1: Altern Ther Health Med. 2008 Jul-Aug;14(4):24-32.

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The efficacy of healing touch in coronary artery bypass surgery recovery: a randomized clinical trial.
MacIntyre B, Hamilton J, Fricke T, Ma W, Mehle S, Michel M. Cardiovascular Telemetry, HealthEast Saint Joseph's Hospital, St Paul, Minnesota, USA. CONTEXT: The use of complementary therapies in conjunction with conventional care has great potential to address patient pain, complication rates, and recovery time. Few studies of such therapies have been conducted in hospital settings where some of the most stressful procedures are performed on a regular basis. OBJECTIVE: We hypothesized that patients receiving healing touch (HT) would see improved outcomes. DESIGN: Patients were randomized into 1 of 3 treatment groups: no intervention, partial intervention (visitors), and an HT group. SETTING: This study was conducted in an acute-care hospital in a large metropolitan area. PATIENTS OR OTHER PARTICIPANTS: Patients undergoing first-time elective coronary artery bypass surgery were invited to participate. There were 237 study subjects. INTERVENTION: HT is an energybased therapeutic approach to healing that arose out of nursing in the early 1980s. HT aids relaxation and supports the body's natural healing process. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: This study consisted of 6 outcome measures: postoperative length of stay, incidence of postoperative atrial fibrillation, use of anti-emetic medication, amount of narcotic pain medication, functional status, and anxiety. RESULTS: Analysis was conducted for all patients and separately by inpatient/outpatient status. Though no significant decrease in the use of pain medication, anti-emetic medication, or incidence of atrial fibrillation was observed, significant differences were noted in anxiety scores and length ofstay. All HT patients showed a greater decrease in anxiety scores when compared to the visitor and control groups. In addition, there was a significant difference in outpatient HT length of stay when compared to the visitor and control groups. PMID: 18616066 [PubMed - in process]
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18616066?ordinalpos=9&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez. Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum

J Holist Nurs. 2008 Sep;26(3):161-8. Links

A pilot study of the experience of participating in a therapeutic touch practice group.

Moore T, Ting B, Rossiter-Thornton M.

The Centre for Movement Disorders, tmooremscn@rogers.com. This pilot study explored the experience of participating in a Therapeutic Touchtrade mark practice group. A qualitative descriptive-exploratory method was used, involving 12 members of practice groups in Ontario and British Columbia, Canada. Analysis of the data using an extraction-synthesis process yielded four themes: (a) learning with others through sharing and hands-on experience is valued; (b) connecting with a network of supportive relationships that sustain self and Therapeutic Touch practice; (c) comfort-discomfort arising with self, others, or ideas; and (d) meaningful changes emerge while experiencing group energy and Therapeutic Touch. The findings expand current knowledge about the positive aspects of participating in practice groups and provide a beginning understanding of member discomfort, which had not been previously reported. This knowledge will be useful to Therapeutic Touch organizations, practice group leaders, and group members. It will also guide health care agencies and practitioners of other healing modalities who may be considering establishing practice groups. PMID: 18755877 [PubMed - in process]
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18755877?ordinalpos=2&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez. Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum

1: Explore (NY). 2008 Jul-Aug;4(4):249-58. Links

Therapeutic touch with preterm infants: composing a treatment.

Hanley MA. School of Nursing, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, Lubbock, TX, USA. maryanne.hanley@ttuhsc.edu BACKGROUND: Therapeutic touch (TT), a complementary therapy, has been shown to decrease stress, anxiety, and pain in adults and children, as well as improve mobility in patients with arthritis and fibromyalgia. However, less has been reported about the effectiveness of this therapy with infants, particularly preterm infants. OBJECTIVES: The aims of this research study were to explore the nature of the use of TT with preterm infants and describe a TT treatment process for this vulnerable population. DESIGN: Narrative inquiry and qualitative descriptive methods were used to discover knowledge about how TT is used with preterm infants. DATA COLLECTION: Telephone/in-person interviews and written narratives provided the data describing nurses' use of TT with preterm infants. PARTICIPANTS: The participants were registered nurses who practiced TT with preterm infants for varying years of experience. RESULTS: The participants described the responses of infants, 25 to 37 weeks postgestational age, whom they treated with TT. The infants' responses to TT

included reduced heart and respiratory rates, enhanced ability to rest, improved coordination in sucking, swallowing, and breathing, and a greater ability to engage with the environment. The practitioners described the phases and elements of TT for preterm infants, which revealed unique patterns, for example, the treatment phase included the elements of smoothing and containing. CONCLUSION: The description that emerged from the practitioners' narratives of the TT treatment process for preterm infants provides preliminary data for the systematic use and evaluation of TT as an adjunct to facilitating preterm infants' physiological, behavioral, energy field development, and well-being. PMID: 18602618 [PubMed - in process]
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18602618?ordinalpos=10&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntre z.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum

1: Clin J Oncol Nurs. 2008 Jun;12(3):489-94. Links

Reiki as a clinical intervention in oncology nursing practice.

Bossi LM, Ott MJ, DeCristofaro S. Children's Hospital Boston, MA, USA. larraine.bossi@childrens.harvard.edu Oncology nurses and their patients are frequently on the cutting edge of new therapies and interventions that support coping, health, and healing. Reiki is a practice that is requested with increasing frequency, is easy to learn, does not require expensive equipment, and in preliminary research, elicits a relaxation response and helps patients to feel more peaceful and experience less pain. Those who practice Reiki report that it supports them in self-care and a healthy lifestyle. This article will describe the process of Reiki, review current literature, present vignettes of patient responses to the intervention, and make recommendations for future study. PMID: 18515247 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18515247?ordinalpos=17&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntre z.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum

1: J Orthop Res. 2008 Jun 3. [Epub ahead of print] Links

Therapeutic touch affects DNA synthesis and mineralization of human osteoblasts in culture.

Jhaveri A, Walsh SJ, Wang Y, McCarthy M, Gronowicz G. Department of Orthopaedics, University of Connecticut Health Center, Farmington, Connecticut 060303105. Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) techniques are commonly used in hospitals and private medical facilities; however, the effectiveness of many of these practices has not been thoroughly studied in a scientific manner. Developed by Dr. Dolores Krieger and Dora Kunz, Therapeutic Touch is one of these CAM practices and is a highly disciplined five-step process by which a practitioner can generate energy through their hands to promote healing. There are numerous clinical studies on the effects of TT but few in vitro studies. Our purpose was to determine if Therapeutic Touch had any effect on osteoblast proliferation, differentiation, and mineralization in vitro. TT was performed twice a week for 10 min each on human osteoblasts (HOBs) and on an osteosarcoma-derived cell line, SaOs-2. No significant differences were found in DNA synthesis, assayed by [(3)H]-thymidine incorporation at 1 or 2 weeks for SaOs-2 or 1 week for HOBs. However, after four TT treatments in 2 weeks, TT significantly (p = 0.03) increased HOB DNA synthesis compared to controls. Immunocytochemistry for Proliferating Cell Nuclear Antigen (PCNA) confirmed these data. At 2 weeks in differentiation medium, TT significantly increased mineralization in HOBs (p = 0.016) and decreased mineralization in SaOs-2 (p = 0.0007), compared to controls. Additionally, Northern blot analysis indicated a TT-induced increase in mRNA expression for Type I collagen, bone sialoprotein, and alkaline phosphatase in HOBs and a decrease of these bone markers in SaOs-2 cells. In conclusion, Therapeutic Touch appears to increase human osteoblast DNA synthesis, differentiation and mineralization, and decrease differentiation and mineralization in a human osteosarcoma-derived cell line. (c) 2008 Orthopaedic Research Society. Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Orthop Res, 2008. PMID: 18524012 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18524012?ordinalpos=16&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntre z.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum

1: BMC Complement Altern Med. 2008 Apr 29;8:16. Links

Motivations for consulting complementary and alternative medicine practitioners: a comparison of consumers from 1997-8 and 2005.
Sirois FM. Department of Psychology, University of Windsor, 401 Sunset Ave., Windsor, Ontario, N9B 3P4, Canada. fsirois@uwindsor.ca

BACKGROUND: Use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), and especially CAM practitioners, has continued to rise in recent years. Although several motivators of CAM use have been identified, little is known about how and if the motivations for using CAM have changed over time. The purpose of the current study was to compare the reasons for consulting CAM practitioners in consumers in 1997-8 and eight years later in 2005. METHODS: Surveys were displayed in CAM and conventional medicine offices and clinics in Ontario, Canada in 1997-8 and again in 2005, and self-selected participants returned the surveys by mail. RESULTS: In 1997-8, 141 CAM consumers were identified from the 199 surveys returned, and 185 CAM consumers were identified from the 239 surveys returned in 2005. Five of the six CAM motivations were more likely to be endorsed by the 2005 CAM consumers compared to the 1997-8 CAM consumers (all p's < .0001). In 1997-8 the two top reasons for using CAM were that CAM allowed them to take an active role in their health (51.8%), and because conventional medicine was ineffective for their health problem (41.8%). In 2005, the treatment of the whole person (78.3%) was the top reason for using CAM followed by taking an active role in one's health (76.5%). The 2005 consumers were less educated, had slightly more chronic health complaints, had been using CAM for longer, and were more likely to consult chiropractors, reflexologists, and therapeutic touch practitioners than the 1997-8 consumers. Otherwise, the socio-demographic and health profiles of the two groups of CAM consumers were similar, as was their use of CAM. CONCLUSION: Compared to consumers in 1997-8, consumers in 2005 were more likely to endorse five of the six motivations for consulting CAM practitioners. A shift towards motivations focusing more on the positive aspects of CAM and less on the negative aspects of conventional medicine was also noted for the 2005 consumers. Findings suggest that CAM motivations may shift over time as public knowledge of and experience with CAM also changes. PMID: 18442414 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE] PMCID: PMC2390516
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18442414?ordinalpos=25&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntre z.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum

1: J Altern Complement Med. 2008 Apr;14(3):233-9.

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Therapeutic touch stimulates the proliferation of human cells in culture.

Gronowicz GA, Jhaveri A, Clarke LW, Aronow MS, Smith TH. Department of Surgery, University of Connecticut Health Center, Farmington, CT 06030-3105, USA. gronowicz@nso1.uchc.edu

OBJECTIVES: Our objective was to assess the effect of Therapeutic Touch (TT) on the proliferation of normal human cells in culture compared to sham and no treatment. Several proliferation techniques were used to confirm the results, and the effect of multiple 10-minute TT treatments was studied. DESIGN: Fibroblasts, tendon cells (tenocytes), and bone cells (osteoblasts) were treated with TT, sham, or untreated for 2 weeks, and then assessed for [(3)H]-thymidine incorporation into the DNA, and immunocytochemical staining for proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA). The number of PCNA-stained cells was also quantified. For 1 and 2 weeks, varying numbers of 10-minute TT treatments were administered to each cell type to determine whether there was a dosedependent effect. RESULTS: TT administered twice a week for 2 weeks significantly stimulated proliferation of fibroblasts, tenocytes, and osteoblasts in culture (p = 0.04, 0.01, and 0.01, respectively) compared to untreated control. These data were confirmed by PCNA immunocytochemistry. In the same experiments, sham healer treatment was not significantly different from the untreated cultures in any group, and was significantly less than TT treatment in fibroblast and tenocyte cultures. In 1-week studies involving the administration of multiple 10-minute TT treatments, four and five applications significantly increased [(3)H]-thymidine incorporation in fibroblasts and tenocytes, respectively, but not in osteoblasts. With different doses of TT for 2 weeks, two 10-minute TT treatments per week significantly stimulated proliferation in all cell types. Osteoblasts also responded to four treatments per week with a significant increase in proliferation. Additional TT treatments (five per week for 2 weeks) were not effective in eliciting increased proliferation compared to control in any cell type. CONCLUSIONS: A specific pattern of TT treatment produced a significant increase in proliferation of fibro-blasts, osteoblasts, and tenocytes in culture. Therefore, TT may affect normal cells by stimulating cell proliferation. PMID: 18370579 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18370579?ordinalpos=34&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntre z.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum

Therapeutic Touch Healing Hospice Clients and Their Families

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Maggie was a vivacious 47-year-old single nurse who, as an integral part of a nonrelational extended family, lived a full and rich life. So it came as a great shock when she was diagnosed with advanced carcinoma of the lung. Chemotherapy provided her with a period of time to get her affairs in order. However, Maggie's shortness of breath, weight loss, extreme fatigue, and nausea debilitated her

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quickly. Her extended family agreed to keep her at home as long as they could manage with support from home nursing and homemakers. As a Holistic nurse practitioner, I began to visit her three months after the diagnosis, Maggie wanted me to visit because her friends could not talk about her inevitable death. She felt that their own fear and pain were so great they had withdrawn from her spiritually. With Maggie's permission, I began to do therapeutic touch to ease her discomforts. She reported feeling more relaxed, which aided her breathing and sleeping, and commented that she felt more connected to her "inner core; more like a whole person." After several weeks of doing therapeutic touch with Maggie, several of her friends approached me to ask if they could learn therapeutic touch because it seemed to provide peace and comfort for Maggie. We began then and there. Over the next three months before Maggie's death, her friends did therapeutic touch almost daily. During this time Maggie said to me: "I feel like I have my friends back." How do we facilitate an experience of healing into death for the dying and their families? In this culture, our relationship with death is so foreign that we need to create something that spans the terrain between life and death. We need a crucible, a vessel or container that withstands and contains the pressures that dying demands yet preserves the integrity of the "contents." The contents-fear, pain, anger, and vulnerability-call into question everything we believe in. We are face to face with our own mortality. Or as Levine expressed it, "illness causes us to confront our most assiduous doubts about the nature of the universe and the existence of God. It tears us open. It teaches us to keep our hearts open in Hell." Maggie and her friends needed a new way of being with each other during the dying process. Bolen discussed how life threatening illness changes relationships, often for better or worse. On the one hand, such illness can provide an opportunity for growth in depth and understanding or, on the other, the possibility of abandonment-physically, emotionally, or both. Maggie and her friends used therapeutic touch as the crucible that held their fear and pain, allowing them to connect at a deeper body, mind, and spirit level. Healing, for them, was being able to communicate their love and understanding non-verbally with therapeutic touch. This trying time became an opportunity for their relationships to strengthen and grow. They gave each other the gift of being present in their suffering together. HOW IT STARTED

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Therapeutic touch as a healing modality was developed in the early 1970's by Dolores Krieger, Ph.D., R.N., professor emerita of nursing at New York University, New York City, and Dora Kunz, a healer and former president of the Theosophical Society in America. Therapeutic touch arose out of their observations and research on several famous healers in the United States. Ms. Kunz explained how it began, describing the goal she and Dr. Krieger had set for themselves: "If we could devise a technique, based on our observation of healers, and teach it to health professionals, many people could be helped." After developing the technique, they started teaching it to nursing students at New York University. Harpur noted: "There are now estimated to be approximately 30,000 nurses in the United States and Canada using therapeutic touch in hospitals and clinics." Therapeutic touch is used not only by health care professionals but also by a growing number of lay people who are committed to serving others in need. Dr. Krieger believes that anyone with the intent to help and the interest can learn therapeutic touch. As she put it: "You can do it; everyone who is willing to undertake the discipline to learn Therapeutic Touch can do it." Therapeutic touch is defined as "a contemporary interpretation of several ancient healing practices. These practices consist of learned skills for consciously directing or sensitively modulating human energies." The basic assumptions that guide the practice of therapeutic touch are that (1) a human being is an open energy system in which energy transfer between people is effortless and happening all the time; (2) a human being is bilaterally symmetrical (which implies that this also occurs in the energy field); (3) illness is interpreted as an imbalance in the energy field that can be sensed and felt; and (4) human beings naturally transform their lives thus healing themselves. HOW THERAPEUTIC TOUCH WORKS The process for the practitioner of therapeutic touch, according to Dr. Krieger, includes four steps that are continuous and repeatable. They are: (1) centering-creating a calm focused state of being that is attained through breathing, visualization, etc.; (2) assessment-scanning the client's energy field with the hands 3-5 inches off the body from head to toe; (3) direction and modulation of the energyusing the process of "unruffling," which is done by making flowing sweeps with the hands over the client's body, especially in areas where imbalances are noted; and (4) balancing the energy field-reassessment by repeating the above procedures as needed until the energy field is

balanced. The laying on of hands was first studied by Grad, Smith, and Krieger. These studies showed acceleration in the growth of plants, wound healing in mice, and an increase in hemoglobin in humans. These findings became the foundation for the therapeutic touch research to follow. This research has shown the possibilities inherent in the practice of therapeutic touch, such as decreases in pain, anxiety, diastolic blood pressure, and stress in hospitalized children and accelerations in wound healing and relaxation Widely reported effects of therapeutic touch include relaxation (usually within 2-4 minutes), pain reduction, accelerated healing (because of enhanced immune system function), and alleviation of stress induced illness. A plausible explanation for these effects emerges from recent research on psychoneuroimmunology, which provides fresh insight into mind-body relationships. This research identifies a biologic web of inter-connectedness among various systems, such as the central nervous system, autonomic nervous system, immune system, and endocrine system. The cells of these systems carry information receptors on their surfaces that allow communication between and among them. In other words, these cells have the potential to alter their internal states in response to the information they receive. This information enhances credibility for the reported benefits of therapeutic touch for the dying and their families. For example, if a person with a terminal illness is experiencing pain and fear, this message would trigger a response in the brain causing a biochemical reaction, i.e., a release of adrenaline.9 This biochemical response would be relayed via the information receptors among the other systems in the body causing a stress reaction. In this circumstance, therapeutic touch, done by a family member with loving intent and presence, has the potential to transform these negative cell messages to positive ones of relaxation and reduced pain. THE DYING HAVE SPECIAL NEEDS When using therapeutic touch with the dying there are special considerations to be observed. Generally, the dying are increasingly sensitive to their environment, so light and noise need to be minimized. Anxiety and stress are easily sensed so people around the dying need to be calm and focused. Energy is at low ebb with the dying, so they experience increasing fatigue and decreasing concentration. This means that the person giving therapeutic touch needs to stay centered so that the treatment will be effective. Energy

is absorbed slowly by a dying person so therapeutic touch needs to be done with focused loving intent, slowly and gently. Wager suggests that during the therapeutic touch treatment, the therapist should hold the hand of the patient or place a hand over the patient's heart to impart feelings of peace, love, and acceptance of the inevitable death, freeing the patient to let go. The overall benefit of therapeutic touch for a dying patient and the family is to create a calm, peaceful environment that relaxes the patient enough to diminish physical discomforts allowing him or her to be in touch with the inner world. At the end, it eases the transition into death. It would be erroneous to think that therapeutic touch only benefits the recipient. Therapeutic touch makes a profound difference to both the giver and the receiver. The practitioner derives a satisfaction because of the ability to help the patient. Therapeutic touch provides a concrete way for the family to participate. As Wager stated, therapeutic touch "allows the family to take an active role in caring for the dying and gives [it] a way to relate which doesn't involve talking." Jane and Marie were mother and daughter. They were also best friends. They enjoyed an intellectual and openly affectionate relationship. Jane was living with Marie, her husband, and granddaughter, when Jane had a recurrence of breast cancer. Her first thought was to move out so that her daughter and family would not have to "watch her waste away." Marie and her family insisted that Jane stay so that they could look after her. As their holistic nurse practitioner, I started doing therapeutic touch for Jane at the family's request. They had had a positive experience with it previously. After a few months with this family, one-day, Marie took me aside. She did not know how she would ever be able to separate from her another. Even now, with her mother's ebbing physical health, Marie was feeling an incredible sense of loss. The sharing and connectedness that had been integral to their relationship was occurring less and less as Jane became more introspective and less verbal. Marie wanted to know what she could do to let her mother feel loved and cared for at this time. She also wanted to let her mother know that it was okay to let go when she felt the need. Marie did not want Jane lingering on account of her. I suggested therapeutic touch as a concrete way of staying connected and helping both of them let go. Marie learned therapeutic touch and started using it daily with her mother. How can we create environments that support clients' and families' healing into death? In the situation with Marie and Jane, the contents of the crucible love, support, and connectedness-were nurtured and deepened by the practice

of therapeutic touch. It allowed them to move past the physical changes and withdrawal that signaled inevitable separation from each other. They were able to move into the psychospiritual realm, an environment that created a knowing and acceptance between mother and daughter. They knew and expressed that their separation was momentary in the larger scheme of life and death. As Marie said to me, "Therapeutic touch helped soften the sharp edges of letting go. It was a healing process for the both of us." Halifax referred to this process as "bearing witness ... a practice that allows us to be present for whatever is happening. In being present for whatever was happening, Marie and Jane experienced a letting go that transcended their fear of separation, creating space for healing. CONCLUSION Healing comes from the Middle English word "hele," to make whole, a phenomenon that concerns itself with opening to all aspects of life. Wholeness is a natural state present in wellness, disease, and dying, and it is a crucial aspect of healing into death. As Levine said about dying patients, "they were more healed, more whole at the moment of their dying than at any time in their [lives]. This paradox of healing into death is a difficult concept to grasp, given the values of our Western culture. Dying is set apart from living. Generally, death is something to be feared; a failure of sorts. A similar message accompanies our "technocure" model of health care, with its focus on overcoming illness and death. Subsequently it is difficult for terminally ill clients and their families to have an experience of healing and wholeness. In fact their experience often reflects the opposite. They feel abandoned and isolated with their own fear, pain, and suffering. They are unable to make meaning of their lives as they confront death; are unable to piece together a cohesive whole. Bolen cited the shame and guilt engendered by a recurrence of illness or an inability to respond to treatment. Halifax stated that "what the dying person frequently experiences is marginalization, the experience of being pushed aside." These daily experiences of indignity, frustration, and invalidation only serve to compound the sense of separation and brokenness felt by the dying and their families. Yet we know better! In 1970 Kubler Ross, in her seminal work, On Death and Dying, was one of the first people to write about the stages necessary in healing into death. She opened the way for further investigation and dialogue by others. Halifax talked about the need to explore feelings

about death openly, including loss, pain, anger, and the experience of letting go. These create awareness and a beginning acceptance of death. Wager looked at the importance of connection and relationship with a view to resolving past hurts and wrongs. Jones emphasized the essential component of making meaning of life in the face of inevitable loss and death. Rinpoche supported the introduction of spiritual values and care based on the needs of the dying and their families. Therefore, as caregivers of the dying and their families, we have a beginning, a place to start. In the larger world, our role is to introduce our culture to the idea of conscious living and dying. We need to talk openly about the work we do with the dying and their families. We need to talk about the power and wonder of the lessons they have to teach. In our day-to-day work with the dying and their families, we need to acknowledge their feelings of isolation and brokenness. We need to create a crucible where these patients can be safely held with love, attention, and presence, thereby laying the groundwork for healing into wholeness. Where is healing to be found? Often, as the stories of these families reveal, healing is found in rather unexpected places. Some of the most difficult and trying situations cultivate fertile ground for healing to take hold. These families extended their boundaries into unknown territory, the land of the dying. There are hard choices to be made by the dying and their families. They can stay within the landscape of the familiar or set out to explore new land. As Bolen succinctly noted: "we lose an innocence, we know a vulnerability, we are no longer who we were before this event, and we will never be the same." These families and their dying loved ones chose the new land; a new way to be in relationship with one another. Their use of therapeutic touch as a crucible was one way to cultivate wholeness in the face of death. These families, like the alchemists of old, turned base metal into pure gold. They transformed the dying journey into the stuff of life that heals. Article references available upon request. Yaterie MacKay-Greer, R.N., B.S.N., M.Ed. is the founder of Stillpoint Holistic Nursing Practice, Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada, where she pratices holistic nursing. To order reprints of this article, write to or call: Karen Ballen ALTERNATIVE & COMPLEMENTARY THERAPIES Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.

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1: J Altern Complement Med. 2008 Apr;14(3):321-7.

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The touch that heals: the uses and meanings of touch in the clinical encounter.
Leder D, Krucoff MW. Department of Philosophy, Loyola College in Maryland, Baltimore, MD 21210, USA. dleder@loyola.edu This paper investigates the healer's touch in contemporary medical practice, with attention to both allopathic and alternative modalities. Healing is understood as the recovery of an integrated relationship between the self and its body, others, and the surrounding world-the relationship that illness has rendered problematic. In this context, touch can play a crucial role in the clinical encounter. Unlike other modes of sensory apprehension, which tend to involve distance and/or objectification, touch unfolds through an impactful, expressive, reciprocity between the toucher and the touched. For the ill person this can serve to reestablish human connection and facilitate healing changes at the prelinguistic level. The healer's touch involves a blending of attention, compassion, and skill. The clinical efficacy of touch is also dependent upon the patient's active receptivity, aspects of which are explored. All too often, modern medical practice is characterized predominately by the "objectifying touch" of the physical examination, or the "absent touch" wherein technological mediation replaces embodied contact. This paper explores the unique properties of touch as a medium of perception, action, and expression that can render touch a healing force within the clinical encounter. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18399760?ordinalpos=27&itool=EntrezS ystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum

1: West J Nurs Res. 2008 Jun;30(4):417-34. Epub 2008 Feb 13. Links

Therapeutic touch and agitation in individuals with Alzheimer's disease.

Hawranik P, Johnston P, Deatrich J. University of Manitoba, Canada. pam_hawranik@umanitoba.ca Limited effective strategies exist to alleviate or treat disruptive behaviors in people with Alzheimer's disease. Fifty-one residents of a long-term care facility with Alzheimer's disease were randomly assigned to one of three intervention groups. A multiple time series, blinded, experimental design was used to compare the effectiveness of therapeutic touch, simulated therapeutic touch, and usual care on disruptive behavior. Three forms of disruptive behavior comprised the dependent variables: physical aggression, physical nonaggression, and verbal agitation. Physical nonaggressive behaviors decreased significantly in those residents who received therapeutic touch compared with those who received the simulated version and the usual care. No significant differences in physically aggressive and verbally agitated behaviors were observed across the three study groups. The study provided preliminary evidence for the potential for therapeutic touch in dealing with agitated behaviors by people with dementia. Researchers and practitioners must consider a broad array of strategies to deal with these behaviors. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18272750?ordinalpos=43&itool=EntrezS ystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum

1: Integr Cancer Ther. 2007 Mar;6(1):25-35.

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Pilot crossover trial of Reiki versus rest for treating cancer-related fatigue.
Tsang KL, Carlson LE, Olson K. Department of Psychology, University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Fatigue is an extremely common side effect experienced during cancer treatment and recovery. Limited research has investigated strategies stemming from complementary and alternative medicine to reduce cancer-related fatigue. This research examined the effects of Reiki, a type of energy touch therapy, on fatigue, pain, anxiety, and overall quality of life. This study was a counterbalanced crossover trial of 2 conditions: (1) in the Reiki condition, participants received Reiki for 5 consecutive daily sessions, followed by a 1week washout monitoring period of no treatments, then 2 additional Reiki sessions, and finally 2 weeks of no treatments, and (2) in the rest condition, participants rested for approximately 1 hour each day for 5 consecutive days, followed by a 1-week washout monitoring period of no scheduled resting and an additional week of no treatments. In both conditions, participants completed

questionnaires investigating cancer-related fatigue (Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy Fatigue subscale [FACT-F]) and overall quality of life (Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy, General Version [FACT-G]) before and after all Reiki or resting sessions. They also completed a visual analog scale (Edmonton Symptom Assessment System [ESAS]) assessing daily tiredness, pain, and anxiety before and after each session of Reiki or rest. Sixteen patients (13 women) participated in the trial: 8 were randomized to each order of conditions (Reiki then rest; rest then Reiki). They were screened for fatigue on the ESAS tiredness item, and those scoring greater than 3 on the 0 to 10 scale were eligible for the study. They were diagnosed with a variety of cancers, most commonly colorectal (62.5%) cancer, and had a median age of 59 years. Fatigue on the FACT-F decreased within the Reiki condition (P=.05) over the course of all 7 treatments. In addition, participants in the Reiki condition experienced significant improvements in quality of life (FACT-G) compared to those in the resting condition (P <.05). On daily assessments (ESAS) in the Reiki condition, presession 1 versus postsession 5 scores indicated significant decreases in tiredness (P <.001), pain (P <.005), and anxiety (P<.01), which were not seen in the resting condition. Future research should further investigate the impact of Reiki using more highly controlled designs that include a sham Reiki condition and larger sample sizes. PMID: 17351024 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17351024?ordinalpos=122&itool=Entrez System2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum

1: Holist Nurs Pract. 2006 Nov-Dec;20(6):263-72; quiz 273-4. Links

The effect of Reiki on pain and anxiety in women with abdominal hysterectomies: a quasiexperimental pilot study.
Vitale AT, O'Connor PC. Community Medical Center, Toms River, NJ, USA. annern2@gmail.com The purpose of this pilot study was to compare reports of pain and levels of state anxiety in 2 groups of women after abdominal hysterectomy. A quasiexperimental design was used in which the experimental group (n = 10) received traditional nursing care plus three 30-minute sessions of Reiki, while the control group (n = 12) received traditional nursing care. The results indicated that the experimental group reported less pain and requested fewer analgesics than the control group. Also, the experimental group reported less state anxiety than the control group on discharge at 72 hours postoperation. The authors recommend

replication of this study with a similar population, such as women who require nonemergency cesarian section deliveries. PMID: 17099413 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17099413?ordinalpos=143&itool=Entrez System2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum

1: J Holist Nurs. 2006 Dec;24(4):231-40; discussion 241-4. Links

A pilot study of healing touch and progressive relaxation for chronic neuropathic pain in persons with spinal cord injury.
Wardell DW, Rintala DH, Duan Z, Tan G. University of Texas Houston Hhealthcare system, USA. This pilot study assessed the role of Healing Touch (HT), an energy-based therapy, in modulating chronic neuropathic pain and the associated psychological distress from post spinal cord injury. Twelve veterans were assigned to either HT or guided progressive relaxation for six weekly home visits. The instruments selected showed sensitivity, although there was a large variation among the groups. There was a significant difference in the composite of interference on the Brief Pain Inventory (t = -2.71, p = .035). The mean score of the fatigue subscale of the Profile of Moods decreased (ns) in the HT group and in the subscale of confusion yet remained stable in the control group. The Diener Satisfaction With Life Scale showed increased well-being in the HT group and no change in the control group. Participants reported various experiences with HT sessions indicating that it may have benefit in the complex response to chronic pain. PMID: 17098874 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17098874?ordinalpos=144&itool=Entrez System2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum