Complementary therapies: The big con?

[0iD]

Complementary therapies: The big con? - Features, Health & Wellbeing - The Independent

We spend billions on complementary therapies. But after 15 years of research, this man has found that most of them don't work. Jeremy Laurance reports

So, what's your take on the subject? Do some therapies have substance? Is it all bunkum? Do you believe in the benifits of some therapies? Experiences...? and why is it so lacking in legislation?

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My mother is a homoeopath.
I'm usually very critical of anything that doesn't have proof (I'm a staunch athiest)...
But given the amount of times that Ive been fixed by homoeopathy, I think there is certainly something to it.
Example, i've broken my 5th metatarsel bone 3 times, and each time the doctor told me 6-8 weeks. Everytime I've been given a remedy for bone treatment by me dear ole' maw, and I've been walking painlessly around 4-5 weeks.
Obviously this can't be seen as proof, too many inconsistancies, no lab conditions etc, but it seems to have worked for me

[0iD]

My mrs is a Reflexologist & to be honest, from experience, it's just a fancy foot massage, nothing more.
I've also tried accupuncture for a persistant tendonitis injury which did sod all. Took a couple of steroid injections to sort that.
I think faith & belief have a lot to do with the process.

[TheAnimus]

Example, i've broken my 5th metatarsel bone 3 times, and each time the doctor told me 6-8 weeks. Everytime I've been given a remedy for bone treatment by me dear ole' maw, and I've been walking painlessly around 4-5 weeks.

Mabye your bones just heal quickly? Even if you'd said "and the one time my mum didn't give me anything i took 8 weeks to heal" it would still be in-admissible as proof.

Homeopathy has never ever been proved to be anything but placebo and coning sick people. Wasn't someone offering $1,000,000 a while back to anyone who could prove it? (in just a double blind trail).

I've had accupuncture, it tingles.

[Rosaline]

Almost all of them are simply the Placebo effect and the results of greater patient-practitioner contact. There is nothing wrong with that at all, indeed there is everything right and highly effective about that! However to claim an unprovable and impossible scientific basis for such things is bad, as is the extremely poor ethics of many CAM practitioners.

[Moby-Dick]

I don't know if this includes things like Chiropractors , but I swear by mine - she's a miracle worker

hey if the placebo effect works I'm happy bottom line is that it works.

[fuddam]

chiropractic is not a complementary therapy - it's just realigning the spine through physical manipulation of the spinal column. Extremely scientific.

In RSA, all chiropractors have to become qualified medical doctors before they continue to become chiropractors. 7 years of study, IIRC.

If you've ever put your back out, then put it back into place, you'll know that it's quite clinically verifiable.

[kalniel]

Example, i've broken my 5th metatarsel bone 3 times, and each time the doctor told me 6-8 weeks. Everytime I've been given a remedy for bone treatment by me dear ole' maw, and I've been walking painlessly around 4-5 weeks.

Why do you keep breaking the same bone then? A properly healed bone is actually much less likely to break again - suggests me to you could be weakening it.

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Why do you keep breaking the same bone then? A properly healed bone is actually much less likely to break again - suggests me to you could be weakening it.

It was in a period of about 6 years, so one every 2 years give or take 6 months, there was a running joke that I was overdue one and I must say it crossed my mind once or twice

Mabye your bones just heal quickly? Even if you'd said "and the one time my mum didn't give me anything i took 8 weeks to heal" it would still be in-admissible as proof.

Homeopathy has never ever been proved to be anything but placebo and coning sick people. Wasn't someone offering $1,000,000 a while back to anyone who could prove it? (in just a double blind trail).

I've had accupuncture, it tingles.

I've also broken my left wrist, and it took about 6 weeks iirc to heal ( of course, this still doesn't really prove much)

However, as for the placebo effect, I can say that homoeopathy has apparantly been used to treat animals and has sucessfully treated babies... Obv. the placebo effect can't be there for them.

[TheAnimus]

I've also broken my left wrist, and it took about 6 weeks iirc to heal ( of course, this still doesn't really prove much)

However, as for the placebo effect, I can say that homoeopathy has apparantly been used to treat animals and has sucessfully treated babies... Obv. the placebo effect can't be there for them.

Step right up, Animus's Rocks that Keep Away Tigers. Garenteed!

your milage may vary.

I think Prof Edzard Ernst summed it up neatly in the artical.

(as for kids/animals been immune to placebo effect.......... no, because placebo effect can easily be discounted in a double blind trail. Bet you they werent double blind)

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Just stumbled across some research conducted by Madeleine Ennis.

Obviously it's not conclusive in any way but certainly interesting, given her fierce skepticism.

also; bump lol

[pollaxe]

I'm not a big believer in alternative therapies, I've had acupuncture which felt exactly as I expected: some git sticking pins in me! It didn't help *but* on one occasion a dull, red straight line emerged between two needles in my arm. The acupuncturist told me it was a meridian and when the needles were out it just faded as I watched. It looked almost like dark red ink, like someone had drawn on the skin. Interesting but as I said, ultimately, it didn't seem to do anything much for me.

Having said that, I used to take homeopathic remedies as a youngster which I felt helped me. I believe there is also anecdotal evidence of them working on animals too (which may complicate the placebo effect argument though you could also say perhaps the animals just got better anyway.) There's also some evidence (I believe) of acupuncture working for pain relief (if nothing else.)

Perhaps belief is a big factor as Oid says at the top. I'm a sceptic and a good friend of mine (ex NHS) rails against alternative therapies and I listen a lot to what he says. I have some friends who swear by crystal therapies that some psychic does for them. If it were free then I may have some more sympathy but from what I've heard and the amount it costs them then it sounds like nothing more than snake oil to me.

[GhostITM]

Homeopathy has never ever been proved to be anything but placebo and coning sick people.

Exactly right.

Although you misspelled 'thick people'.

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Just stumbled across some research conducted by Madeleine Ennis.

Obviously it's not conclusive in any way but certainly interesting, given her fierce skepticism.

Did you even read this?

[GhostITM]

Did you even read this?

'A team of scientists failed to replicate these results.'

[shaithis]

The placebo effect is very potent.

I remember seeing a documentary a number of years ago where they took a large sample of people with a knee condition. They split them into 3 groups, performed a different type of surgery on 2 of the groups and pretended to perform surgery on the 3rd group (they couldn't see exactly what was happening but they cut them and stitched them to make it look genuine)

IIRC, there was no variance between the 3 groups of people, all reported roughly the same amount of people felt pain relief afterwards.

I fully believe that faith healing works the same way.....the power of suggestion is quite real IMO.