Trick or Treatment—The Undeniable Facts about Alternative Medicine (Electronic book text)

The claims that chelation is effective for coronary heart disease, stroke or peripheral arterial disease is based on outdated scientific theories. Chelation therapy has been tested repeatedly, but these clinical trials fail to demonstrate effectiveness. Serious adverse effects, including deaths due to electrolyte depletion, have been associated with chelation therapy. In 2005 two children, one with autism, suffered cardiac arrest and died after chelation.

Conclusion

Chelation therapy, as used in alternative medicine, is disproven, expensive and dangerous. We urge patients not to use this treatment.

Colonic Irrigation

Use of enemas for ‘cleansing the body’ sometimes herbs, enzymes or coffee are added to the water which is administered via the rectum.

Background

The notion that we are poisoning ourselves with toxic intestinal waste products from ingested food seems plausible to many lay people and is therefore widespread. It forms the basis for a range of alternative approaches which allegedly free the body of such ‘autointoxication’. One of them is colonic irrigation, or colon therapy as it is also called. The popularity of this treatment can be explained through its apparently logical concept and through its continuous promotion by the popular media and certain celebrities.

A treatment session involves partial undressing, insertion of a tube via the rectum and receiving considerable amounts of fluids via this route. The fluid is later extracted and, on closer inspection, appears to be loaded with ‘waste products’.

This visual impression helps to convince patients that colonic irrigation achieves what it claims: the elimination of residues that the body is best rid of. Treatment might last for approximately 30 minutes and long-term therapy is sometimes advised, with weekly or twice weekly sessions. Colonic irrigation is promoted as a treatment for gastrointestinal disorders, allergies, obesity, migraine and many other chronic illnesses.

What is the evidence?

Enemas have an undoubted role in conventional medicine. The use of colonic irrigation as employed in alternative medicine is, however, an entirely different matter. None of the waste products of our body ‘poison’ us; they are eliminated through a range of physiological processes, unless we are suffering from severe organ failure.

There is no reliable clinical evidence that colonic irrigation does any good at all and some evidence that it causes serious harm by, for example, perforating the colon or depleting our body of electrolytes.

Conclusion

Colonic irrigation is unpleasant, ineffective and dangerous. In other words, it’s a waste of money and a hazard to our health.

Craniosacral Therapy (or Cranial Osteopathy)

The gentle manipulation of the skull and sacrum to facilitate unrestricted movement of the cerebrospinal fluid.

Background

William G. Sutherland, who practised as an osteopath in the 1930s, became convinced that our health is governed by minute motions of the bones of the skull and sacrum. These subtle rhythms, he believed, are fundamental to the self-healing processes of our bodies. Craniosacral therapy aims at restoring the rhythmic motions when they are restricted. This is claimed to help with a range of conditions, particularly in children: birth trauma, cerebral palsy, chronic pain, dyslexia, headaches, learning difficulties, sinusitis, trigeminal neuralgia and many others. Today, craniosacral therapy is practised by several alternative therapists, including osteopaths, chiropractors, naturopaths and massage therapists.

A consultation with a craniosacral therapist would include a detailed manual diagnosis, so the first session may last one hour or longer. Subsequent therapeutic sessions, during which the therapist gently manipulates the skull and sacrum, would be shorter. A typical treatment series might involve six or more sessions.

What is the evidence?

Conventional wisdom has it that, during early childhood, the bones of the skull and the sacrum fuse to form solid structures. Even if minute motions between these bones were possible, they would be unlikely to have a significant impact on human health. In other words, craniosacral therapy is biologically implausible.