Therapeutic touch

Therapeutic touch
Alternative therapy
MeSHD019124
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Therapeutic touch (TT), or non-contact therapeutic touch (NCTT),[1] is a pseudoscientific[2] energy therapy which practitioners claim promotes healing and reduces pain and anxiety. "Therapeutic Touch" is a registered trademark in Canada for the "[s]tructured and standardized healing practice performed by practitioners trained to be sensitive to the receiver's energy field that surrounds the body;...no touching is required."[3]

Practitioners of therapeutic touch state that by placing their hands on, or near, a patient, they are able to detect and manipulate what they say is the patient's energy field.[4] One highly cited study, designed by the then-nine-year-old Emily Rosa and published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in 1998, found that practitioners of therapeutic touch could not detect the presence or absence of a hand placed a few inches above theirs when their vision was obstructed.[5][6][7][8] Simon Singh and Edzard Ernst concluded in their 2008 book Trick or Treatment that "the energy field was probably nothing more than a figment in the imaginations of the healers".[9] The American Cancer Society noted, "Available scientific evidence does not support any claims that TT can cure cancer or other diseases."[10] A 2004 Cochrane review found no good evidence that it helped with wound healing, but the authors withdrew it in 2016 "due to serious concerns over the validity of included studies".[11]

  1. ^ Astin JA, Harkness E, Ernst E (June 2000). "The efficacy of "distant healing": a systematic review of randomized trials". Annals of Internal Medicine. 132 (11): 903–910. doi:10.7326/0003-4819-132-11-200006060-00009. PMID 10836918. S2CID 53089000.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference sokal was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Canadian Trade-marks database, Registration No. TMA580182.
  4. ^ Bruno LC (1999). "Therapeutic touch". Encyclopedia of Medicine. Gale Research. Retrieved 2007-07-07.
  5. ^ Larry Sarner (December 2007). "Therapeutic Touch Study Data". QuackWatch.
  6. ^ Glazer S (2000). "Postmodern Nursing". The Public Interest. Archived from the original on 2007-02-25. Retrieved 2007-07-07.
  7. ^ Rosa L, Rosa E, Sarner L, Barrett S (April 1998). "A close look at therapeutic touch". JAMA. 279 (13): 1005–1010. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.592.8130. doi:10.1001/jama.279.13.1005. PMID 9533499.
  8. ^ Stenger V (1999). "The Physics of 'Alternative Medicine' Bioenergetic Fields" (PDF). The Scientific Review of Alternative Medicine. Retrieved 17 June 2013.
  9. ^ Trick or Treatment. Corgi. 2008. pp. 267–268.
  10. ^ Cite error: The named reference ACS was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  11. ^ O'Mathúna DP (September 2016). "WITHDRAWN: Therapeutic touch for healing acute wounds". The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. 2016 (9): CD002766. doi:10.1002/14651858.cd002766.pub6. PMC 6457586. PMID 27581995. 23/08/16 This review has been withdrawn due to serious concerns over the validity of included studies.
    The editorial group responsible for this previously published document have withdrawn it from publication.