Is osteopathy scientific or anti-scientific?

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

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Is osteopathy scientific or anti-scientific?

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Osteopathy is an alternative medicine method based on physical (osteopathic) manipulation of bones, ligaments and muscles.

In the USA, it was transferred to the section of official medicine, because the state had a need to somehow regulate the activities of osteopathic specialists.

This made it possible to put osteopathy in a legal framework when solving medical issues and to impose on osteopaths the same measure of responsibility for the health of patients that other doctors have before the law. In Russia, about the same thing happened, although much later.

Why is osteopathy so popular

Psychology plays an important role in the popularity of osteopathy. Specialists in this area do not have a rigid framework and can spend a lot of time in contact with the patient, which gives a certain psychotherapeutic effect. An ordinary doctor, on the other hand, has a shortage of time, and each appointment has a rather rigid, regulated structure, from which one cannot deviate. Therefore, this effect is less pronounced.

Does osteopathy work

Despite its great popularity, osteopathy is still a pseudoscience, since its basic principles have not been scientifically proven. There are only conflicting data on the effectiveness of this method in the treatment of certain conditions. Mostly we are talking about the treatment of back pain.

Thus, in the systematic review Osteopathic intervention in chronic non-specific low back pain: a systematic review of clinical studies evaluating the effectiveness of osteopathy in the treatment of chronic non-specific low back pain, out of 809 publications, only two met the criteria for the quality of clinical trials. In the first study, the effectiveness of osteopathy was comparable to "sham" treatment, and in the second it was compared to physical therapy and physiotherapy.

If we turn to the Cochrane Library, we find evidence from Spinal manipulative therapy for chronic low-back pain that osteopathy is somewhat effective only in the treatment of chronic back pain. But they also raise many questions. For example, out of 26 studies, 17 had a high risk of bias because they were conducted by stakeholders. In this case, only a statistical effect is observed, and the clinical one is comparable with other manipulative methods, for example, with massage.

Is it worth using the services of osteopaths

Among the specialists of the osteopathic school there is a tendency to replace classical medical approaches to treatment, which have scientific substantiation and many convincing clinical studies, with osteopathic methods. As a result, this can lead to an exacerbation of the disease, causing harm to health and even death.

It turns out that osteopathy can be used in solving some medical issues - for example, for back pain. But only if it does not pose risks to the life and health of patients. I, in turn, strongly discourage the use of osteopathic methods as the main treatment for serious diseases.