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Taking your baby to the osteopath has almost become a must for young parents. Although the promised benefits are numerous, none have been scientifically established.
For families who can afford it, going through osteopathy after the birth of a child has become an almost unavoidable ritual. Even in maternity wards, young parents are strongly encouraged to take their baby to the osteopath. It must be said that the promises of pediatric osteopathy are legion: it would reduce crying, improve breastfeeding, digestion or sleep and remedy possible deformations of the skull. However, there is no scientific basis for this practice, warns the National Academy of Medicine in a recent press release, joining with this position the repeated warnings of many health professionals in recent years.
« Parents are made to believe that they risk missing something, that their child may have problems if they do not go to an osteopath »Pascale Mathieu, president of the National Order of Masseurs-Physiotherapists, recently told us. For Johann Lavallée, physiotherapist and osteopathic graduate, « the masterful feat of osteopathy was to suggest that birth is a “traumatic” event which de facto requires an osteopathic examination to “put everything back in place” ». « Pediatric osteopathy claims to treat diseases that do not exist or real problems that naturally evolve towards healing. he summed up in an interview with Figaro in 2021.
This is for example the case of « Kiss syndrome »defined around fifty years ago by a German doctor and allegedly due to a misalignment of the first cervical vertebrae. This syndrome brings together a multitude of expected and very common signs in infants (flattening of the skull, discharge crying, colic, reflux, etc.). A catch-all disease, very popular on social networks, which does not correspond… to any medical reality. « Know that Kiss syndrome does not exist and has no diagnostic or scientific basis. »thus alerted a collective of caregivers in a column published in our pages in 2022. He added that« a healthy baby does not need manipulation : bones and organs do not move spontaneously, neither during childbirth nor after ».
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“Costly” practices of “unproven effectiveness”
The Academy of Medicine warns in particular about osteopathy « visceral and cranial »which corresponds to manipulations of the stomach and head. She insists that these practices are « without proven scientific basis, and of unproven effectiveness and safety ». Of the « inadequacies » Who « contrast with the multiplication of advertisements, including within maternity wards, which results in an increasing offer, made to parents, of these costly practices »sting the academicians.
The session, the cost of which generally ranges between 70 and 80 euros, is entirely the responsibility of the parents. Because it is not recognized as a health profession, osteopathy is not reimbursed by Health Insurance. For this same reason, osteopaths do not have the same rights as health professionals. In theory, for example, they cannot handle babies under 6 months old, unless they have a certificate of non-contraindication established by a doctor. Only gentle mobilizations – which, unlike manipulations, do not crack the joints – are authorized without the approval of a doctor.
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A risk of delay in support
According to its detractors, osteopathy for babies is, at best, ineffective, when it is not dangerous. « There are no studies that have shown any effectiveness. On the other hand, I have observed many times during my career that this can delay the treatment of a pathology »testifies the Dr Jean-Michel Pedespan, who until last year was a pediatric neurologist at Bordeaux University Hospital. « For example, we have seen newborns arrive suffering from torticollis, cerebral palsy or hypotonia. (muscle weakness, Editor’s note) at too late stages. They had been cared for by osteopaths who were not capable of diagnosing or treating these pathologies. »says the doctor, who, as early as 2011, had raised awareness about pediatric osteopathy in a column published in The World. « If in doubt, it is better to consult a pediatrician, who will refer if necessary to conventional physiotherapy, which is much more effective.he specifies.
Ultimately, the Academy of Medicine calls for a rigorous evaluation of cranial and visceral osteopathy and the establishment of monitoring of adverse effects in newborns. Finally, it calls for strengthening the quality of osteopathic training provided by establishments and for them to be evaluated. « objectively by medical and surgical perinatal specialists ».
