Cranial Osteopathy

[Blue Wode]

I think we have to conclude that there’s currently no sound scientific evidence for either cranial osteopathy or craniosacral therapy.

Interexaminer Reliability and Cranial Osteopathy
http://faculty.une.edu/com/shartman/sram.pdf

See Table 3 here:
http://www.healthwatch-uk.org/hw60.htm#ernst

 

[Blue Wode]

Since it’s ‘Craniosacral Therapy Awareness Week’

http://www.craniosacral.co.uk/

…here’s a little update from this month’s Chiropractic & Osteopathy journal:

Cranial osteopathy: its fate seems clear
http://www.chiroandosteo.com/content/14/1/10

This treatment regime lacks a biologically plausible mechanism, shows no diagnostic reliability, and offers little hope that any direct clinical effect will ever be shown. In spite of almost uniformly negative research findings, "cranial" methods remain popular with many practitioners and patients.

Until outcome studies show that these techniques produce a direct and positive clinical effect, they should be dropped from all academic curricula; insurance companies should stop paying for them; and patients should invest their time, money, and health elsewhere.

(For a free PDF of the article click on the left-hand sidebar of the abstract)

Let’s not forget that HRH’s Foundation for Integrated Health is currently working in partnership with craniosacral therapists (the Cranial Forum) to develop “an effective form of voluntary self-regulation”:

http://www.fih.org.uk/whatwedo/Regulation/reggroups.htm

 

[UrsulaV]

This reminds me irrestistably of the phrenology therapy in the Discworld books, which went something like "If the lumps on your skull determine your personality, if I hit you with this hammer in the correct places, I can change your personality to order!"

Seems like that has much more chance of working...