Shiatsu at my NHS GP surgery

[catbasket]

In the waiting room of my doctor's surgery yesterday I spotted a bundle of leaflets for Namaste' [sic] The Shiatsu Centre in amongst the official NHS leaflets. Concerned that these Shiatsu leaflets might be sanctioned by my GP I mentioned them to him at the end of my check-up.

Turns out none of the GPs or receptionists were aware the leaflets were available in the waiting room, nobody had given permission for them to be placed there and they were removed immediately.

The leaflets were fairly professional-looking, though home made. The only contact details were a name, mobile (cell) phone number and a Hotmail email address, but google tells me this person is a local and as it's a village surgery is probably a patient at the surgery in question. I'd guess that once the Shiatsu practitioner notices all her leaflets have gone she'll simply print off a few more to replace them.


Is there any action I can take to prevent her placing these ads for her woo business at an NHS GPs' surgery? Are there rules/regulations on what can and cannot be displayed in these leaflet dispenser things? Who should I contact?


Some snippets frome The Shiatsu Centre's leaflet -

Energy flows through the body in channels called meridians and for many reasons, can become interrupted or 'blocked' and stops flowing sufficiently.

Conditions and ailments that can be helped by Shiatsu.

Headches, nausea, stress, asthmatic symptoms, back aches, insomnia, depression, premenstrual/menopausal problems, joint pain, fibromyalgia, digestive problems, chronic fatigue, syndrome/ME, chronic pain, whiplash/other injuries.

The wonder of google also reveals that "The Shiatsu Centre" is in fact a two bedroom flat (by coincidence the same block where I lived in the 90s).

 

[Soapy Sam]

Why so concerned?
So far as I know this is just a light massage.
Not exactly a therapy, but harmless and relaxing.
I tried it once in a Borders Bookshop and once in an airport. It won't cure rabies or flat feet, but it feels nice.
Pretty much all the conditions listed have symptoms that would feel better for a gentle backrub. Just so long as nobody is misled into thinking it's more than that.

 

[catbasket]

Why so concerned?

If it was advertised as just a massage I wouldn't be concerned.

Just so long as nobody is misled into thinking it's more than that.

Isn't that the whole point of these leaflets? Sneaking them into the dispenser in a doctors' surgery, giving the impression they are "official" NHS literature seems pretty misleading to me. The wording seems carefully crafted to imply there is a genuine evidence based effect going on ... and not that this is simply a massage. (Sorry, defunct scanner and I really cannot be bothered to type the whole thing).


Maybe I just need to chill and have a relaxing back rub. Let's see, for £22 (US$44) I can have a "20 minute Shiatsu session to eliminate' blockage' from hands and feet and ears. Rebalancing and restoring." I'll just have to hope that this particular Shiatsu practitioner is not one of the ones who "may also use irrational diagnostic methods to reach diagnoses that do not correspond to scientific concepts of health and disease" (Quackwatch).

Years Practicing: 6

Practitioner Description:
Shiatsu Practitioner Namikoshi working on the central nervous system, stimulating and calming the bodies' natural energy source.

Credentials:
800 hours with the I.S.A and diploma.

Speciality:
Stress and chronic fatigue.

Second thoughts, I think I'll pass on the back rub. Even if it does "re-balance and restore energy levels whilst encouraging health and vitality throughout the whole body".


ETA - weird use of apostrophes taken from the original. I have never knowingly abused an apostrophe.

 

[Almo]

It is not a treatment for depression. As such, its presence at the GP's may lead someone to think they can substitute this for real treatment. It has no place at any NHS installation.

Period.

 

[tyr_13]

At our Sam's Club I saw a 'shiatsu' massage chair cover. As I happen to speak some Japanese, I know that a machine like that one cannot give shiatsu massage as it requires palms and fingers from a human.

Those ads are certainly wrong and misleading. Shiatsu is good massage, but bad medicine.

 

[leonAzul]

Is there any action I can take to prevent her placing these ads for her woo business at an NHS GPs' surgery? Are there rules/regulations on what can and cannot be displayed in these leaflet dispenser things? Who should I contact?

Besides physical and possibly criminal intervention, no. You did the right thing. It's not your surgery. Alert the people who run it as to what is going on and let them deal with it.

 

[Gord_in_Toronto]

I only read this thread because I thought a Shiatsu was a sort of small dog.

Please ignore this post.

Thank you.

 

[Soapy Sam]

You ignoramus! That's a Lapsang- Souchong.

Isn't that the whole point of these leaflets? Sneaking them into the dispenser in a doctors' surgery, giving the impression they are "official" NHS literature seems pretty misleading to me. The wording seems carefully crafted to imply there is a genuine evidence based effect going on ... and not that this is simply a massage. (Sorry, defunct scanner and I really cannot be bothered to type the whole thing).

Yes, that's not playing the game.
Mind you, I was recently in a hospital rehab dept., reading official notices about SCAM that I would have removed had I been a staff member. They also had massage ads on the corridor notice board, but that was clearly a non-official board and it made no claim beyond relaxation , which is legit enough.