I have written previously about some of the unsuitable treatment approaches used by some osteopaths, such as cranial osteopathy. I recently became aware of an osteopathic practice that also uses a number of unproven health screening techniques. The practice in question is the Atman Clinic. The osteopaths at the Atman Clinic use cranial osteopathy and treat babies, both of which are nonsense and worryingly common within the osteopathic profession. The Atman Clinic additionally uses sound therapy, electroacupuncture and regulation thermometry to screen patients. These are not recommended screening techniques and have not been shown to be valid for diagnosing or assessing any health problems. In addition, the principle osteopath at the Atman Clinic, Geoffrey Montague-Smith, promotes a number of other unproven treatments, conspiracy theories and anti-vaccination beliefs via his Facebook account. All of this presents clear risks to members of the public.
Summary of conclusions:
1. Here is an osteopath who promotes a wide range of conspiracy theories, anti-vaccination beliefs and unproven health treatments to unsuspecting members of the public.
2. Health screening should be carried out by a doctor who has access to all relevant tests rather than an osteopath providing unproven and unscientific diagnostic techniques.
3. There is no good evidence that osteopathy or chiropractic provide any benefit for any infant condition or that these treatments can help with birth preparation.
Unproven health screening
The Atman Clinic offers a range of unproven health screening techniques including:
- Sound therapy – as well as being used for diagnosis it claims that this can be beneficial to reduce the recovery time, support healing and clear residual effects of trauma. It states “For the modern day practitioner the use of musical tuning forks on and off the body offers a diagnostic and therapeutic modality which is safe, reliable and effective”. If that sounds like nonsense, that’s because it is. There is no possible way that using musical tuning forks could provide any information about someone’s health.
- Electroacupuncture (EAV) / Vega Test – The Atman Clinic claims to be able detect inflammation, fatigue and tissue degeneration using this technique. They state “Elecrodermal screening uses an electronic probe to measure the electrical resistance at numerous points on the body (primarily the hands and feet). This technology is not an instrument used to diagnose disease. It does however measure the electrical current moving through the acupuncture meridians and as such gives information about the bioenergetics of the body.” There is no such thing as an acupuncture meridian so attempting to measure the electrical current moving through them isn’t going to be possible. In reality, the description provided by the Atman Clinic is a word salad of pseudoscience and there is no way that EAV could possibly provide any useful diagnostic information. The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) has also warned against the use of these tests. The page goes on to say that based on the outcome of the EAV test, the osteopath may then recommend nutritional, herbal or homeopathic supplements. How often do we see this? A CAM practitioner that makes use of other completely unproven CAM treatments as part of their overall approach. From what I’ve seen, quite often. I imagine that rejecting conventional medical approaches to believe in one type of pseudoscience makes it more likely that you will be taken in by others.
- Regulation thermometry – The Atman Clinic claims that this is suitable for diagnosing ongoing health problems, investigating undiagnosed symptoms and that it will allow the assessment of various systems within the body. They state “Information is collected from over 100 points on the body. Various body tissues and organs are analysed by measuring skin temperature using the infrared sensor. This gathering of information is performed during and after a brief cooling period which acts as a mild stimulus to the body.” Again, this is pseudoscience of the highest order. It’s interesting that one of the main claims they make is for investigating undiagnosed symptoms. Very good though it is, modern medicine doesn’t always have the answers and sometimes it not possible to make a diagnosis. CAM practitioners, including osteopaths, know that people often visit them when they can’t get an answer to their symptoms from a doctor. It’s therefore common to see them offer to investigate undiagnosed / untreatable problems even though most of the treatments they offer have little or no evidence of effectiveness for any health condition.
Promotion of conspiracy theories, anti-vaccination beliefs and other unsuitable health treatments
The principle osteopath at Atman Clinic, Geoffrey Montague-Smith, promotes a number of other unproven treatments, conspiracy theories and anti-vaccination beliefs via his Facebook account. Here are just a few examples:
- He repeatedly promotes anti-vaccination beliefs, such as this: https://www.facebook.com/geoffrey.montaguesmith/posts/3147466048601542
- He suggests that 5G is dangerous (it isn’t): https://www.facebook.com/geoffrey.montaguesmith/posts/2902544556427027
- He promotes a book that provides misleading health advice and says that he doesn’t wear sunglasses because “Your brain doesn’t know it’s sunny if you block the light to the eyes. That makes you burn more easily”: https://www.facebook.com/geoffrey.montaguesmith/posts/2895980633750086 This is all complete nonsense.
It is totally inappropriate for any health professional to be promoting such misleading health advice. This has the potential to do significant harm to unsuspecting members of the public.
Cranial osteopathy, preparation for birth and treatment of babies
The use of cranial osteopathy and treatment of babies is worryingly widespread within the osteopathy profession. I have written about that previously on several occasions, such as The Perrymount Clinic and Moore Osteopathy. Cranial osteopathy is complete nonsense and there is no evidence that any osteopathic treatment provides any benefit for babies. It’s clearly a systemic problem within the profession as even the Institute of Osteopathy (professional membership organisation for osteopaths) was found in breach of advertising guidelines.
The Atman Clinic promotes cranial osteopathy suggesting that osteopaths can feel the involuntary motion within the body. That is, of course, impossible because such motion doesn’t actually exist. They further suggest that babies experience soft tissue tension, tight muscles and cramping and that osteopaths can examine babies for asymmetry, misalignment of cranial bones and muscular tension at the base of the skull and in the rest of the body. There is no evidence to back up these claims and no good reason to take any baby to an osteopath.
The Atman Clinic offers a “Birth Prep program” that claims to “help mothers achieve their ideal birthing experience”. In addition it claims that osteopathy can help with conditions that are specific to pregnancy including SPD, indigestion and nausea. There is no evidence to substantiate these claims and they are clearly in breach of Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) guidelines.
What action can be taken to tackle these issues?
I reported The Atman Clinic to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) for their misleading advertising claims. The ASA said “We have previously investigated and ruled upon advertising like this and we are concerned to see that it continues to appear”. The ASA have therefore referred my complaint to their Compliance Team who will work to address the misleading advertising.
The promotion of conspiracy theories and other unsuitable health treatments by Geoffrey Montague-Smith on his Facebook page is an issue that really ought to be tackled by the osteopathic regulator, the General Osteopathic Council (GOsC). Protecting the public is their primary function and here one of their osteopaths presents a clear risk to the public. They therefore ought to take immediate action to protect the public and fulfil their regulatory duty.
Conclusions
Osteopaths are health professionals and as such ought to provide rational, evidence-based advice to members of the public. Unfortunately, there are many problems within the osteopathic profession. Here is an osteopathic practice that uses completely unproven diagnostic techniques and the principle osteopath promotes conspiracy theories, unproven health treatments and anti-vaccination beliefs. This presents a clear risk to members of the public. It is important that the GOsC fulfils its duties as the regulator and takes immediate action to tackle this in order to protect members of the public from harm.
Complementary and Alternative 