Energy Therapies for Physical and Occupational Therapists Working with Older Adults
Ann Burkhardt, Jodi Carlson in Complementary Therapies in Geriatric Practice, 2014
Reiki practitioners advocate the use of Reiki as an approach that complements conventional medical treatment based on anecdotal reports that highlight its effectiveness in controlling pain, lessening anxiety, promoting relaxation, and facilitating healing and recovery (Barnett & Chambers, 1996). There is, however, at the time of this writing a void of scientific support for Reiki due to the paucity of research in this area. Olson and Hanson (1997) published the results of a pilot study that assessed the usefulness of Reiki as an adjunct to pharmacological intervention for pain management. Although a significant reduction in pain was recorded following Reiki treatment at the time of this writing, the study was markedly limited by its lack of an inclusion criteria and control for dependent variables. Mansour, Beuche, Laing, Leis, and Nurse (1999) acknowledged a paucity of controlled experimental studies of Reiki and suggested that research in the area should begin with placebo-controlled investigations. In their study, the researchers established a standardized procedure for real and placebo Reiki and recommended that this procedure be incorporated into randomized clinical trials to investigate the efficacy of Reiki (Mansour et al., 1999).
Bioenergetic Therapies
Hilary McClafferty in Integrative Pediatrics, 2017
Reiki is a Japanese term equated with universal life energy, “rei” (universal energy), and “ki” (life energy of all living creatures), introduced as a healing therapy by Dr. Mikao Usui in Japan in the 1840s. It is used to purportedly channel the universal life force to the recipient with the intent for strength, balance, and physical and mental healing. Technically, reiki can be performed with or without direct touch similar to therapeutic and healing touch therapies. Reiki has been studied in adults in a variety of conditions including: musculoskeletal pain, wound healing, stress, post-operative pain, and anxiety. Results are mixed and again limited by study design and small sample sizes as those in the other bioenergetic therapies (Hammerschlag, Marx, and Aickin 2014).
Cesarean Delivery
Vincenzo Berghella in Obstetric Evidence Based Guidelines, 2022
CD can be associated with significant anxiety, especially for those patients who underwent emergency surgery. Various interventions have been studied to reduce stress and anxiety postoperatively. One small RCT compared hand and foot massage to standard postoperative management and observed reduced pain intensity, lower blood pressure and respiratory rate, and increased rates of breastfeeding [321]. Another RCT evaluated the utilization of 30 minutes of Reiki, a Japanese form of healing with energy (3 minutes for each area, 10 areas total) within the first 24–48 hours postoperatively and found significantly lower use of analgesics and less anxiety in the treatment group [322]. Auricular acupressure (applied twice a day) has also been tested and shown to reduce cortisol levels, heart rate, anxiety, and fatigue when used postoperatively [323]. Although there is insufficient evidence based on small sample size, these nonpharmacologic interventions have no expected harmful side effects and can be recommended to those patients who would like to utilize them.
Bioenergy for Stress Relief in University Students: A Randomized Controlled Trial
Published in Journal of Community Health Nursing, 2022
Alice Running, Laura Hildreth, Neha John-Henderson
In an effort to determine if energy medicine (healing touch) could have a significant impact on stress levels for university students, Bukowski (2015) measured the effects of a self-Reiki program on stress reduction and relaxation in college students. Bukowski (2015) found that participants believed Reiki was a credible technique for reducing stress levels. Likewise, Running and Hildreth (2017) proposed that students report a decreased level of stress after a 20-minute bio-energy intervention. In a quasi-experimental, single-group study, using a pre-test/posttest design, participants reported a significant reduction in stress (t (35) = 7.74, p <.0001). Multiple regression further indicated that decreased stress levels were greater for higher initial stress levels (t (31) = 1.946, p < .0001). In a follow-up study (Running & Hildreth, 2017) with university students, a quasi-experimental, single-group pretest-posttest design was used a second time. Once again, the participants reported a significant change in self-reported stress after the bio-energy intervention (t(35) = 7.74, p <.0001).
Life with Cancer at Inova Schar Cancer Institute
Published in Oncology Issues, 2018
Sage Bolte
“One outstanding characteristic of Life with Cancer's volunteers is the remarkable expertise they contribute,” explains Catherine Intartaglia, community affairs and volunteer coordinator for Life with Cancer. Volunteers make our unique and numerous programming options possible. For example, 60 community Reiki masters, who receive training specific to cancer patients, volunteer their time to offer this healing, stress reduction, and relaxation technique to Life with Cancer patients and family members. Two sessions are held each month at the Family Center, and 30 patients now participate in monthly sessions at the Inova Fair Oaks Medical Campus. One patient, who had received Reiki at Life with Cancer, became a Reiki master and returned to Life with Cancer to volunteer. “Our patients really respond to this program,” says Intartaglia. Women recovering from breast cancer surgery reported having better range of motion and less pain. At the Inova Fairfax Medical Campus and Inova Loudon Hospital, nurse volunteers trained in Healing Touch offer this energy therapy to interested patients.
Sacred kink: finding psychological meaning at the intersection of BDSM and spiritual experience
Published in Sexual and Relationship Therapy, 2018
Alexzandria C. Baker
As with all key constituents, the ontological index is here suspended. Regardless of the veracity of these descriptions, this energetic force is an embodied piece of the lived experience for Ps. This force is not the same as having the physical vitality required for action or the psychic energy invested in mental operations. It could be similar to what is theorized as the “human biofield” by researchers investigating energy work such as Therapeutic Touch and Reiki. Although the human biofield is held to exist within close proximately to the living body and while it is claimed that some highly sensitive people can feel the biofield of another, it is not a common experience (Nelson & Schwartz, 2005). The descriptions given by the participants also refer to what they suggest are ambient and cosmic energies separate from themselves until the point of embodied experience. Perhaps in using the term “energy,” Ps are actually using thermodynamic phrasing as a metaphor for an embodied experience that is beyond quantifiable measure.
Related Knowledge Centers
- Alternative Medicine
- Anxiety
- Diabetic Neuropathy
- Physiology
- Randomized Controlled Trial
- Cancer
- Depression
- Energy Medicine
- Placebo
- Therapeutic Touch