Reliability of Diagnosis and Clinical Efficacy of Cranial Osteopathy: A Systematic Review.

Guillaud A et al 

CONTEXT:

In 2010, the World Health Organization released benchmarks for training in osteopathy in which they considered cranial osteopathy as an important osteopathic skill. However, the evidence supporting the reliability of diagnosis and the efficacy of treatment in this field appears scientifically weak and inconsistent.

There was no restriction regarding the type of disease.

SEARCH RESULTS:

In our electronic search we found 1280 references concerning reliability of diagnosis studies plus four references via our complementary strategy. 

RESULTS:

For reliability studies, our analysis leads us to conclude that the diagnostic procedures used in cranial osteopathy are unreliable in many ways. 

CONCLUSION:

Our results demonstrate, consistently with those of previous reviews, that methodologically strong evidence on the reliability of diagnostic procedures and the efficacy of techniques and therapeutic strategies in cranial osteopathy is almost non-existent.