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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsPrince Charles’s ideas about medicine may seriously harm your health
http://health.spectator.co.uk/prince-charless-ideas-about-medicine-may-seriously-harm-your-health/"We tend to think of alternative medicine as a colourful array of therapeutic methods. However, this ignores the fact that alternative practitioners also use a range of diagnostic tools which would bewilder every conventional physician. These alternative diagnostic methods have grown out of the different traditions of alternative medicine and are therefore are extremely diverse. Yet they have in common that they have either not been validated or, in case they have been tested, they have been found to be invalid.
Non-validated diagnostic methods run an unacceptably high risk of producing false positive or false negative diagnoses; with invalid methods, the risk turns into certainty. A false positive diagnosis is a diagnosis that the patient in question is, in fact, not suffering from. Such a scenario is, of course, a most welcome carte blanche for every charlatan; it enables him or her to cash in on treating something that is not even there. A false negative diagnosis is much more dangerous; it means missing an existing disease, and that might even threaten the patients life.
In addition to false positive and false negative diagnoses, we also encounter invented diagnoses. By this term I mean conditions that are pure fantasy and have been invented by practitioners mostly in order to keep the cash flowing into their bank accounts. Chiropractors, for instance, go on about subluxations which are a complete myth, and acupuncturists speak of yin or yang deficiencies which have no basis in reality.
More than 20 years ago, I published a review evaluating the evidence for or against alternative diagnostic techniques entitled Which craft is witchcraft?. Its conclusions are as true today as they were then: alternative diagnostic methods may seriously threaten the safety and health of patients submitted to them. Orthodox doctors should be aware of the problem and inform their patients accordingly.
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ronnie624
(5,764 posts)Which is highly unlikely.
There are far more important issues than this, if one wants to be an activist.
Your priorities are...interesting.
HuckleB
(35,773 posts)And a few other DUers keep saying that these scams are fine because millions of people fall for them.
Hmm.
Yeah, I see working to stop scam artists that can definitively harm people's health as a good thing, an important progressive concern. I think my priorities are just fine. I'm sorry you don't feel that way.
REP
(21,691 posts)I have something that may or may not be a form of Erhlos-Danlos (one doctor says yes; another says maybe); at any rate, I have hypermobile joints that either completely dislocate or partially dislocate (subluxate). I've had surgery to repair the damage this has caused, and have built some surprisingly substantial muscle to help stabilize the joints. And yes, I've found that a good chiropractor can reduce a dislocation or sub less painfully (and quicker) than at the ER.
That said, most people won't dislocate an elbow putting on a sweater. I'm not sure what chiropracty does for a normal person, except lighten the wallet and pop a few joints.
HuckleB
(35,773 posts)REP
(21,691 posts)While I've had numerous subs in my ribcage and my spine is growing another spine (big bone spurs), the majority of my dislocations have been in my shoulders, elbows, fingers, knees, hips and feet - never my vertebrae.
When I was younger and my joints were far more unstable, I was fortunate to know "old school" bone crackers who merely put my joint back in place and did not claim I could be cured of anything by spine manipulation. That may be why I don't hate them the way I do homeopaths; unlike homeopaths, I think it's possible that some few chiros are doing some few people some good. That number may be counted on both hands; my faith is not great In the largest sense, I do agree with you.
MH1
(17,600 posts)They did x-rays, diagnosed arthritis, prescribed an exercise regimen and glucosamine. And they had me come in periodically for some sort of ultrasound massage thing.
My back got better. I attribute the improvement 90 - 100% to the exercises. Jury's out on glucosamine. I don't think the ultrasound did anything except make me feel like someone was attending to me (for a fee of course).
I don't recall how long I kept up with the ultrasound. Probably long enough to wipe out any savings from seeing the chiropractor instead of an md. But, I have been to MD's who have done far less for me, for far more.
I don't buy into the chiropractor snake oil generally, but on the other hand, I don't think they're all bad, and I think I lucked out and got one of the good ones.
HuckleB
(35,773 posts)REP
(21,691 posts)It allegedly heats the deep tissue to loosen it. Depending upon what's going on in the area - my issue is lots of scar tissue - my anecdotal experience is that it does make the rest of PT less screamy.
And my chiros gave my instructions on exercises to strengthen the muscles around my weakest joints - the same ones my PT advised. More anecdotes from two people who were lucky to find ethical chiropractors (almost an oxymoron!)
LeftishBrit
(41,208 posts)This is a big reason why, though no great monarchist, I am entirely in favour of God (or good genes for longevity) saving the Queen!
HuckleB
(35,773 posts)Yikes!
JustABozoOnThisBus
(23,350 posts)wheniwasincongress
(1,307 posts)back when they were constantly sprouting up in the eighties. (They were all man made, of course.) Not the brightest family...
HuckleB
(35,773 posts)Major Nikon
(36,827 posts)Just sayin'