Healing Touch

[jens]

I work for a fairly well known and respected university hospital in the midwest. I went to work there expecting an environment dedicated to strict standards of research-based practice. I was surprised and very disappointed when I checked my e-mail the other day to find a message entitled "EDUCATION: Healing Touch," which informed me of the opportunity to earn continuing education units and a certificate as a Healing Touch Practitioner (and all for the low price of $308!)
Still clinging to the hope that my place of employment had not hopped on the woo wagon, I did some investigating. After some looking, I found the supporting research for the program at
www dot healingtouchinternational dot org (sorry, I can't post links yet)

I immediately caught on to the fact that by research, they really mean anecdotal evidence (I'm quick like that ).

These studies demonstrate that there is support for considering Healing Touch for providing integrative care and that patients evaluate it highly. However, these studies do not "prove" that Healing Touch "works", as they are studies that would be considered beginning explorations.

It should also be noted that there is no statistical reporting in any of the summaries, but that more complete info regarding the studies can be purchased. I encourage you to read through some of the studies if you want a good laugh. Many of them don't state a sample size, some of them have a sample size of 3-5, and almost all of them end by saying "there was no real evidence that this works, but a lot of the participants really liked it."

I have been really frustrated with the nursing profession for quite awhile now, and this just adds fuel to the fire. If a major university is pushing this stuff, is there any hope??

 

[Eos of the Eons]

Meh. I don't know. Both of my teachers are "holistic", and tell us to never take "drugs" (not even Buckleys). I didn't expect that from folks that are supposed to be preparing us for a job in the medical industry.

I bit my tongue when she sprayed essential oils (including eucalyptus) around the classroom, and she assured us it was safe because it was "all natural".

I'm sure that the men who got enlarged breasts due to exposure to tea tree oil are quite reassured that the oil is "all natural".

I just hope most nurses and medical office staff aren't into all this "woo". I was going to school to GET AWAY from that sort of thing. Now I'm still mired in it, and can't open my mouth about such blatant quackery pushing. Oh well.

Hey, I feel your pain. If that helps any

 

[UnrepentantSinner]

The simple fact is that a some sCAM does make us feel better. There's a difference between "feeling better" and "getting better." I would hope that any use of sCAM by reputable hospitals would be in the context of trying to make patients feel better: and by that I mean more comfortable/hurt less than to, say, give terminal patients false hope that something can be done.

 

[Eos of the Eons]

Yeah, but the SCAM artist tells people to give THEM credit if they do get better, even though they are getting their cancer cut out of them by real surgeons. People are encouraged to think that the sCAM is what healed them, not the surgery. That it was the sCAM that will prevent further cancer, and kill what the surgeons supposedly leave behind, blah blah blah, lie lie lie. They lie about what their treatments can actually do.

If it was just in the context of making the patient feel a little better, then I wouldn't have a problem with it. It's like the difference between Randi and geller. Randi doesn't lie about his ability to fool people. geller DOES. The scam artists are the gellers of the medical industry, and they get away with it.

 

[Jackalgirl]

Hi, Jens --

You quoted:

However, these studies do not "prove" that Healing Touch "works", as they are studies that would be considered beginning explorations.

If Healing Touch is the same thing as Therapeutic Touch, and from the Wikipedia stub I read (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Healing_Touch) I can't tell the difference, then some questions you might want to ask your course scheduler are:

1) if this doesn't proveably work, why are you charging $308 bucks for it?
2) This "therapy" has been around since the 1970s. Are you really trying to get me to pay $308 for something that hasn't been studied, in a medical sense, for the past /thirty years/?
3) Don't proven medical treatments undergo much more rigorous testing before they're allowed to be practiced on actual patients?
4) Is it legal or ethical to use untested (only "initially explored") therapeutic procedures on patients?
5) (Relating back to #1: ) If this therapy can't be distinguished from placebo (which is why it's considered to be safe for use on patients even though it's untested), how come I'm expected to shell out $308? Can't someone teach me the positive-mindset-inducing spiel, teach me to wave my hands around, and print me out a pretty certificate for less?

 

[Schneibster]

That's really a shame, guys. I'm sorry to hear it.

 

[UnrepentantSinner]

Yeah, but the SCAM artist tells people to give THEM credit if they do get better, even though they are getting their cancer cut out of them by real surgeons. People are encouraged to think that the sCAM is what healed them, not the surgery. That it was the sCAM that will prevent further cancer, and kill what the surgeons supposedly leave behind, blah blah blah, lie lie lie. They lie about what their treatments can actually do.

I believe I covered that as a caveat in my post. I probably should also have been more clear that I think sCAM that claims to cure should not be allowed to pollute the environment of reputable hospitals, and as I said, I don't think any sCAM should be used to make a patient feel as if something is being done if they're terminal.

If it was just in the context of making the patient feel a little better, then I wouldn't have a problem with it. It's like the difference between Randi and geller. Randi doesn't lie about his ability to fool people. geller DOES. The scam artists are the gellers of the medical industry, and they get away with it.

What I'm referring to are things like massage and aromatherapy. Having a rubdown or one's room smell like lavender isn't going to cure diddly, but I don't see why either can't be part of an overall treatment regimine that includes making a patient more physically comfortable (again, if it's just for psychological effect, no, that's why they have mental health professionals on staff).

 

[Physiotherapist]

Actually, massage does have proven physiological effects on the body. I am a Physical Therapist and also practice Sports Massage.

I agree that some kinds of massage where you are just rubbing at a superficial skin level is not going to have much effect other than relaxation, but the kind of massage that I do where I am working at a deep level with the myofascial system, certainly does have physiological effects.

 

[UnrepentantSinner]

Actually, massage does have proven physiological effects on the body. I am a Physical Therapist and also practice Sports Massage.

I agree that some kinds of massage where you are just rubbing at a superficial skin level is not going to have much effect other than relaxation, but the kind of massage that I do where I am working at a deep level with the myofascial system, certainly does have physiological effects.

Physiological effects like encouraging blood flow to foster healing or physiological effects like curing cancer?

 

[Paul C. Anagnostopoulos]

This thread excites me so much I'm going to go out today and get some all-natural saxitoxin and botulinum tea.

~~ Paul

 

[Lisa Simpson]

Last semester in my basic nutrition class, there was a another student who kept insisting all we had to do to be healthy was "eat stuff god made, not man made". Finally, I got fed up and said "arsenic is god made, do you want to eat that?" She didn't have an answer for that.

I had a massage Friday morning - a new day spa opened up across the street from my work and they were offering a one-hour massage for $39. Afterwards, the massage therapist handed me a cup and told me to drink lots of water to flush out the "toxins". I wanted to ask her "which toxins are those exactly?", but I had to go to work.

 

[jens]

The simple fact is that a some sCAM does make us feel better. There's a difference between "feeling better" and "getting better." I would hope that any use of sCAM by reputable hospitals would be in the context of trying to make patients feel better: and by that I mean more comfortable/hurt less than to, say, give terminal patients false hope that something can be done.

Good point, but here is an excerpt from the original e-mail about the program

A nursing continuing education program for registered nurses, physicians, body therapists, counselors, psycho-therapists, other health professionals, and individuals desiring an in-depth understanding and practice of healing work using energy based concepts.

(emphasis is mine)
To me, this implies something more than just "feeling better," which is totally wrong.

If Healing Touch is the same thing as Therapeutic Touch, and from the Wikipedia stub I read I can't tell the difference

Jackalgirl, I'm assuming they are the same thing. Thanks for the suggestions-I've been too pissed up to this point to write a letter, but I will probably do it today. I'll be sure to ask some of the questions you have presented.

As for massage as a treatment, I actually wondered why they didn't offer something like massage, where you are actually touching the patient instead of fluffing their aura.

Last semester in my basic nutrition class, there was a another student who kept insisting all we had to do to be healthy was "eat stuff god made, not man made". Finally, I got fed up and said "arsenic is god made, do you want to eat that?" She didn't have an answer for that.

Maybe people who believe this kind of quackery should eat more arsenic

 

[Jackalgirl]

Actually, massage does have proven physiological effects on the body. I am a Physical Therapist and also practice Sports Massage.

I agree that some kinds of massage where you are just rubbing at a superficial skin level is not going to have much effect other than relaxation, but the kind of massage that I do where I am working at a deep level with the myofascial system, certainly does have physiological effects.

Somebody please jump on me if I'm wrong, but I believe that the claims of "Healing Touch"/"Therapeutic Touch" go way beyond the kinds of claims that physical therapy (including massage) do. For example, both claim to be a part of "energy-based healing"; in fact, one of the particular claims that practitioners of Therapeutic Touch make is "TT is an individualized intervention guided by cues gained from assessing an individual's energy field" (i.e., that "there is a human bio-electric field, and TT can manipulate it). Double-blind testing, including a very simple science fair experiment run by a little girl, has been unable to substantiate this claim, although the Nurse Healers - Professional Associates International group, the "official organization of Therapeutic Touch", says "Therapeutic Touch is a scientifically based process, developed by Dr. Dolores Krieger, RN and Dora Kunz, in 1972.".

It goes way beyond massage, insofar as I understand it.

(BTW, there's some discussion of Krieger & Kunz's publications at Quackwatch, if you're interested in further exploration.)

 

[UnrepentantSinner]

I had a massage Friday morning - a new day spa opened up across the street from my work and they were offering a one-hour massage for $39. Afterwards, the massage therapist handed me a cup and told me to drink lots of water to flush out the "toxins". I wanted to ask her "which toxins are those exactly?", but I had to go to work.

I'd have told her no thanks, that fifth of Scotch cost me a lot of money and I don't want to pee it all out right after drinking it.

A nursing continuing education program for registered nurses, physicians, body therapists, counselors, psycho-therapists, other health professionals, and individuals desiring an in-depth understanding and practice of healing work using energy based concepts.

Jens, this sounds like Theraputic Touch which is not only woo, but was demonstated to be a load of crap by a 9 year old girl. I forget Emily's last name right now, but she had an article printed in JAMA. I'd include reference to it in your letter (I'm sure PubMed has the article).

 

[fuelair]

I still have a video of an elementary school girls' science project well and thoroughly debunking therapeutic/healing touch from 8 or so years ago. Well designed experiment!