4 ms·

"We are more possible than you can powerfully imagine"

60 points by baha_man 17y ago

dtf 17y ago
Wow, you've got to love the internets. This reads just like a highbrow version of one of 4chan's "for great justice" campaigns. Surely the BCA must now be regretting the day they picked a fight with Singh. As Simon Perry noted, chiropractors were largely left alone to the back pain business by the sceptics, who were far more interested in exposing other alternative therapies. Suing Singh for the "bogus" remark was like posting a video on YouTube of a bunch of chiropractors abusing a cat. By the time they win their battle - still a possibility - they'll have lost the war.
cubicle67 17y ago
tangental - Simon Singh (the guy being sued) is the author of this excellent book on cryptography http://www.amazon.com/Code-Book-Science-Secrecy-Cryptography/dp/0385495323 http://www.amazon.com/Code-Book-Science-Secrecy-Cryptography...
RiderOfGiraffes 17y ago
See also: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=598385 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=598385 In addition to the book on cryptography, Singh also directed the film about Fermat's Last Theorem ... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermats_last_theorem http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermats_last_theorem ... first transmitted by the BBC as part of the Horizon series, subsequently aired in the USA as part of the NOVA series. He also wrote the book that followed. Both have been mentioned here before, both are most highly recommended. The Wikipedia article references Singh's book copiously. The Code Book, mentioned elsewhere, was his second book. You can read more here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_Singh http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_Singh I know Simon quite well, and am following the libel case with interest. (The wikipedia article also references John Stillwell, whom I also know. This is slightly worrying ...)
sebg 17y ago
My favorite part of the article: "Professional complaints followed in May, mostly about individual chiropractors’ claims. Then, in June, blogger Simon Perry found the BCA database of 1,029 members online, containing 400 website URLs. He wrote a quick computer program to automatically identify all the chiropractors in the UK claiming to treat colic, locate their local Trading Standards office, and report them (more than 500 in total) automatically, followed up with printed letters."
- RiderOfGiraffes 17y ago
  I like this bit: So Perry reported over 500 chiropractors to them, alleging they had made claims without adequate evidence. The GCC rejected his letter, saying it only takes individual complaints. A pile of individual complaint letters were instantly generated and delivered to their door.
nazgulnarsil 17y ago
chiropractors make their money off of ignorance. if you feel better after going to a chiropractor it's because the muscles that support and stabilize the spine (especially the posture muscles of the lower back) are weak. do some basic exercise like stretching, hyper extensions, and yoga and your back problems will go away. there's a reason chiropractors don't grab a chunk of the lucrative physical therapy market, their techniques are a stop gap, they don't improve your condition.
- tom_b 17y ago
  There is no doubt that many claims made by chiropractors are bunk. Many chiropractic practitioners are a little "out there" in my experience. That said, I think it is a mistake to entirely dismiss chiropractic care as not providing real benefits. I worked with a chiropractor who was also a trained physical therapist (with many years of PT experience) and the combination of the two practices was key in resolving long-term plantar fascia problems I suffered from. Weird, but the combination of good physical therapy with actual adjustment of my problematic foot bone structure solved a chronic issue after orthopedic physicians had told me to basically give up or consider a surgical solution. So while chiropractic care is over-promoted and over-blown by many, it can be helpful as an adjunct mode of care. Whenever people ask, I always point out that the chiropractor I worked with was also a physical therapist and that I think the physical therapy side of the treatment was more helpful than the chiropractic, but that I found both treatments helpful.
  - jerf 17y ago
    There are really two chiropractices, from what I can see. There is a limited, scientific chiropractice that limits itself to physical injuries, and while its domain is not zero, it's so limited I sometimes wonder at if it's really enough to be its own specialty. Maybe it is, it just seems thin to me compared to a full physical therapy regime. Then there's the total quack chiropractice that gets covered by things like http://www.chirobase.org/ http://www.chirobase.org/ . (I observe that they call the first type of chiropractor a "straight" chiropractor.) It is a pity they have the same name, as if Astronomy was still called Astrology. It really messes up debates over chiropractics.
wglb 17y ago
Talk about a crowdsourcing smackdown.
notaddicted 17y ago
The article is interesting, but this is a really terrible title. The title contains zero relevant info, not even any irrelevant info, and it barely even sense as a sentence. The sentence doesn't appear in the article. I am at a loss as to what the titler was thinking.

60 points by baha_man 17y ago

dtf 17y ago

Wow, you've got to love the internets. This reads just like a highbrow version of one of 4chan's "for great justice" campaigns. Surely the BCA must now be regretting the day they picked a fight with Singh. As Simon Perry noted, chiropractors were largely left alone to the back pain business by the sceptics, who were far more interested in exposing other alternative therapies. Suing Singh for the "bogus" remark was like posting a video on YouTube of a bunch of chiropractors abusing a cat. By the time they win their battle - still a possibility - they'll have lost the war.

cubicle67 17y ago

tangental - Simon Singh (the guy being sued) is the author of this excellent book on cryptography http://www.amazon.com/Code-Book-Science-Secrecy-Cryptography/dp/0385495323 http://www.amazon.com/Code-Book-Science-Secrecy-Cryptography...

RiderOfGiraffes 17y ago

See also: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=598385 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=598385 In addition to the book on cryptography, Singh also directed the film about Fermat's Last Theorem ... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermats_last_theorem http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermats_last_theorem ... first transmitted by the BBC as part of the Horizon series, subsequently aired in the USA as part of the NOVA series. He also wrote the book that followed. Both have been mentioned here before, both are most highly recommended. The Wikipedia article references Singh's book copiously. The Code Book, mentioned elsewhere, was his second book. You can read more here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_Singh http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_Singh I know Simon quite well, and am following the libel case with interest. (The wikipedia article also references John Stillwell, whom I also know. This is slightly worrying ...)

sebg 17y ago

My favorite part of the article: "Professional complaints followed in May, mostly about individual chiropractors’ claims. Then, in June, blogger Simon Perry found the BCA database of 1,029 members online, containing 400 website URLs. He wrote a quick computer program to automatically identify all the chiropractors in the UK claiming to treat colic, locate their local Trading Standards office, and report them (more than 500 in total) automatically, followed up with printed letters."

RiderOfGiraffes 17y ago
I like this bit: So Perry reported over 500 chiropractors to them, alleging they had made claims without adequate evidence. The GCC rejected his letter, saying it only takes individual complaints. A pile of individual complaint letters were instantly generated and delivered to their door.

nazgulnarsil 17y ago

chiropractors make their money off of ignorance. if you feel better after going to a chiropractor it's because the muscles that support and stabilize the spine (especially the posture muscles of the lower back) are weak. do some basic exercise like stretching, hyper extensions, and yoga and your back problems will go away. there's a reason chiropractors don't grab a chunk of the lucrative physical therapy market, their techniques are a stop gap, they don't improve your condition.

tom_b 17y ago
There is no doubt that many claims made by chiropractors are bunk. Many chiropractic practitioners are a little "out there" in my experience. That said, I think it is a mistake to entirely dismiss chiropractic care as not providing real benefits. I worked with a chiropractor who was also a trained physical therapist (with many years of PT experience) and the combination of the two practices was key in resolving long-term plantar fascia problems I suffered from. Weird, but the combination of good physical therapy with actual adjustment of my problematic foot bone structure solved a chronic issue after orthopedic physicians had told me to basically give up or consider a surgical solution. So while chiropractic care is over-promoted and over-blown by many, it can be helpful as an adjunct mode of care. Whenever people ask, I always point out that the chiropractor I worked with was also a physical therapist and that I think the physical therapy side of the treatment was more helpful than the chiropractic, but that I found both treatments helpful.
- jerf 17y ago
  There are really two chiropractices, from what I can see. There is a limited, scientific chiropractice that limits itself to physical injuries, and while its domain is not zero, it's so limited I sometimes wonder at if it's really enough to be its own specialty. Maybe it is, it just seems thin to me compared to a full physical therapy regime. Then there's the total quack chiropractice that gets covered by things like http://www.chirobase.org/ http://www.chirobase.org/ . (I observe that they call the first type of chiropractor a "straight" chiropractor.) It is a pity they have the same name, as if Astronomy was still called Astrology. It really messes up debates over chiropractics.

wglb 17y ago

Talk about a crowdsourcing smackdown.

notaddicted 17y ago

The article is interesting, but this is a really terrible title. The title contains zero relevant info, not even any irrelevant info, and it barely even sense as a sentence. The sentence doesn't appear in the article. I am at a loss as to what the titler was thinking.