The Effects of Therapeutic Touch in Massage

Cultures all across the world recognize that throughout the human body an energy flows that at times needs healing. It is believed that through the use of physical touch healers can help and calm daily physical and mental ailments caused by feelings of stress and depression. In Chinese culture, there is the notion of “qi”, a life energy that flows through the human body and must be balanced in order to maintain a healthy lifestyle. In India, this energy is described as flowing in and out of the body through points called chakras; healers administer the technique of “laying on hands” and then channeling healing energy in the palms.

In the Western world the first to present the scientific adaptation of “laying on the hands,” was Dolores Krieger, Ph.D., RN, in 1970. The practice, called Therapeutic Touch, became central to today’s ideologies of holistic medicinal approaches and is used to promote well-being and being the best SELF, one may be. An important significance falls to the “healers” or “laypersons”; not all TT involves physically touching the client. This evidence-based practice involves healers hovering their hands above the client and channeling compassion and healing universal energy into the client’s body. The human body is complex and dynamic, and in modern-day TT the goal is to heal and restore the integrity of the body, mind, and spirit.

Many nurse practitioners in today’s professional world use Therapeutic Touch because it is alleged to have a scientific basis, however many still recognize the practice to be rooted in mysticism and do not recognize the practice to be effective. In a 1998 study, research was conducted to test whether practitioners of TT could reliably detect a human’s energy field. Investigators hovered their hands above either the right or left hand of the blindfolded practitioner and then asked them to identify which hand was detecting an energy field. In theory, the practitioner should be able to identify the correct hand 100% of the time. During the trials, however, only 44% of practitioners could detect this “energy field.” With less than half of practitioners able to detect “energy fields,” it becomes irrefutable that it was only by chance that they chose the correct hand and thus clearly failing to substantiate TT’s most fundamental claim that trained TT professionals can detect a “human’s energy field.” Despite evidence the practice does not have any substantial basis in science, it is still taught in over 100 colleges and universities across 75 countries and TT is still being used today by practitioners of holistic nursing many of whom believe the practice maintains value in medicine.

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