I was carrying out some fieldwork in northern Ontario last summer, which involved trips to Sudbury, Sault Ste Marie and North Bay. Each day while staying in Sault Ste Marie, we would drive past a small, squat building with a sign outside announcing the presence of a “Correactology Centre”. I had no idea what that was and made a mental note to look it up. I was surprised that when I googled “correactology” there wasn’t even a Wikipedia page! It didn’t bother me that much as I had assumed that it was some obscure form of alternative therapy. I was correct, but it is a little bit more interesting than that. Unlike many forms of complementary and alternative medicine, correactology (TM) is new. Not only that, but it is Canadian, with the headquarters based in Sudbury, Ontario, and there is also a branch in Ottawa, making this a local matter!
History of Correactology
Correactology is based on esodynamics, an equally obscure practice that was founded by two Quebecois chiropractors in the 1970s. Correactology Health Care Group Inc., the company that owns the trademark for Correactology, was formerly known as the Canadian Institute of Esodynamics Inc. from its creation in September 2002 until November 2008 when it changed to the current name (see Industry Canada listing). Esodynamics was a form of chiropractic that used a “leg test” to find areas of the central nervous system that were malfunctioning. The practitioner would sit at the feet of the patient and manipulate their legs to observe responses in the rest of the body. The corrective treatment for these malfunctions was light, high-speed tapping in the malfunctioning area, performed by placing the thumb or finger of one hand on the area and rapidly striking that hand with the other hand. Correactology, still based at www.esodynamics.com, appears to be a spin-off of this approach which I’ll go into below.
So what is Correactology?
Correactology claims to be an “effective and non-invasive approach to alternative health care“, “individualised” to the patient, which does not use “force, drugs, surgery or instrumentation“. The approach aims to foster “auto-correction” to malfunctions in the body which manifest as pain. Just as esodynamics did, Correactologists use small manipulations of the feet (as opposed to the legs in esodynamics) to elicit responses from the body. These responses can apparently be used to determine where in the central nervous system the problems lie. The Correactologists call this the “La Pointe Provocation/Reaction (LAPPR) test”, named after the brothers who founded and run the organisation, Michael and Allan Lapointe. This diagnostic procedure also allows the practitioner to determine how best to correct the malfunctions in the CNS (known as the “sequence of correction”). Finally, the corrective measures are applied through “a soft manual impulse to the appropriate area”, which again sounds like esodynamics. These manual impulses are supposed to initiate the body’s own auto-correction to the proper “body level position” – the healthy state for the patient’s body. (A few) more details are available here, although they are pretty non-specific about the mechanism.
Up until this point I was fairly unimpressed with this new kid on the woo-block. However, the Correactologists really step up to the plate when they list the ailments that they claim to be able to treat. Within the extensive ailments page, the Correactologists claim “Ailments treated through Correactology® Health Care include… AUTISM…CANCER…EPILEPSY!!!” [emphasis, capitals and excessive exclamation marks are mine…]. Brilliant! Now we’re back on track with completely unsubstantiated and dangerous claims. It’s a shame that the Canadians don’t have anything like the Cancer Act in the UK which forbids anybody from claiming to be able to treat or cure cancer except for under strict conditions.
Does it work?
Clearly in a field that has only existed in its trademarked state for just under three years and with relatively little public interest, there are no clinical trials of Correactology. Given that it traces its ancestry back through chiropractic, we can perhaps infer from studies of that field. I’m not going to review chiropractic in its entirety here, but you can find an excellent and well-referenced review of what can and cannot be treated with this approach on the Wikipedia article. Essentially, chiropractic might be useful for back pain but it poses too many risks to be recommended over conventional treatments. The Correactology site lists 21 testimonials (aka “anecdotes“) for efficacy from satisfied customers. The vast majority were for pain associated with joints, but there was also a smattering of bladder and bowel complaints and allergies.
Summary
Correactology is a new name for an old practise. Formerly known as “esodynamics” and based upon chiropractic, there is no evidence for its efficacy. Furthermore, the dangerous claims that are made concerning the ability of the approach to treat cancer are irresponsible. By setting up an Institute of Correactology and a syllabus for a qualification in Correactology, the founders are clearly making a concerted effort to further the discipline. I would suggest that they first see whether it works…
See also a segment on the Skeptics Guide to the Universe podcast from Jan 20th 2010, where Steve Novella calls Correactology “Bullshit-I-pulled-out-of-my-ass-ology”…
[…] modality that I wasn’t familiar with. Apparently it is a new variant of chiropractic, like Correactology, that involves light massage of different muscle groups with a two minute pause between each group. […]
[…] is a modality that I wasn’t familiar with. Apparently it is a new variant of chiropractic, like Correactology, that involves light massage of different muscle groups with a two minute pause between each group. […]
Correctology may be new or based on something old. Does it matter when someone goes with a health problem and gets help? Medicine has certainly failed a lot of people and is certainly not a exact science that uses potentially deadly and harmful drugs and yes does help many people. If we go for Correctology and get help do not hang them to dry for being old or new. So far nobody has come up with a solution that helps everybody even if they have the same ailment.
I have not been solicitated for a comment but Correctology certainly lowered my blood pressure. I had been under medical care for several years and tried other modalities with no help. Correctology helped.
Hi Donna, thanks for reading. The issue with Correactology is not that it is old or new. The issue is that it is not scientific in principle and has not been demonstrated to work in clinical trials. As a result, when people use alternative therapies like Correactology, they are potentially doing so in place of conventional treatments that can actually work. Indeed, Correactology claims to be able to treat autism, epilepsy and cancer, which are potentially dangerous claims to make (not to mention illegal without evidence in other countries).
“doing so in place of conventional treatments that can actually work” “that can” is the operative wording. It also can result in dangerous side effectsl.
“The issue is that it is not scientific in principle”; how many times have conventional treatments been proven scientifically and approved by the FDA, only to then by removed years later because of the its numerous and even deadly results.
“…potentially dangerous claims” is it interesting to anyone that only conventional treatments can claim to “cure” but nothing else. Seems slighted bias, don’t you think.
Hi:
I had a pain in my hip area for about 6 years, I couldn’t lie on that side at all. Sometimes the pain was bad, sometimes just an ache. I didn’t talk to the doctor about it because I am over weight and just figure the cure was losing weight (like everything else).
I went for this treatment, it was miraculous…. I am not one to buy into anything but I had a friend who had been helped and saved from back surgery so I tried it. It was well worth it!~
Sheila
I have gone to the correctology center in Sudbury ON with chronic back pain and carpo tunnel to which I have no symptoms of either one any more my son also goes to the center for ADD which is significantly reduced his symptoms and continues to go I truly believe this is a better method of treatment especially someone with chronic pain to avoid taking drugs on a daily basis 🙂
Hi Kimberly, how long did it take before your back pain showed a difference?
Hi Kimberly,
Sorry for taking so long to reply – I have been neglecting the blog of late. Chronic pain like that which you describe is one area in which alternative treatments such as Correactology may have an effect. This kind of pain may be difficult to treat using conventional medicines and there are a lot of aspects of alt med that can influence a person’s wellbeing, leading to an alleviation of symptoms. I am pleased that you have found that Correactology works for you.
My concerns (and my motivation for writing this article) were more related to claims about autism, cancer, and epilepsy – very serious conditions and diseases which require conventional medicine for effective management.
I wish I would have read this article before I went to see Allan Lapointe. I went in with a headache and muscle soreness in my back. This is because I was up for the past five nights with my 2 year old who was sick. I told allan I was 10 weeks pregnant, and he almost got mad at me because he claims that headache and backpain in the first trimester is a sign of a miscarriage. He then continued on to tell me he could adjust my hormones(without any medication or giving me hormones) which can sometimes prevent someone from miscarrying. I asked him if I should contact my midwife to inform her and he said NO they wouldnt know anything about these signs of miscarriage. Sounds a little wack to me. I’m sorry but my midwife informed me the only sign of miscarriage would be bleeding, spotting, and/or cramping, which I have none of. No one should ever tell a pregnant girl they are miscarrying without knowing forsure and without being in the medical field. I was so distraught and upset and still am. I am having continuous nightmare about losing my baby even though I know that this practice is BS. I wish the public would get together and put a stop to this organization. I have worked with children who are diagnosed with autism and I know that families are desperate for a cure and these guys are taking advantage of people. I feel so bad for those families who are given false hope. I am thinking of writing a letter to the news papers to inform people of how inappropriate this practice is. I would love to have others who have experienced this join me.
Kristen,
I am really sorry to hear that you had such a traumatic experience. One of the reasons that I wrote the post in the first place is that Correactology is relatively unknown, but makes grandiose claims that simply cannot be true. This is always a warning sign.
It is never clear in these situations what the best of course of action would be… Correactologists are not regulated by any government agencies, and the group that represents Correactologists is headed by the Lapointe brothers (one of whom you mention as the practitioner in question). Contacting the press might be the best thing, as the only way to prevent more damage being done is to let people know what goes on in these centres.
Another thing you could do is to send an email to the Committee for the Advancement of Scientific Skepticism (CASS), at cass@cficanada.ca. This is a Canadian group of which I am a member that looks into medical claims exactly like this, and they might be able to offer more help. Certainly we can see about putting out some more information about the group and searching out people who have had similar experiences,
Chris
Hi Chris, I would like to know who funds your fieldwork and the CASS. I would bet its the pharmaceutical companies. I agree that the practitioner should not have mentioned the miscarriage as this would cause undue stress.I also agree we have to be careful with the use of the word ‘cure’ . I do know that double blind studies are incredibly expensive to undergo and why many practitioners simply can’t afford to go that route. I do disagree with the present scientific model as it is very much incomplete and doesn’t take into consideration subtle energies and how the body depends on them and how they are the way of the future for medicine. I feel testimonials should carry more merit than they do . Even if its a placebo effect its still therapy if it works more than not. Acupuncture works ,dousing for water under the ground works. Both good examples of these subtle energies that don’t fit well within this archaic scientific model.
[…] blogged about Correactology before, and that post has been pretty popular (for one of my posts, anyway…) so I thought I would […]
I was introduced to Correactology by a friend and his wife who had been to the clinic. He was relieved of chronic shoulder pain and his wife was remarkably relieved of arthritis. Her fingers were very curved and painful, so much so that she could almost not touch her hands together. Her pain was so unbearable that she spent many nights sitting in a chair, not being able to lie down to sleep. Today, you would not believe the improvement. Her pain is gone and her fingers have straightened to normal. We belong to a line dance school and she can once more enjoy life. I went for my first treatment 4 days ago for carpal tunnel and I also, have a hard time believing the relief I have had for the past few days. My practitioner was very honest, saying that the relief might be temporary and more treatment is necessary. But I can assure you that I will be going back. I do understand the clinical tests are warranted, especially for chronic diseases, but until then, and as long as my wife’s and my own pain relief continues, we will continue to follow treatments.
I believe that people heal at different speed depending on their body. Allan Lapointe has greatly improved my hormone situation; however it did take time! Some others might not take as long…just because our body does have different genes and so on. That being said, I have a 7 year old son that suffers from severe asthma attacks at certain times of the year. He was under the care of a pediatrician who prescribed 2 different puffers, nasal spray, after a while was increasing his doses (which are steroids)…Needless to say my husband and I noticed our son’s behavior changing drastically: highly excited, nervous, uncontrollable. We decided to take him off and solely bring him to Allan for treatments. WHAT A CHANGE!!! Now he goes for treatment once a month or as soon as he starts coughing at night, I bring him to Al and the next day he is good to go!!!! No more sleepless nights because of coughing or asthma attacks. Also this asthma is related to his severe eczema, therefore with Al’s corrections, his eczema also settles down. NO MORE DRUGS!!! That’s my point…no drugs involved.
Susan , I had Menere’s disease I was very ill . Had attack after attack . I was advised by Doctors that there is no cure .. I was advised by a bus driver to see Micheal Lapointe .. what a blessing .. I did go for 1 year and 8 months treatment .. But now I am fine . no attack sence … Yes I might need a check up once a year but hey if it means not to get any more of this attack this is great … I am back living a normal live .There is one thing with this treatment every ones body is different it might take longer for one then the other to correct its self ,you need to be patient and let the correction happen .. I have no regrets of taken these treatments ..
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[…] Correactology – a very Canadian woo [2119 views] […]
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Mainstream medicine tends to treat symptoms rather than address the underlying causes of diseases or conditions. Mainstream doctors generally have their dominant treatments, medicines and practices that relatively limit experimentation with individual patients. Alternative medicine tends to have more liberty to experiment and apply different treatments, and often experiment until they get results. In general, their treatments are typically very safe and often natural. (Alternative medicine practitioners often do and should earn income from their practices and products; but could it be that there is much more money in symptom management in the mainstream camps?)`
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Brett, this is incorrect on a number of counts. First, conventional medicine either treats the cause of disease or, when this is not a realistic option (e.g. mild viral infections), the symptoms. Some thoughts are here: http://www.csicop.org/si/show/one_true_cause_of_all_disease/.
Second, the “experiments” conducted by alt-med practitioners are not good science! It would be great if alt-med was really subjected to thorough clinical trials, but the reviews that assess the efficacy of alt-med treatments usually end up only highlighting the poor quality of studies.
Finally, see http://whatstheharm.net/ for examples of problems (some systemic) with alt med.
cmon katatrepsis answer all of these people with amazing stories.
it is pretty sad that in this day and age, where there is no excuse for ignorance, people still choose to hide behind the cloak of institutionalized rationale, rather than their own and others experiences. what is the scientific method if not the ability to observe, record and experience and make inferences based on such?
my partner just went to his first session where the doc explained to him every ailment and its corrections. he deemed 5 sessions. i will report back to this blog, in hopes that someone else can find it and perhaps look to the practice rather than our corrupt and disturbing medical system.
Hi Kam, thanks for posting. You’re right, I should respond to these anecdotes. However, science-based medicine proponents have already responded to this kind of argument. Here is a nice, simple, but comprehensive list of reasons why “amazing stories” should not be used (on their own) as evidence for efficacy: http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/index.php/the-role-of-anecdotes-in-science-based-medicine/
thank you for your reply.
i find it rather comical that an observance when it does not correlate with ones own hypothesis of a method, is defined as an “anecdote” {a story} while when recorded as a phase of a journal becomes an “observation” and even considered evidence?
I come back to this, because my dad, who I have recently referred to Correactology for his gout, has been researching its value drew attention to my previous comments. Coming back to my initial reasoning for posting, I can come back to post that my partner has been completely healed of his celiac disease and snoring (apparently connected) in only three sessions. Myself, suffering from endometriosis, will be able to report back in more detail soon. My partners mother, suffering from adverse hot flashes and other affects of menopause and Hunts disease, has also come close to no symptoms after 4 sessions. My brother in law, has eliminated his eczema and his girl friend, a long term suffering insomniac has been sleeping well, and has been working towards being seizure free (epilepsy) with the docs intent. Another few “anecdotes”? Perhaps. Depends what branch of the literary tree you are sitting on.
I understand the plea for science, the cry for evidence in many of the aspects of our ever-changing spectrum of truth.
I hope, in these simple posts, as a friend of the internet, to hope that you {the authour of this post} find it within yourself to be open to the possibility of something unknown to be worthy of further inquisition. Let us not burn Science at the stake tonight, or tomorrow night either.
Kam,
Thanks for maintaining this conversation – I think it’s useful. You really should read the link that I posted in my previous comment about the difference between anecdotes and data. Individual patient histories have very limited value in terms of the quality of evidence that they represent. Here is another example that is more specific to evidence-based medicine: http://www.ebmpyramid.org/samples/complicated.html. Check out the evidence pyramid (I think that is more appropriate than your “literary tree”). Basically, anecdotes tend to be poorly-measured, unplanned, and confounded by all kinds of other variables (in medicine it can be diet, sex, age, race, exercise…). What we need are (randomised, placebo-controlled) clinical trials that can tell us whether the medical intervention works while taking all of that other stuff into account.
I don’t want to get into the details of your family’s many ailments. It sounds as though you are all recovering well (and for that I am glad) – just make sure that if you do experience recurrence of your conditions (not uncommon with insomnia, celiac, eczema, menopause indications, endometriosis, or epilepsy, all of which vary in severity and onset with a wide range of factors) that you critically evaluate the value of Correactology.
You might want to look up “regression to the mean” as a concept that often produces apparent success for alternative medicine (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regression_toward_the_mean). A patient experiences a particularly bad flare-up of eczema, for example, and goes to a homeopath. The treatment that is given appears to decrease the inflammation, but that inflammation would have decreased without treatment because of the cyclical nature of the condition.
The final point to make is to delineate “evidence-based medicine” (EBM) from “science-based medicine” (SBM). When we evaluate new treatments, we do not apply the same test to all. We base part of our test on the prior probability of a given intervention working (think of this as how “reasonable” a given intervention is). For example, a priori, we might expect “a drug that is specifically designed to bind with a certain chemoreceptor that is known to have a role in a disease” to be more likely to work than “fairy dust that Martha found under her bed”. However, if you were to run 20 trials on Martha’s bed dust, you would probably find a significant improvement in whatever ever condition you were attempting to treat. This is a limitation of frequentist statistics that can be improved using the Bayesian approach of SBM. See http://www.sciencebasedmedicine.org/index.php/evidence-based-medicine-human-studies-ethics-and-the-gonzalez-regimen-a-disappointing-editorial-in-the-journal-of-clinical-oncology-part-1/ for a comprehensive framing of the issue. Sorry – I was going to try to make some of the jargon more intelligible, but I don’t have time! I’ll post more thoroughly on it later because it is certainly an important issue.
It’s a shame that the Canadians don’t have anything like the Cancer Act in the UK which forbids anybody from claiming to be able to treat or cure cancer except for under strict conditions.
btw – this is the most disturbing quote from a “pioneer” of science.
as I reread your post, i wonder which pharma-house you work for. hopefully they cover more than 50%…..
The reason for phrase that you quote (and, indeed, the passage in the Act that prevents people from being able to [edit: “claim to be able to”] cure cancer without evidence) is that cancer is a horrific, dangerous, and distressing condition that we do not understand. This opens the way for a lot of unscrupulous people to peddle “cures” that do not work, deceiving sufferers and conning them out of money. All we ask is that you demonstrate that your treatment works before you can claim that. Is that unreasonable?
I’m not employed by any pharma companies (I’m a university lecturer). Which Big Placebo corporation do *you* work for? Bear in mind that the alt med industry in the US alone has been valued at $27bn (http://www.cwru.edu/med/epidbio/mphp439/complimentary_meds.pdf)!
Wow if the world thought of only the science and never the wonderful miracle stories that you seem to just want to discard and put on the rug, what a dreadful, disappointing, no hope of a world we would live in. It is sad really that you are so negative on Correactology, but the nice thing here in Canada is we have the choice to go to a Correactology centre and hope based on others stories that maybe it works for us too! I know i have been to only 1 session out of possibly 6? and so far no neck and shoulder pain today! Feel great. Maybe this is all in my head but that works for me too! I actually was able to see my Medical Dr. and the Correactology centre on the same day…and trust me would take Correactology any day as they were able to explain how my body was working and why. Medical dr. “wow it is really mystery why you are getting these results, lets try this prescription….went one with three prescriptions to fill and try and see how these go” I will choose to go to both the dr. and the correactology and even my Naturopath, because it is my body we only get one of them so why not try and see what works! and have HOPE that it my body is smart enough to figure it out with the right attention.
Absolutely agree with you very smart observation. When someone out of the emporium Doctor/pharmacy are doing something good like in this case correctology, they became a threat to this multi million business
[…] severe and varied diseases and conditions?) the experts at the Correactology Centres (which I have discussed before) have removed “cancer” from the list of “ailments” that Correactology can […]
I don’t know anything about the medical aspects of Correactology, but I had an interesting experience with someone who claimed to be Michael Lapointe, President and CEO of the Sudbury clinic. He is apparently selling his Aston Martin. I was looking to buy one and I did a search on the Ontario Kijiji site. Two ads came up, one from Sudbury, for $90,000 for a 2006 convertible with about 46K kilometers and one from Barrie for $75,000 for a 2006 convertible with about 45K kilometers. The first one had pictures and the second one didn’t (very unusual for an expensive car). I began corresponding with Michael on the $75,000 car and made him an offer which he declined. He indicated he had had a few offers in the sub-$60,000’s but nothing he was prepared to accept. A few weeks later I replied by email on the $90,000 car and who do you suppose it was? Michael Lapointe. When I called him out on placing two ads (the $90,000 one to make the $75,000 deal look better), he snuffed that he had “forgotten” he had placed the first ad at $75,000 – only two weeks earlier. While this may not relate to his medical (or quasi-medical) abilities, it speaks loudly about his personality to me. I would not deal with a person of such dubious integrity.
I completely agree with this article. Not only is the science behind correactology questionable, but the practitioners’ qualifications are also suspect. Despite claims on the Correactology Center’s website to be able to treat more than 100 different diseases and ailments, I found no information regarding the qualification process to become a Correactology practitioner. The Correactology Practitioner Program does not appear to be registered under the Private Career Colleges Act (http://www.ontario.ca/education-and-training/private-career-colleges), and is therefore an illegal accreditation program.
I support alternative health treatments fully, but this particular practice seems like a scam.
And doctors do they know everything?
It’s nice that there is some information finally being produced on Correactology.
I agree with the original blogger about everything stated: the regression to the mean, the high potential for a bogus practice and the lucrative alt. medicine business; the problems of anecdotal evidence; the psychosomatic power of the patient to heal if they think they are being healed, etc. I even agree with whomever posted about the slightly shady car sale conducted by one of the LaPointes. I have even had my own shady encounter with them on issues not related to their practice. For many reasons I am extremely dubious of their business.
I am reluctant to admit, then, that they have certainly made drastic improvements on my own condition (bowels) that have plagued me over the years. In all honesty, I did not go to see the LaPointe’s initially, but exhausted medical science’s options (ultra-sound, colonoscopy, blood work), and then other alt. medicines (reflexology, lymph massage), all to disappointing results.
When finally recommended to correactology, I went with the highest degree of doubt (when you’ve exhausted so many other avenues, doubt is what you bring to these things). After the foot-flick, then the barely-touch-you treatment, I left even more doubtful and cynical. And then I got better almost immediately.
I’m very torn over this. As stated earlier I agree with the original blogger and share his sceptical approach. I don’t like to endorse people who create false hope regarding serious disease, but I can say they can fixed my issues, at least temporarily. Without delving in to too much anecdote, my condition stabilized for a good while, then regressed. I went regularly for a while, but then stopped going altogether. Recently my condition flared up again, and I reluctantly went back (even though it was the only thing to work with me), and once again I improved dramatically and virtually instantly (within one day).
So that’s my anecdotal contribution. I encourage more people to respond so we can at least shine some light on this method because right now, while I’m glad to be better, I’m very confused as to why.
Davey, thanks for taking the time to comment. Setting aside the possibility that your improvement could have been (a) placebo, (b) coincidence, (c) regression to the mean, etc, I do wonder whether relaxing alternative treatments like Correactology could be useful in stress-related conditions like irritable bowel syndrome. There are treatments such as “functional relaxation” which seem to reduce stress levels and the incidence and severity of stress-related conditions. Of all of the alternative modalities that have been used to treat IBS, psychological modalities seem to offer at least some promise (there is a long list of reviews here: http://summaries.cochrane.org/search/site/irritable%20bowel%20syndrome), and some of those seem to have very immediate effects. Have you tried meditation?
I was quite committed to meditation and yoga for a good while and still do it semi-regularly.
The thing with Correactology is that it really isn’t that relaxing. It certainly isn’t as relaxing as the lymph massage session I had, which was replete with candles and calming music. It’s basically all completed in a little examination room and is over quite quickly (5 minutes). There is no music, no candles, and no attempt to relax the patient other than some brief conversation.
The placebo effect is certainly a possibility and should not be underestimated, but it fails to explain why effect didn’t kick in with the other alternative therapies I tried.
It is not certain that IBS is a stress-related condition, either, though I can attest that stress can exacerbate bowel problems. Basically medical science does not know what causes IBS.
I have noticed that the number of people going to Correactology has went down considerably. The waiting room used to be jam packed with all variety of people, and now not so much. I personally believe this is a result of not quite living up to their rather bold claims about what they can “cure.” I personally know a few people who gave them a try (not for bowel issues) and found it did nothing for their condition. I stopped going for a while because I simply had caught one of them continually lying about other things (usually about their accomplishments and/or possessions), and lying for no good reason. I mean, I was already a bit dubious of the whole thing and that just soured me completely.
Still, I returned last week, and will go again this week so long as I am seeing positive results.
By the way, just to be clear, “dispotatoid” is “davey.” I apparently already had an account with wordpress and that was my username.
Great link, by the way. The studies, though, do not find that psychological treatments offer any more promise than placebos.
“Except for a single study, these therapies were not superior to placebo and the sustainability of their effect is questionable.”
“Psychological treatments are increasingly advocated but their effectiveness is unclear.”
A good book that covers the placebo effect is Dr. Golem: How to think about Medicine, by Collins and Pinch. One thing it states is that alternative medicine is where the placebo effect would be greatest as it “almost never employs the cold and mechanical procedures that can be found in orthodox medicine.” What’s odd is that Correactology DOES try to mirror the “cold and mechanical” procedures of orthodox medicine in its atmosphere (sterile examination room), and it’s procedure .
How would you explain placebo with children’s sickness that have been “resolved”???
I’ve been to the correctology center in Sudbury at least 10 times. The reason I’m there is to support a friend’s decisions to accept this “treatment” as legitimate. I told my friend if this guy cures you than I will give you all the money you spent back. But he has to do it in 20 or less appointments. We are presently around 12 appointments and zero sign of improvement. Although, there is a very small part of me that believes the body can alter the perception of pain, stress axiety, and emotional issues. But not sure what my friend has.
Top 10 things that I find questionable
1. Correctology is a trademark word and the guy has a diploma in Correctology ( does this mean I can be an Engineerologist)
2. The note he takes resembles nothing more than circles, very bizarre and hard to imagine they mean anything. I even asked to see the file and was refused. My doctor never does that!
3. The time he spends with the patient is dependent on the line-up in the waiting room. We have been in his presence anywhere between 2 and 5 minutes. (@ $45.00, do the math)
4. How can anyone assess a patient by wiggling their feet for 2-3 seconds?
5. He makes a very strange noise when he administers the tap, why would he have to make a noise, unless it really is magic?
6. How is it possible to tap a specific location when the person is still wearing a shirt and jacket, the tap goes right through and hits the perfect spot that alters the cell position at the microscopic level, releases the phosphates, create the “heal me now” chain of events and then balances the bodies healing powers and corrects everything that is malfunctioning in the nervous system. If it doesn’t just come back next week.
7. A bank machine in the waiting room. Really?
8. He claims to be able to correct anything, yes, he said that. But he could not say how long, or how many $45
9. I can’t think of one thing that makes this seem legit. We all know the body can correct itself and the mind is powerful. A good massage stimulates circulation; a positive mind can do miracles.
10. I feel like I’m in a line-up for a lottery ticket when I’m in the waiting room. All these people with so much false hope it is really sad to think they are really just healing themselves.
I’m not a Dr, engineeriologist, paullogist, but I have my friend and who is buying false hope for $45 a week. Maybe this works for pain, stress, anxiety, but i’m a pessimissologist when it comes to curing people by tapping.
Paul,
Thanks for commenting. The trouble with these medical interventions is that there are no studies so we don’t know the rate at which it *doesn’t* work – all we have are the anecdotes from those who recover while undergoing therapy.
Holy crap. I’m from Sudbury originally (moved about 5 years ago) and have never heard of this until today. As a chemicalologist, I find this both hilarious and incredibly sad. Given the scarcity of doctors in Northern Ontario (and associated ridiculous wait times), I sincerely hope this practise doesn’t end up encouraging people with legitimate medical concerns to skip out on the treatment they need.
Ugh… J, don’t knock it til you try it, it has been amazing for me!~ I have gone in Vars to Martin.
Final update on the progress: I noticed a sign in the waiting room and his claims are a little softer than before…now, he either cures or helps people deal with their ailment. How is that for a sweet twist? Almost like going to an auction, the more you pay the more you like what you bought.
That being said you may not be cured, but you should, at least, feel as good as he does when he spends your money.
And as for the friend that was going there weekly, I won the bet and he was out a little over $500 for treatments that did nothing. Although he can’t feel too good about that..
I do feel better knowing that he stopped at $500. Not sure if this counts?
I went in after a blotched neck surgery a few years ago. I was told I could be fixed in four, yes “4” visits??? Then after that false hope every week, 8 weeks later, asked why I was told 4 visits, and was told it was to encourage the patient and I was clear now in half my body. Wow, I still bought it for another 4 visits and finally called it quits on possibly the last chance on some kind of hope for these years of constant pain. Guess I made my donation to their family empire of hope costing money.
You really make it seem so easy with your presentation but I find this matter to be really something that I think I would
never understand. It seems too complex and very broad for
me. I’m looking forward for your next post, I’ll try to get the hang of it!
I haven’t read every comment so it may have been answered, but here is my question: What exactly does a correactologist do? I see some people saying they’ve had success, some say it’s BS, but what does the practitioner actually do?
Having found this blog post through a friend, I read the article and all the comments. I think the comments have given me cancer. Do you anti-“big pharma” folk have a recommended treatment for the cancer that your idiocy has given me or should I just wait it out and see if it wears off on it’s own?
They’ve cured my migraines, anxiety, and regulated my cycle.. my brother’s asthma and acne, my mom’s allergies and back pain… etc
I know a man who had a tumour in his back, and after going to correactology, in a matter of a month he went for X-rays and it was gone. I also have known of a few children who stopped having seizures after they went in. The results are unquestionable if you ask me.
Nothing new about this approach named correactology ???? WHY DISCUSSION STOPPED?
DID IT BECOME EFFECTIVE FINALLY ?