Thursday, August 14, 2014

Consumer Guide to Steamboat Bodyworks-Healing Centers

Advanced Massage and Healing Arts
Lena Steed-Franzen

This business offers massage, for which Lena Steed-Franzen is licensed through the State of Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies, MT.0003998.

The rest of the offerings of this business are energy work or other names for energy work.

The State of Colorado does not require licensing or registration for individuals who claim to do energy work, for good reason. Energy work, including all the different ways it can be named, is based on a notion that human bodies have an energy field, which has never been verified and appears to be elusive to measurement, but seems special individuals can somehow manipulate.

An energy field large enough to surround, permeate, and travel with the body wherever it goes, should be measurable. 

A requirement for licensing is the successful passing of an appropriate test, but, without a quantifiable human condition, treatments also cannot be measured or verified, therefore, energy workers cannot be tested because there is nothing to base tests on.

Anyone can be an energy worker. All that is necessary is to claim to be one. 

Research on energy work, including reiki, color and sound healing, and aura-soma, which can include aroma, has shown no effects other than placebo effects, or false perceptions of improvement or fluctuation of symptoms.

For consumers

When the placebo effects wear off, energy workers claim something about "response variables" or "psychosomatic phenomena", and recommend additional treatment or another method, which is why energy workers offer several variations of energy methods. It is important to the energy worker's bottom line to keep clients in the loop of the various energy work methods. No money can be made by letting clients escape simply because placebo effects wear off, there's always another method to try.

The offering of astrology as part of healing arts is inexplicable and absurd. Consumers should be wary of individuals who offer astrology as well as energy work, no matter how it is named.

Energy work is not about healing arts. It is more like the art of taking money for something that does not work. That is called a scam.

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Sacred Spiral Healing Arts
Michelle Linet, ND, CMT
Adrienne Welder, CMT

The letters, ND, stand for Naturopathic Doctor, for which Michelle Linet is licensed through the State of Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies, ND.0000039, and is the only Naturopathic Doctor in the Yampa Valley.

The letters, CMT, stand for Certified Massage Therapist. Neither name came up in the National Certification Board for Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork database, however, there are a number of massage certifying agencies, some private, which makes verifying certification problematic. Both individuals are licensed as massage therapists with the State of Colorado, Michelle Linet, MT.0003458, Adrienne Welder, MT.0006406.

Certification is not the same as licensing

The most important letters placed after a massage therapist's name are the ones that designate licensing, LMT. All other letters, such as those for certification, should be placed after that.

In cases where certification is claimed, for any practice, the certifying agency should also be named. This makes it easier for consumers to check certifications and enables them to make the best decisions for their health care.


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Yampa Valley Integrated Health

This listing directs consumers to an ad in which several names are provided.

Kelley McDaneld, L.Ac., Dipl.OM., is licensed in acupuncture with the State of Colorado, ACU.0001139, and is a Diplomate of Oriental Medicine, certified through NCCAOM, National Certification Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine.

Lisa Thornhill, L.Ac., Dipl.OM., is licensed in acupuncture with the State of Colorado, ACU.0001278,  and is a Diplomate of Oriental Medicine, certified through NCCAOM, National Certification Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine.

Michael MacKinnon, CMT (Certified Massage Therapist) is licensed with the State of Colorado as a massage therapist, MT.0009722, however, no certification is listed or could be found for this individual.

Sarah Freese, BCTMB, is licensed with the State of Colorado as a massage therapist, MT.0001977, and the credentials, BCTMB, Board Certified Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork, is through NCBTMB, National Certification Board for Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork.

Some of the services offered by this business have been shown to have some effect on health, such as massage and nutrition, also, yoga is helpful as a physical exercise, however, acupuncture, Chinese herbs, and qigong have not been proven to have any benefits to health.

Over three thousand trials and reviews of acupuncture reveal that the only results are placebo effects and the theory that acupuncture is based on, meridians, is imaginary. Many in the scientific community believe it is unethical to prescribe treatments based on imaginary anatomy that only offers placebo effects.



Certification of acupuncturists is a sham. While a few of those so accredited are naive physicians, most are nonmedical persons who only play at being doctor and use this certification as an umbrella for a host of unproven New Age hokum treatments. Unfortunately, a few HMOs, hospitals, and even medical schools are succumbing to the bait and exposing patients to such bogus treatments when they need real medical care.


            George A. Ulett, M.D., Ph.D., Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, University of
            Missouri School of Medicine

   Acupuncture is an unproven modality of treatment.
   Its theory and practice are based on primitive and fanciful concepts of health and disease that bear no relationship to present scientific knowledge
   Research during the past 20 years has not demonstrated that acupuncture is effective against any disease.
   Perceived effects of acupuncture are probably due to a combination of expectation, suggestion, counter-irritation, conditioning, and other psychologic mechanisms.
   The use of acupuncture should be restricted to appropriate research settings,
   Insurance companies should not be required by law to cover acupuncture treatment,
   Licensure of lay acupuncturists should be phased out.
  Consumers who wish to try acupuncture should discuss their situation with a knowledgeable physician who has no commercial interest. 

Chinese herbs, or Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), is prescientific theory from a prescientific culture, from a time when superstition and elaborate belief systems made up what people understood about the human body. There has been no contribution from TCM to science-based medicine.

Qigong, pronounced chee gung, is based on a theory that health can be improved through the science and practice of chi, or life energy, through controlled breathing and movement. Research and clinical trials have so far been inconclusive and there is no consensus of effectiveness. In addition, the existence of qi, or chi, has not been verified.

Integrating alternative theories with conventional medicine does not lend credibility to alternative health practices that are not credible in their own right.

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