Chiropractic Practice Challenged in Britain

There seems to be an interesting attempt to challenge the validity of chiropractic treatments for a number of conditions in the United Kingdom. The Cochrane Collaboration is the gold standard on issues of efficacy, containing updated meta-analyses of the evidence supporting individual medical treatments. I found this quote from a Cochrane review:

"There was weak evidence to support the use of hypnosis, psychotherapy, acupuncture and chiropractic but it was provided in each case by single small trials, some of dubious methodological rigour."

Apparently the British Chiropractic Association sued science writer Simon Singh for libel. The British libel laws are very strong and very protective of persons attacked in the press. According to The Guardian:

In an article in the Guardian last year he (Singh) criticised the BCA for claiming that its members could use spinal manipulation to treat children with colic, ear infections, asthma, sleeping and feeding conditions, and prolonged crying. Singh described the treatments as "bogus" and based on insufficient evidence, and criticised the BCA for "happily promoting" them.

The British have an authority to regulate claims in advertising, and it has since the Singh case issued new guidance on chiropractic advertising. Moreover, apparently a number of people outraged by the suit against Singh have started to carefully review the adds and other information given out by chiropractors with the view of bringing them to account for unjustified claims. Now another association has urged its chiropractor members to clean up their websites, and the BCA has published a list of clinical research studies.

I find this an interesting case of an active public, with the assistance of the govenment and the professional community, demanding valid information on the expected outcomes of medical interventions.