Osteopathic practice makes misleading claims about acupuncture helping the immune and respiratory systems

During the current COVID-19 pandemic there is understandably a big focus on the immune and respiratory systems. Unfortunately, some practitioners are exploiting this pandemic for their own benefit by making unsubstantiated claims about their treatments helping these systems. One such example is Lymm Osteopathic Practice, which claimed that acupuncture can benefit the immune and respiratory systems and that this may be helpful during the COVID-19 pandemic. There is simply no evidence to support these claims. The acupuncturist (Daniel Windridge) went on to claim that he uses this in his practice to treat Asthma, COPD and Lung Sarcoidosis. Daniel even claimed that “results can be immediate”. These can be serious conditions and an acupuncturist is not qualified to treat them. They should instead be treated by a doctor.

Acupuncture beliefs and (lack of) evidence

Acupuncturists believe that there are specific “acupuncture points” that influence particular organs or parts of the body. This isn’t supported by science or evidence. In this particular case, the promoted idea is that there are twelve “immune acupressure points” and that by applying pressure to these points there will be improvement in the immune and respiratory systems. According to the article, five of the acupressure points are located on the arms and seven on the legs. I do wonder, what on earth makes someone believe that they can influence the immune system by pressing on different parts of the arms and legs? There is simply no plausible biological mechanism by which this could possibly happen and no evidence to support these claims. These (and any other) special “acupuncture” points simply don’t exist. The ideas behind them are based on pre-scientific beliefs and should have no place in modern healthcare.

Tackling these misleading claims

I reported this to the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) on 29^th May via their COVID-19 specific complaint form. Unfortunately, this didn’t result in a change and the misleading claims remained on the Lymm Osteopathic Practice website. The acupuncturist also continued to promote this misleading information via his twitter account with regular tweets about the “immune acupressure points”. Given the seriousness of these claims I decided to make a further complaint to the ASA on 18^th July using their normal complaint form. This time around the ASA took action and contacted Lymm Osteopathic Practice to inform them that they had broken advertising rules and to provide guidance on the changes needed. The page has now been removed from the Lymm Osteopathic Practice website, which is good news.

If you would like to know more about the original claims, here is a screenshot of the first part of the article. (I also have further screenshots of the rest of it):

Although these particular misleading claims have been removed from the Lymm Osteopathic Practice website, many more misleading claims remain. For instance, look at this post about the treatment of a baby: https://www.lymmosteopathicpractice.co.uk/case-study-the-baby-with-sinus-problems/ It is worrying that any parent would think that they should take a baby with the following symptoms to an osteopath: “skin a strange shade of pink, with a bluey purple tinge, he also was subdued, lethargic and very floppy”. Osteopaths in the UK are complementary and alternative therapists, not doctors. According to the article, “There are several techniques that Osteopaths can employ to unblock sinuses”. This is nonsense. There are no osteopathic techniques that have been shown to be effective for unblocking sinuses. In this particular case, things turned out okay. However, it’s likely that this was just down to good luck rather than the actions of the osteopath. The outcome could have been very much worse and the baby should have been treated by a doctor straight away. The osteopath is now using this story to try and persuade other parents to take their babies in for treatment. This is potentially dangerous as maybe the outcome won’t be so good next time around. There are no infant health conditions for which osteopathy has been shown to be effective and no good reason to take any baby to an osteopath.

Conclusions

Osteopaths are regulated healthcare professionals and should not be misleading members of the public with unsubstantiated treatment claims. This includes claims made about their own treatments as well as by other therapists who work at their practices. Unfortunately, that is exactly what has happened here. Misleading claims like this are by no means an isolated incident within the osteopathic profession. I have previously reported on osteopaths and chiropractors making misleading claims about their treatments “boosting the immune system”. I have also written about many other misleading claims from the osteopathic profession such as giving the impression that they are doctors (they aren’t) and the leading UK osteopathic education institution training osteopaths to treat respiratory conditions in children. Not all UK osteopaths make these sorts of misleading claims but it is a problem that is far more widespread than should be expected from a regulated healthcare profession.

Acupuncture treatments won’t help the immune and respiratory systems. Not only is there no evidence to support these claims but there is no plausible biological mechanism by which this could possibly happen. In fact, there is little evidence to support the use of acupuncture for any health condition. Even in pain, the evidence on acupuncture is conflicting and inconclusive. It’s also important to be aware that acupuncturists are not doctors and any serious health conditions ought to be treated by a doctor.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, it is natural for people to look for ways to protect themselves by undertaking treatments that they hope will prevent and / or treat COVID-19. Unfortunately, this has led to the promotion of a wide range of “treatments” that do not actually help at all. If you find an acupuncturist, osteopath or chiropractor who claims that they can help you prevent or treat COVID-19 or that their treatments can benefit the immune system then please steer well clear.

A significant number of UK chiropractors and osteopaths make misleading claims about their treatments “boosting the immune system”

In the current COVID-19 (coronavirus) global pandemic, it is natural for members of the public to look for treatments that may reduce their risk of catching it or help them recover. Unfortunately, there are a significant number of UK chiropractors and osteopaths who believe that they can “boost the immune system” through their treatments. This is not supported by science or evidence and there is no plausible mechanism through which these treatments could have any effect on the immune system. That hasn’t stopped far too many chiropractors and osteopaths from advertising their treatments to do just that. Whilst specific claims relating to COVID-19 are relatively few in number (although they do exist), the more general “boost the immune system” claims are much more common and present some very serious risks to the public.

Example Claims

Here is a selection of examples of misleading immune system related claims from chiropractors. None of these have any evidence to support them:

• Bedford Chiropractic Clinic – Claims that skipping “your Chiropractic adjustment” will “handicap your nervous system” and increase your risk of catching coronavirus.
• Thorne Road Chiropractic Clinic – Claims that a weak immune system can be treated using spinal manipulation
• Northcote Chiropractic Clinic – Claims that chiropractic can have a positive effect on the immune system
• Putney Chiropractic Centre – Claims that regular chiropractic treatment helps maintain a strong and healthy immune system
• Inspired Chiropractic – Claims that you should “Get your spine and nervous system checked by a chiropractor regularly”.
• The Chiropractic Centre – Claims that chiropractic will boost the immune system and also suggests that the benefits of vaccination are “shaky”.
• Chiropractic Health Solutions – Claims that “spinal adjustments have been shown to boost immune function”.

Here is a selection of examples of misleading immune system related claims from osteopaths. None of these have any evidence to support them:

• Health in Motion Osteopaths – Claims that osteopathy can help with the immune system and that this will help with COVID-19.
• Eltham Osteopathy Clinic – Also claims that osteopathy will help the immune system and that this could help with COVID-19.
• Core Clapton – Claims that “osteopathic treatment helps promote blood and lymph supply to enhance your innate healing capacity”.
• Essential Osteopathy – Offers “Osteopathic treatment of the common cold” and claims that osteopathy can help strengthen the immune system.
• Fiona Passey Osteopaths – Claims that osteopathy can help to treat the common cold and strengthen the immune system.
• Teddington Osteopaths – Claims that osteopathy can be good for the immune system and help fight infections.
• The Osteoperformance Clinic – Claims that cranial osteopathy may help with “Poor immune system or vitality”

I would like to make it clear that not all UK chiropractors and osteopaths make these misleading claims. However, this is also not just a small number of rogue osteopaths and chiropractors. I have provided here a few examples but this is really just the tip of the iceberg and there are a significant number of other such claims.

What does the research tell us about the effect of these treatments on the immune system?

The World Federation of Chiropractic (WFC) conducted a rapid literature review of the benefits of spinal adjustment / manipulation (the primary treatment used by chiropractors and osteopaths) on immunity and the immune system. They concluded: “No credible, scientific evidence that spinal adjustment / manipulation has any clinically relevant effect on the immune system was found.” They went on to say “At the time of writing, there exists no credible, scientific evidence that would permit claims of effectiveness for conferring or enhancing immunity through spinal adjustment / manipulation to be made in communications by chiropractors”. This is very clear and it is good to see the WFC conducting research to provide such clarity on the position. All of the adverts from chiropractors and osteopaths above (as well as many others) are in direct conflict with this.

The National Council for Osteopathic Research (NCOR) has also provided what they call a “Quick review” about whether osteopaths can contribute to the care and management of COVID-19. Their headline summary is accurate and states “There is no current research evidence to indicate that osteopathic manual therapy care can specifically help in the direct treatment of COVID-19 or other types of corona virus illness.” Note that there are significant issues with other aspects of this review both in terms of the methodology and claims relating to treatment of pneumonia but I’ll address these in a future blog post.

It’s very clear from all of the available research evidence that treatments from a chiropractor or osteopath do not provide any benefits for COVID-19 or the immune system in general.

How can this issue be tackled?

The regulators have already taken some action with regards to specific claims relating to COVID-19 (coronavirus). The General Osteopathic Council (GOsC) wrote to osteopaths about advertising claims in relation to COVID-19. The General Chiropractic Council (GCC) has also issued a statement to chiropractors about not making claims relating to COVID-19. It’s good to see regulators taking these steps in order to protect the public. However, given the number of misleading claims that remain, there is clearly a lot more to be done. In particular, the regulators need to tackle general claims about “boosting the immune system” not just those relating specifically to COVID-19. Given the serious risks presented to the public, it would be good to see regulators taking disciplinary action against chiropractors and osteopaths who continue to make these claims.

Conclusion

There is no plausible mechanism by which the treatments offered by chiropractors or osteopaths could have any effect on the immune system. There is also no evidence that these treatments provide any benefits. In spite of this, many UK chiropractors and osteopaths continue to advertise these treatments. The regulators (GCC and GOsC) have provided guidance to chiropractors and osteopaths about this in connection with COVID-19 but this now needs to be widened to cover ALL claims relating to the immune system. This also needs to be enforced more rigorously in order to protect the public from being misled and placed at risk of harm.