Spinology - repackaged Chiropracty?

[EvilBiker]

A colleague of mine mentioned spinology to me in glowing terms recently. Knowing nothing about it I did some required reading, and it seems to me that this is just another name for a chiropractor, with a slightly softer touch (no manipulations, it seems).

From this site:

Spinology is a profession that has specifically evolved to assist the human body to function more optimally, in the face of an ever-increasing array of forces to which we are all subjected in the modern world. It does this by ensuring that the nerve system is free from interference through spinal obtrusions. A spinal obtrusion is a situation where the body is unable to maintain the correct relationships between the bones of the spinal column, thus altering the environment of the spinal cord and spinal nerve roots, and impeding the transmission of impulses between the brain and the rest of the body. Based on the premise that the living body is always working to correct itself and adapt ideally to its environment, Spinologists apply gentle, specific forces into the muscles around the spinal column to help the body correct spinal obtrusions.

I haven't delved too much into how the course is presented (online/correspondence/classroom training), so cannot give an estimate as to the validity of the training.

The profession is apparently overseen by the Registration and Professional Development Board of Spinology - searching for this title sends me back to the site above's Code of Practice page.

I just want to add: I have recently being seeing a physiotherapist for some back problems (mid-upper vertebra slightly misalinged, in effect a spinal obtrusion - my back tends to hinge a little in this region), which she has managed to correct with excellent results. Reading through the literature on the site, it would seem that a spinologist would probably do roughly the same thing.

I'm not making any calls one way or another at this stage, although I am a little skeptical, especially since this profession seems to have the same holes as chiropracty - no link to recognised medical bodies, no candidate vetting, relatively new profession (est. 1996).

Your thoughts?

ETA: Found the entry requirements:

What are the entry requirements?

A strong grasp of English is essential and previous tertiary training, whilst not a pre-requisite, would be an advantage.

 

[Skeptic]

It always amuses me when one quack treatment gets competition from a brand-new, knockoff quack treatment. Reminds me of the "Onion" headline: "Scientology Losing Recruits to New Fictionology".

 

[Blue Wode]

It always amuses me when one quack treatment gets competition from a brand-new, knockoff quack treatment.

Here in the UK some “Osteomyologists” have recently made an appearance. They’re unregulated and, apparently, unstoppable:

Osteomyology (sometimes Neurosteomyology) is a form of alternative medicine found almost exclusively in the United Kingdom and is loosely based on aggregated ideas from other manipulation therapies, principally Chiropractic and Osteopathy.[1] Osteomyologists are often therapists who have usually been trained in osteopathy or chiropractic but take on the title osteomyologist after they have refused to be regulated by the General Osteopathic Council (GOsC) or the General Chiropractic Council (GCC) for political or philosophical reasons, or cannot join as they do not meet professional or training standards.[2][3]

More
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osteomyology

Occasionally, the General Chiropractic Council of the UK is embarrassed enough to step in. In one case, a chiropractor was found to have "abused the trust of his patients, and coercing them, through alarmist scare tactics, into excessively protracted and unjustified treatment plans". Chiropractic lends itself to such approaches: it deals with long term chronic conditions, such as back ache, uses mysterious and unverifiable X-ray diagnostic techniques to alarm customers, and recommends long courses of treatments. The chiropractor in question was accused of using unjustified courses of X-rays and misrepresented the gravity of the customer's condition. The chiropractor was removed from the chiropractic register, but simply re-invented himself as a 'osteomyologist' - a sort of renegade and unregulated chiropractor in all but name.

http://www.quackometer.net/blog/labels/BPSDB.html