Scaremongering over new technology has been around as long as technology itself, but it sank to a new low last month when The Telegraph published the following:



Computers blamed for children's bad backs Computers and mobile telephones are causing an increase in back problems for teenagers, with 40 per cent of children suffering pain, a study has claimed. Researchers warned parents that their teenagers are at increasing risk from back or neck pain due to sedentary lifestyles and excessive use of technology.

The coverage was based on a press release from the British Chiropractic Association as part of its "Technology and Teens" awareness campaign. The BCA's press office told me that the research was an opinion poll conducted by a market research company, but they declined my request to look at the questions that had been asked or the multiple choice answers that had been provided.

However, it appears the researchers questioned parents of 11 to 16-year-olds about their child’s technology usage and whether their children had ever experienced back pain, and then invited them to speculate about what might have caused the pain. That the methodology involved no actual examinations of the children – either by spinal experts or chiropractors – seriously undermines the findings.

It comes as no surprise that the full research isn’t available to the public, let alone published in a respectable journal. Yet this flimsy study is apparently sufficient to base an entire awareness-raising campaign upon, one which the media readily picked up.

This approach has worked not only for the BCA, but also for other chiropractic organisations. In March, the United Chiropractic Association went one further than the BCA, releasing a press release that inspired the Daily Mail to declare the humble smartphone to be a potential killer:

Could sending texts KILL you? Messaging may cause heart disease and breathing problems in later life, study claims. Texting and using mobile devices for long periods of time could lead to a lower life expectancy, according to a new study. Chiropractic experts believe the hunching posture adopted by phone or tablet users can cause breathing problems, leading to cardiovascular issues later in life and a higher risk of death in older age.

The link between hyperkyphosis, a deformation of the spine usually associated with degenerative conditions such as osteoporosis, and the posture adopted while reading emails seems to be the invention of the UCA – it certainly isn’t supported by any reliable evidence. Quite how our smartphone-reading posture differs from the bog-standard book-reading posture we’ve adopted for centuries is anyone’s guess.

That the Mail reported the UCA’s press release without a trace of criticism – or, indeed, evidence – is undoubtedly poor journalism, and it comes as no surprise that its story was quickly derided by experts.

The campaign comes after several years of criticism for chiropractors: in 2010, the BCA lost an expensive legal case after suing science writer Simon Singh (who is now my colleague at the Good Thinking Society). The BCA was unhappy with his criticisms of claims made by the association and its members that spinal manipulation – which according to chiropractic theory can unblock "subluxations" in the innate energy of the spine – could treat colic in infants. (There is no reliable evidence that spinal manipulation can treat infant colic.)

Despite this high-profile defeat in the courts, many chiropractors – including some members of the BCA – still routinely distribute leaflets at their practices containing claims that chiropractic treatment can manipulate the spines of newborn infants to treat colic, breathing problems, ear infections, poor appetite and even allergies. That BCA members still appear to, in the words of Singh, “happily promote bogus treatments” for which there is “not a jot of evidence” is alarming to say the least. Chiropractors may well believe that they are helping their patients, but the best available evidence does not support their bizarre theories.

The apparent inaction of the chiropractic regulatory bodies is troubling. In the wake of publicity caused by the libel action against Singh, the industry came under intense scrutiny, with complaints of misleading or unsubstantiated claims levelled against one in three registrants of the General Chiropractic Council. Four years on, it seems little has been done to discourage chiropractors from making unsubstantiated claims – the GCC appears to be as ineffective as the treatments provided by its members.

While the regulatory side of the chiropractic industry has been slow to act, the same can’t be said of its marketing and PR departments. Besides scaremongering over our deadly smartphone usage, we’ve also been subjected to press releases warning of the dangers of sleeping on poor mattresses, over-stuffing our ‘man-bags’, and even flipping pancakes.

If chiropractors want to be taken seriously, perhaps they should focus on improving the regulation of their industry and conducting rigorous research rather than relying on PR stunts to drum up business. But I suspect they will continue to bend over backwards to exploit every PR opportunity.

In the meantime, the newspapers who merrily regurgitate these flimsy stories should be careful: if they stoop any lower, they’ll put their backs out.

