Reddit reviews Trick or Treatment: The Undeniable Facts about Alternative Medicine
We found 13 Reddit comments about Trick or Treatment: The Undeniable Facts about Alternative Medicine. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.
Simon Singh explains.
edit: Hey, I didn't expect this to become the top comment. Neat. Might as well abuse it, by providing bonus material:
This is the same Simon Singh discussed in this recent and popular Reddit post; he is a superhero of science popularization. He has written some excellent and highly rated books:
(full disclosure: I have nothing to disclose, other than that I'm a fan of his work.)
Taking a child (or going yourself) to see a chiropractor is very dangerous. While chiropractors claim they can treat almost everything, the effectiveness of their treatment only has been proved, mildly, for lower back pain and lower back problems. Source
However, what has been demonstrated is the danger of stroke following a chiropractic session. The neck is a very sensitive area, and manipulation can cause the formation of blood clots. The clots then travel in the brain, where they risk to block blood circulation and cause a stroke. Some people have died and others suffer permanent damage from this. Here is an article from sciencebasedmedecine.org.
Please, never let a chiropractor touch your or your child's neck.
And the evidence for acupuncture is extremely weak (so just because an insurance company covers it, doesn't mean it's effective). A very readable book on alternative medicine is "Trick or Treatment": http://www.amazon.com/Trick-Treatment-Undeniable-Alternative-Medicine/dp/0393337782
The problem is that as soon as people test and verify that alternative medicine works, the "alternative" bit gets removed. There's no vast conspiracy out there. Do the science, become medicine.
https://www.amazon.com/Trick-Treatment-Undeniable-Alternative-Medicine/dp/0393337782 is an interesting read if you're inclined that way.
Simon Singh has a big chapter on chiropractors in his book Trick or Treatment. There is evidence showing efficacy for back problems, but he warns that you should NEVER let them mess with your neck.
That's actually the name of a great book explaining how various forms of pseudoscience are bullshit. Highly recommend it
Chamomile, Lavender and Passionflower have poor evidence in favor of helping with insomnia, while Valerian has some evidence that it helps (Singh & Ernst, 2008, p. 235). As always, consult a doctor if you want to treat insomnia.
Sounds like you have a "mixer" experience rather than a "straight chiropractor" experience. Grab a phone book and call ten random chiro offices. Ask if they can help with high blood pressure, arthritis, ear infections and general fatigue. I'd love to hear a summary of the answers.
Subluxation is part-and-parcel to chiropractic training in most instances. It's medical nonsense.
Also, chiro has only ever been shown to be successful at treating low back pain, though maybe even not that based on a recent Cochrane review, and then with no greater efficacy than other treatments and at higher cost.
A great, in-depth review of chiropractic medicine (and other alt med) is Trick or Treatment by Ernst and Singh
Edit: fixed link error
Edit 2: revision for clarity
For a thriller treatment of infections diseases, the following are a nice read
I'm inclined to also suggest the works of Simon Singh, to whom I was introduced by his book on math and cryptography - The Code Book. But he has also written about cosmology and "alternative" medicine. The later got him involved in a landmark libel lawsuit in the UK. For that reason, there is probably more than the usual bit of politics you'd expect in a popular science book. However, in the post-truth era of Donald Trump and company, that maybe fitting if bitter medicine.
Edit: As someone who may not have the best scientific background, one might be prone to confuse science with pseudoscience. Even today, there is no shortage of low quality literature on UFOs and parapsychology. As such, Carl Sagan's The Demon Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark is highly recommended.
Some herbs have active effects on the body. But usually, if something works, they can refine a drug out of it that has a more precisely controlled dose and therefore safer and more effective. e.g. Asprin. Also if you buy herbal medicine often distributors give you the wrong herb or some adulterated mix that could be unsafe. And you should always consult with a GP, especially if say, you're pregnant or something.
You might want to read Trick or Treatment: The Undeniable Facts about Alternative Medicine for better information than I can give here.
TL;DR: Not really a "BS" or "Not-BS" case. Herbal medicine might work, probably stay away to be safe or consult your GP.
Side-note: often times people confuse homoeopathy with herbal medicine. Homoeopathy is 100% BS inert non-treatment and contains no herbs.
This might not be exactly what you are looking for but I would recommend - Trick or Treatment. It does a good job at explaining the scientific method and how homeopathy, acupuncture, etc have been shown not to work in multiple studies.
I really like this book because it fairly balanced in its analyses (tho' I am sure there are people who think homeopathy works and could pick faults in the book). Also if you want to scientifically honest, the book is good starting pt to think about how certain we are that some things (e.g. homeopathy) are completely useless while others (e.g. acupuncture) might be useful in some cases - even if the underlying stuff about chi, etc might have nothing to do with actual physiology.
You should check out the book Trick or Treatment by Simon Singh and Edzard Ernst. It goes through the history, theory, and scientific evidence for a variety of alternative treatments including Chiropractic, Acupuncture, Herbal medicine, and more. It's a good read, but the tl;dr version is that there was some evidence for acupuncture as an effective treatment, but as the research methods improved, it's looking more and more like it's no better than a placebo.
Incidentally, Chiropractic doesn't fare much better. Chiropractic is really pseudoscience, though some recent chiropractors are using only the more effective parts of chiropractic and jettisoning the rest. (Some chiropractors still claim to be able to treat all kinds of diseases and ailments - not just those related to the back/spine even though there's no evidence to support this.) If your chiropractor is a true chiropractor, you could be at real risk of doing significant damage. Even if they're one of the "good" ones, you're probably paying too much compared to what you could get from a real doctor.
An interesting aside: libel laws were (are?) extremely harsh in the UK. When Simon Singh started talking about the evidence of chiropractic, the British Chiropractic Association in the UK sued him. Had they won, Singh would have been personally liable for millions in damages. After the dust settled, Singh won and chiropractors in the UK are now forbidden from claiming any efficacy in their treatments. Here's an interesting Wikipedia article about all of that, but there are even more articles online.
See also: Trick or Treatment: The Undeniable Facts about Alternative Medicine by Edzard Ernst, Simon Singh