In the past I have done a number of posts on CranioSacral Therapy (CST) covering the claims made and the lack of evidence to support those claims.
https://skepticbarista.wordpress.com/category/craniosacral/
On a number of occasions I have also mentioned a PAT Hughes, a CranioSacral Therapist who works in my local area. She has repeatedly made misleading claims regarding the use and effectiveness of CranioSacral Therapy. Pat Hughes must be a very slow learner!
2010: Pat Hughes was the source of a CST leaflet that was the subject of an ASA adjudication and I covered here in What is CranioSacral Therapy.
2011: Pat Hughes was distributing leaflets (via health food stores) in my local area, these leaflets were making the same misleading claims that craniosacral could treat a number of medical conditions. This was covered here: CranioSacral Challenged and ASA action resulted in in an Informal Adjudication published on 30 Mar 2011. At the same time Mrs Hughes website which repeated the claims made on the leaflet went off line ….. But it’s back!
2012: Her website is currently making the same claims as before: Dynamic Treatments
http://www.dynamictreatments.com claims 13 Dec 2012
Prevention is better than cure! (CST can do neither!)
Her current claims are certainly no better than at any time in the past and if anything they could be classed as actually being worse!
She is now claiming that CST can actually ‘prevent‘ conditions such as ear infections and colic as well a ‘treating‘ more serious conditions such as cerebral palsy and autism. These are both conditions that require properly qualified, long term supervision.
She also advertises her treatments and repeats her claims at other locations, including:
The Natural Health Centre (Nottingham)
“Cranio Sacral Therapy can help many conditions e.g. migraine, neck and back tension, bone and joint problems, menstrual problems, TMJ and jaw problems, tinnitus, arthritis and stress. It is also useful for people who have experienced trauma, e.g. accidents, operations, shock, emotional & physical stress; as CST can calm and settle the nervous system.
CST also plays a special role in treating babies. It can prevent common problems such as colic, sleeplessness, irritability and help more serious conditions such as cerebral palsy, autism and hyperactivity.”
Optimum Health Centre (Nottingham)
“CST aids deep relaxation and calms the nervous system. CST is known for its work with babies and children – many childhood conditions can be traced back to stress at birth. For babies CST improves colic, eases pain and sleep problems, and increases in energy and well being. It is also helpful for a number of other conditions in people of all ages.
Conditions that this therapy can help include:
Birth Trauma, Chronic Fatigue, Colic, Anxiety and Depression, Emotional problems, Headaches”
Easthgate Health Centre (Leicester).
“CST has a calming effect on the nervous system and can prove helpful in cases of anxiety, shock, trauma and post operative conditions. Other conditions often seen include, TMJ dysfunction, headaches & migraines, ME, and pain.
CST is also effective in helping pregnant women to relax and ease back pain & nausea. It is especially effective in supporting babies recovering from birth, with symptoms such as colic, sleep problems and excessive crying. Please talk to the Pat Hughes for more information.”
Like many CST therapists, Mrs Hughes has no formal medical training she is not qualified to properly diagnose, treat or prevent any of the conditions she makes claims for. I can see no mention of her advising people seek properly qualified medical advice for any of the conditions she lists.
And for that reason Mrs Hughes current claims are now back with the ASA !
I suppose I should really pop into a certain local health food shop to see if her leaflets are back!
sham
December 13, 2012
You’ve often discussed the case of CranioSacral therapy. Is there anything better (ie. more scientific/evidence based) in osteopathy excluding the CranioSacral field? Because here in France osteopaths often make the same claims.
skepticbarista
December 13, 2012
Hi,
Osteopaths in the UK often make the same claims as craniosacral therapists, usually using terms like ‘cranial osteopathy’, ‘osteopathy in the cranial field’,’Paediatric Osteopathy’ or simply referring to the treatment of babies & children. However the levels of evidence are pretty much the same as for craniosacral = no good quality evidence exists!
Have a look here: Osteopathy: A question of evidence part 1 and also here Osteopathy: A question of evidence part 2.
A 2011 study into the benefits of Cranial Osteopathy for the treatment of Cerebral Palsy found that there was no significant benefit for either patient or carer.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/03/110315093247.htm
The format of that study was agreed with by osteopaths from the (FPO) Foundation for Paediatric Osteopathy – however when the results were published they continued to advertise
the treatment of cerebral palsy …… until the ASA stopped them!
I strongly suspect that they still offer the treatment, even if they can’t actually put it on their website!
* the Foundation for Paediatric Osteopathy underwent a name change and is now called the Osteopathic Centre for Children (OCC), but they are the same organisation.
Skattomole
December 20, 2012
Is your objection that Mrs Hughes’ claims are misleading advertising, or is your real point that, being bad science, they should be accompanied by a Government Health Warning – or would you secretly like such claims to be banned altogether? If so, would you allow NICE space to make its claims without comment from its own sceptics?
A website similar to this one in tone declared “First, we came for the homeopaths”. I assume the author knows history, and has read those chilling words from the pre war years in Germany on which her headline is clearly based. Is this the tone opponents of “alternatives” really want to display? If so, who will be next, when the homeopaths are all locked up or otherwise silenced?
Elsewhere on that website, we are exhorted to sign a petition against UK libel laws, for the very good reason that they have been used in a disgraceful attempt to muzzle a writer who is himself well versed in scientific method. Quite right: democracy is hard won and expensive to defend. But it would look, shall we say, ‘ironic’, if those you regard as the other side were harassed into silence.
A similar tactical error was committed by the BBC when they clearly set up Nick Griffin for the Two Minute’s Hate” on “Question Time. If something is prattish, in a democracy, it should be left to expose itself as such. We citizens are not children to be told by him (or you) what to think. As for the ASA, how do you know it does not “cherry pick” what it goes for?
Anyway, science is value free – is it not? It does not require three cheers from its supporters and cannot be undermined by the booing and hissing of its opponents. It is self evidently valid because it provides its own methodological critique – so long as the phenomena it observes can be measured.
The data should speak for themselves, and the assertions of science fans or opponents are a distraction. Nor are scientists themselves automatically the best advocates, as they cannot help but have other sympathies. Remember that JBS Haldane, having rubbished CS Lewis, himself suppressed scepticism at Soviet claims that they had kept an isolated dog’s head alive, and that TS Lysenko’s Agrobiology would feed millions.
If you think the “Alternative” enthusiasts are wrong, point out how. If your camp keep going for them, it will appear to be a witch hunt. Beyond that, if there is no personal god with a right to vie for my soul (and that’s my own position), who are you to do it?
skepticbarista
January 3, 2013
Interesting that Mrs Hughes Conditions Treated web page states:
“From 2011 the Advertising Standards Authority have deemed that practitioners can no longer claim that CST and Bowen Technique are able to treat specific health problems.
Therefore, unfortunately I cannot provide a list of conditions that I have treated over many years. Please contact me to discuss your symptoms.”
Clearly she is well aware of the rules and yet her Craniosacral page lists numerous conditions she claims can be helped by this quackery.
No matter, this is still ongoing and I have had confirmation from the ASA that they are investigating these claims, so Mrs Hughes will have the opportunity to explain all. However I feel there may be some changes to her website in the not too distant future!
Skattomole
January 7, 2013
Thanks for replying.
I perceive actual hostility towards those who disagree with the rationalist position over medicine. The best defence of science is to point to the achievements of the rational method (which should be a simple matter). No method will ever uncover the whole truth, and our image would be better if we admitted this. Science proclaims being value free, which translates for many people as being amoral. Either we communicate better or we start lobbying the policy makers to force behaviour. I will not support that, as it would end with state compulsion – which (some might recall) we have gone to war against.