Between Voodoo, Placebo & Palm Leaf

A tongue-in-cheek look at non-evidence-based therapeutic procedures – between placebo, everyday practice and palm leaf diagnostics

We live in a time where you can treat back pain with duct tape, release energy blockages with gentle jaw rocking, and read the causes of illness from the trajectory of a chicken bone. Sounds weird? Sometimes it is. And yet, many of these procedures are popular, widespread, colorfully labeled, certified, and well-intentioned.

In therapeutic practice, we encounter methods on a daily basis whose effectiveness is scientifically more in the realm of poetry - but which nevertheless do something to people. So it's high time for a blog article that not only asks whether it all works - but what exactly is happening.

1. kniseo tape

The classic among the placebo-colored beacons of hope

Purple for neck pain, turquoise for menstrual cramps, black for more professionalism. The tape sticks everything - and sometimes even solves something. Whether it lifts the fascia, stimulates the lymphatic system or simply looks good: Critical studies, boundless enthusiasm for use.

👉 Therapeutic conclusion: If the patient feels more "stable" afterwards - why not? Just not as a substitute for exercise, please.

2. craniosacral therapy

Gentle stroking on a molecular level

Here, "minimal pressure" is applied to the skull - supposedly you can feel rhythmic movements of the cerebrospinal fluid. Science shrugs its shoulders. Supporters speak of "deep processes". Some fall asleep. Perhaps that is precisely the effect.

👉 Therapeutic conclusion: If you are looking for a gentle touch for neck tension and have no expectation of biomechanics - fine. If you think it will shift intervertebral discs: ask critically.

3. diagnostic Balinese chicken bone throwing

When conventional medicine becomes too specific

A procedure that is actually used as a diagnostic tool in some circles. The bone throw says: lumbar vertebra 4 is blocked. Or you have stress. Or an ancestral problem. You only know exactly when the bones fall "correctly".

👉 Therapeutic conclusion: Exciting as an anthropological experience. For therapy planning, it is better to rely on findings rather than feathered animals.

4. ballessono fascia matrix therapy

We don't know what it is - but it sounds spiritual

Some websites refer to it as a method with body, energy and consciousness. Perhaps a spelling mistake. Perhaps a channeled term. Perhaps a condition after too much incense.

👉 Therapeutic conclusion: If you can explain how it works - congratulations. If not: just nod in a friendly way and change the subject.

5. flossing (yes, it really is called that)

Rubber band, blood congestion, freedom from pain?

Tight rubber bands are wrapped around joints or muscles and then set in motion. The idea is to stop the blood flow - and then release it again. The effect: often surprisingly positive. The name: communication problem.

👉 Therapeutic conclusion: Please do not use for people with vascular diseases or a fear of rubber bands. Otherwise? An exciting stimulus - please use with caution.

6. palm leaf library, aura reading & quantum codes

For advanced users with WLAN in the morphogenetic field

If the tape doesn't help and the cranio doesn't work, you can still enter the place of birth into a Vedic database, measure auric fields with a pendulum necklace or have a QR code printed out for cell communication.

👉 Therapeutic conclusion: Keep a sense of humor. Maintain your attitude. And know: Just because something isn 't evidence-based doesn't mean it doesn't work - but it's our responsibility to be honest about this gray area.

Conclusion:

Between hocus-pocus and healing relationships

Therapy is not just about methods, but also about relationships, touch, attention - and sometimes hope. This means that non-evidence-based methods can also have an effect. But not because of their theory - but because of the framework in which they take place.

Therapeutically remains crucial:

• What helps people?

• What has a comprehensible effect?

• And where does it tip over into misleading, distracting or profiteering?

There is a wide field between sound physiotherapy and Balinese bone throwing. It's good if you enter it with a sense of humor - and work in it with attitude.

Are you a therapist and want to have a well-founded say - even if it gets spiritual, esoteric or adhesive?
Then take a look at our training courses - evidence-based, practical and tongue-in-cheek:
👉 www.hockenholz.com/weiterbildungen