Pointing the Bone at RMIT Osteopathy

RMIT osteopathy post graphic V2 1000Wby Mal Vickers

Readers of this blog will already know I’m somewhat skeptical of the claims made by the proponents of osteopathy. If you’re at all unsure about where osteopathy sits in relation to current science, I’d recommend reading my previous post on the topic.

RMIT University offers a degree course in osteopathy. I went along to RMIT’s Open Day to take a look at how osteopathy is promoted to prospective students looking for an interesting career in the health sector.

Osteopathy is a kind of quaint, old-fashioned, pre-scientific health care system. Practitioners generally offer forms of joint manipulation and massage in addition to the usual advice offered by many health practitioners – lifestyle, exercise and food. It can be quite hard to distinguish the treatments offered by osteopaths from those of chiropractors. The main difference between osteopathy and chiropractic is historical. The founder of osteopathy was Andrew Taylor Still (1928 – 1917). He appears to have worked by intuition alone and his pronouncements sounded plausible at the time. View More Pointing the Bone at RMIT Osteopathy

August Puzzles

 

puzzles graphicThe

AUGUST 2015 CROSSWORD PUZZLE

has the theme of OSTEOPATHY, in the light of our recent article on that topic.

There’s the usual monthly set of

LOGIC & MATHS PROBLEMS

with seven new Picture Puzzles and twenty new Mixed Bag Questions  at the top of the PUZZLES PAGE

Enjoy!

Does Osteopathy Work? Is it Scientific?

Osteopathy graphic 800W

By Mal Vickers

I was recently asked, “Does osteopathy work? Is it scientific?” The short answer is: osteopathy is unlikely to be effective for most health conditions. It’s a form of alternative medicine. I wouldn’t put it in the category of a sciencebased medicine. Read on if you’re interested in why I would think such a thing.

It’s difficult to definitively answer questions like this for three reasons.

One – Science is all about probability.

Two – it’s hard to prove a negative.

Three – it’s not a very clear question.

If the idea is to sort the wheat from the chaff in medical treatments, there are better/tougher questions to ask.

Let’s try to explore it.

Whole health disciplines might contain just a handful of useful treatments for some ailments, View More Does Osteopathy Work? Is it Scientific?