problem with a minority who still believe the old philosophies and that they really can heal the world. However the vast majority consider themselves to be specialists in their field, evidence led, patient centred practitioners who learn from experience and are trying to move their professions forward by contributing to research.

The difference between the professions is, IMO, largely historical. Any good practitioner will look at what others in their field are doing, question its effectiveness and include it if it suits them and their patients. Private physios are as much primary health care professionals as any osteo or chiro and is just as qualified to do any of the techniques.

At your initial consultation with a manual therapist (Physio, Osteo or Chiro - stick with these as they are protected titles and really have studied for years to gain the title) You will give a full case history including medical history, you will be physically examined, you may be sent for further investigations including X rays, MRi or even bloods, following all of this you will be given a report of findings including diagnosis of your condition, suitability for manual therapy (If needs be you will be referred to someone more suitable for you), personal, individual plan of management including risks, you should also be made aware of your prognosis, all before treatment even commences.

Treatment is always patient centred as you personally have a completely different history and physiology to your neighbour - so what suits them may not be appropriate for you.

Great post Cairo!

Cairo am I right to be a bit though that everyone I know who visits a chiropractor tells me that their issues are due to having one leg shorter than the other?

Granted I'm talking about a few colleagues here, who clearly aren't representative of the entire population and it's possible of course that they're all seeing the same person. Plus it's probably just coincidence.

I really want to measure their inside legs but that might no be appropriate in an office environment

I think that measurements starting at the crotch could be a great way to brighten up a dull day at the office!

YABU. It's no more woo than physiotherapy. There's no spirituality or magic or impossible thinking.

Johnny, I think you will find your colleagues are misunderstanding what they are being told by their practitioner. The shorter leg is not because a leg is actually shorter, it's a symptom of your pelvis and spine being out of alight meant/twisted. At it's simplest, if the pelvis is twisted and as a result one hip is higher than the pther, your leg will then seem shorter on that side. This of course has knock on affects Ito your overall body movement and can cause referred pain as you adjust to the misalignment.

This, perhaps, is the worst thing about Chiro and oesteo - a lot of patients do not actually understand what the practitioner is doing. So they tend to think of it as "magic" and rave about alternative therapies when really it's just someone adjusting your body so that it moves correctly which has the affect of reducing pain, increasing movement etc.

Actually, to qualify my previous comment: There is nothing woo about osteopathy treating back pain, or ailments related to joints/muscles. However, there isn't any evidence for it being able cure other illnesses that are unrelated. www.nhs.uk/Conditions/Osteopathy/Pages/evidence.aspx

Physiotherapy was utterly useless for SPD for me, but osteopathy was brilliant. I'd only use osteopathy for a limited number of things.

So it depends, OP, on what you mean in your post.

one problem with osteopaths is that they can vary enormously. My current osteopath came recommended. When she was away I went to see another osteopath and was unimpressed. Like all professions, there are good and bad. My osteopath will also say when she can't do anything more to help.
When I damage my neck, I can feel what needs doing but I just can't do it myself, whereas 30 mins in the osteopath and its done. I'm told this is because I'm quite flexible (hypermobility) so my joints 'come out' easily but also 'go back' easily. My DH is the opposite and is very stiff and often needs 5/6 weeks of treatment to get the same effect.

I've got a biology degree and the osteopath often explains what she's doing which makes perfect sense to me based on my knowledge of physiology.

Also, I once went for a massage (had a free voucher)as I thought maybe it is just the massage that's helping. I was in agony afterwards and made a complaint to the salon as had warned the masseur to be gentle with my lower back or miss it out altogether but she went ahead anyway. I would never have a massage again in anywhere other than with a qualified physio or osteopath.

Osteopathy is the attempt to treat disease by stimulating the body to heal itself through manipulation & so on. The is clearly complete crap - that's why it's referred to as a philosophy & "alternative".

Not any osteopathy I've ever encountered. I think you might be thinking of some of the more far out chiropractors, who, in my experience, have more of a tendancy to make outrageous claims.

ShoeSmacking that makes sense, thank you :)

Candy - well that didn't ask me!

I

I wasn't being sneery. If you can prove it works, why shouldn't you be rewarded for it?

(One does not prove negatives, by the way. Science doesn't work like that.)

I

The person who invented osteopathy (and it WAS an invention, just an idea he had one day that he quite fancied the sound of) proposed that he could cure childhood diphtheria, a bacterial infection often fatal at the time, by shaking the infant.

We send people to prison for that these days.

The philosophy underpinning osteopathy is as woo as it gets i.e. utter bollocks. Many practitioners still assert that 'realigning' can cure non-neuromuscular disorders like asthma.

Those who don't - those who simply manipulate joints to offer temporary relief for a limited number of conditions i.e. lower back pain - may not be causing active harm but they are part of the machine that promotes alternative over conventional medicine. Also, I doubt that they can legitimately lay claim to the title of osteopath. I wonder why on earth they wish to continue to practice under the dubious title of 'osteopath'? Why not dissociate? Surely easier to create a new medical speciality than attempt to rewrite a nonsense philosophy?

Maid, to put that into context, at the time that the inventor of osteopathy was coming up with his ideas medical doctors believed in phrenology. Things have moved on a long way since then.

The name osteopathy was invented as was chiropractic however the roots go way back easily as far as medicine with Hippocrates referring to bone setters.

YABU

Miracle workers in my experience...

The philosophy underpinning surgery...

blood letting? barbers? do you therefore deduce that anyone clinging to the old term is a useless rogue?

Cairo at the time that the inventor of osteopathy was coming up with his ideas medical doctors believed in phrenology. Things have moved on a long way since then.

But phrenology hasn't....

Might it be fair to say that a bonesetter dealt with breaks and dislocations, and didn't purport to be able to cure, for example, gastrointestinal disorders via skeletal manipulation? It is this - the woo link between the skeletal and the visceral - that really undermines whatever good stuff a genuine osteopath might offer. I don't have any issue with accepting that the mechanical movement of joints can provide relief, where such evidence is available. I DO have an issue with entrusting that manipulation to someone who has made a conscious decision to sign up to a discipline that deliberately skirts conventional medicine, that allows quacks to exploit, that as a global movement is happy to promote scientific falsehood.

Maid, as I pointed out in a previous post, the vast majority of osteopaths and chiropractors do not sign up to a discipline that deliberately skirts conventional medicine they chosse to keep the title of their profession because they have studied for years to gain it and because the profession has moved on from past philosophies and beliefs to modern knowledge and understanding of anatomy, physiology and pathology. These are well respected professions (by other healthcare professionals) that are protected by parliamentary statute.

Yes there are still a few on the fringe who could be accused of being woo but they are a minority.

evidence

And just for fun :)