A new systematic review of chiropractic for low back pain: far less encouraging than chiros make us believe | Edzard Ernst

Low back pain (LBP) is a ‘minor complaint’ in the sense that it does not cost patients’ lives. At the same time, LBP is amongst the leading causes of disability and one of the most common reasons for patients to seek primary care. Chiropractors, osteopaths, physical therapists and general practitioners are among those treating LBP patients, but there is only […]

Read on: A new systematic review of chiropractic for low back pain: far less encouraging than chiros make us believe

Does The Kid Have Inside Knowledge of Hillary Clinton’s Pneumonia?

Of course he doesn’t. He just seems to think that he does.

In yet another rambling post by The Kid, he seems to think that he knows what kind of pneumonia Hillary Clinton has:

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends all adults over 65 receive a pneumococcal vaccine to prevent pneumonia. […]

Read more at: Does The Kid Have Inside Knowledge of Hillary Clinton’s Pneumonia? by Reuben

At last! The PROOF that homeopathy works… no, not really | Edzard Ernst

After > 200 years of existence, homeopathy still remains unproven – in fact, most rational thinkers would call it disproven. Today only homeopaths doubt this statement; they work hard to find a water-tight proof that might show the doubters to be wrong. 

What is better suited for this purpose than a few rigorous animal experiments? 

Engystol® is a […]

Read on: At last! The PROOF that homeopathy works… no, not really

What conditions do chiropractors really treat? | Edzard Ernst

At first, I thought this survey would be yet another of those useless and boring articles that currently seem to litter the literature of alternative medicine. It’s abstract seemed to confirm my suspicion: “Fifty-two chiropractors in Victoria, Australia, provided information for up to 100 consecutive encounters. If patients attended more than once during the 100 encounters, only […]

Read on: What conditions do chiropractors really treat?

Medically unfit Hillary Clinton – the doctor behind the myth

Since I am a political geek as much as a biomedical geek, I love it when the two occasionally intersect. If you haven’t kept up, some right wing websites, like Breitbart, are pushing a trope that claims that a medically unfit Hillary Clinton is incapable of becoming President of the US.

I couldn’t resist commenting on this, because there’s really so much to say. Let’s start with the basics – Breitbart is a right wing website that seems to use the Natural News method of facts. You know, invent facts out of thin air...

Read the full post: Medically unfit Hillary Clinton – the doctor behind the myth

---

(from Raw Story)

Orient and the AAPS have also been exposed by:

• The Daily Mail (yes, really)
• The Daily Beast
• Raw Story
• Drudge Retort
• Breitbart Unmasked (ranting about Ebola In The USA)
• Right Wing Watch
• New York Times (anti-vaccine attitude)
• Respectful Insolence
• Encyclopedia of American Loons (of course)

... and many others

Dr. Bob Sears, our Douchebag Emerit-ass, is in hot water

News came late to me that Dr. Bob Sears, 2014’s Douchebag of The Year, is now in hot water with the California Medical Board for what the legal filing states that he “was grossly negligent and departed from the standard of care in that he did not obtain the basic information necessary for decision making […]

Read more at: Dr. Bob Sears, our Douchebag Emerit-ass, is in hot water by Reuben

Medical errors: is integrative medicine the solution? | Edzard Ernst

I have moaned about the JACM several times on this blog (for instance here). It is a very poor journal, in my view, but it nevertheless is important because it is the one with the highest impact factor in this field. Despite all this I missed something important that recently happened to the JACM: a few months […]

Read on: Medical errors: is integrative medicine the solution?

Ear-candles, a TV-doctor, THE DAILY MAIL, and journalistic ‘balance’ | Edzard Ernst

This article in THE DAILY MAIL caught my eye. It’s about ear-candles, a subject we have discussed before on this blog. Apparently, the ‘TV doctor’ Dawn Harper was had to apologise after recommending ear candling for clearing ears of wax. This prompted various protests from listeners of her programme one of whom even called Dr Harper a ‘dangerous quack’. Dr […]

Read on: Ear-candles, a TV-doctor, THE DAILY MAIL, and journalistic ‘balance’

Should chiropractors have the right to prescribe medicines? | Edzard Ernst

Since several years, there has been an increasingly vociferous movement within the chiropractic profession to obtain limited prescription rights, that is the right to prescribe drugs for musculoskeletal problems. A recent article by Canadian and Swiss chiropractors is an attempt to sum up the arguments for and against this notion. Here I have tried to distil the […]

Read on: Should chiropractors have the right to prescribe medicines?

The need for anonymity when you speak out

I got an interesting message on Facebook a few days ago. It was from “Sherri Kane” a woman from Hawaii who is very involved in conspiracy theories: 

When the film ended, Sherri grabbed the microphone. Her face had turned into a grim, ugly mask, the corners of her mouth pulled downward as if by strings. […]

Read more at: The need for anonymity when you speak out by Reuben

Research into alternative medicine: too little and too flimsy | Edzard Ernst

For some time now, the research activity in and around alternative medicine has been seemingly buoyant. In each of the last 4 years, Medline listed around 2 000 articles is the category of ‘complementary alternative medicine’. This will surely look impressive to many! 

Why then did I write ‘seemingly’? To comprehend this a little better, we should have […]

Read on: Research into alternative medicine: too little and too flimsy

Unacceptable pseudo-science from the NIH | Edzard Ernst

In alternative medicine, good evidence is like gold dust and good evidence showing that alternative therapies are efficacious is even rarer. Therefore, I was delighted to come across a brand-new article from an institution that should stand for reliable information: the NHI, no less.

According to its authors, this new article “examines the clinical trial […]

Read on: Unacceptable pseudo-science from the NIH

Another death by quackery | Edzard Ernst

Did you know that:

• All diseases are really just psychological conflicts. 
• Conventional medicine id a conspiracy of Jews to decimate the non-Jewish population. 
• Microbes do not cause diseases. 
• AIDS is just a normal allergy. 
• Cancer is the result of a mental shock. 

These are just some of the theories of RG Hamer realized in his […]

Read on: Another death by quackery

Let’s be blunt: homeopathy is bogus – but homeoprophylaxis is worse, much worse! | Edzard Ernst

Highly diluted homeopathic remedies are pure placebos; that statement is by no means new and has been discussed here so many times that it hardly needs repeating. It follows that those who, in the face of overwhelming evidence, claim that such remedies are efficacious for any condition or symptom are misleading the public. 

What, in the realm […]

Read on: Let’s be blunt: homeopathy is bogus – but homeoprophylaxis is worse, much worse!

Monty Python and the homeopaths | Edzard Ernst

The ‘Deutsche Apotheker Zeitung’, a paper for German pharmacists, rarely is the most humorous of publications. However, recently they reported on a battle between the EU and the European producers of homeopathic remedies – a battle over mercury which has, I think, hints of Monty Python and the Flying Circus. 

The EU already has strict regulations on […]

Read on: Monty Python and the homeopaths