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Reiki and similar practices involve a practitioner holding hands on or near the body to channel an 'energy' that has never been detected. Trials show relaxation similar to sham sessions; they are harmless as rest, but they treat nothing.
Energy therapies (reiki, healing touch, therapeutic touch, qigong healing) rest on a biofield that has not been demonstrated by any physical measurement. Randomised trials in people with cancer are small and, where a sham practitioner arm is included, generally show that real and sham sessions produce the same relaxation and reductions in anxiety, which is what would be expected from quiet rest with attention. The SIO 2017 breast guideline grades healing touch as a low-confidence option for pain and the NCI PDQ summaries note the absence of evidence for any specific effect. These sessions are safe and some patients find them comforting; the problem arises only when they are sold as treatment or delay conventional care.
No mechanism has been demonstrated; observed effects match those of rest, attention and expectation.
Query for this technology: (TITLE:"Reiki, healing touch and other energy therapies" OR ABSTRACT:"Reiki, healing touch and other energy therapies") AND (cancer OR tumor OR tumour OR oncology OR carcinoma OR lymphoma OR leukemia OR leukaemia OR myeloma OR sarcoma OR melanoma OR glioma). Results are unfiltered search hits about Reiki, healing touch and other energy therapies, not a curated reading list.
Shares Placebo, Evidence-based integrative oncology, Misinformation and unproven therapies and the tags complementary, supportive-care.
Shares Clinical practice guidelines on the evidence-based use of integrative therapies during and after breast cancer treatment, Evidence-based integrative oncology and the tags complementary, supportive-care.
Shares Clinical practice guidelines on the evidence-based use of integrative therapies during and after breast cancer treatment, Placebo, Evidence-based integrative oncology and the tags complementary, supportive-care.
Shares Evidence-based integrative oncology, Misinformation and unproven therapies and the tags complementary, supportive-care.
Shares Clinical practice guidelines on the evidence-based use of integrative therapies during and after breast cancer treatment, Placebo, Evidence-based integrative oncology and the tags complementary, supportive-care.
Shares Evidence-based integrative oncology, Misinformation and unproven therapies and the tags complementary, supportive-care.
Shares Evidence-based integrative oncology, Misinformation and unproven therapies and the tags complementary, supportive-care.
Shares Evidence-based integrative oncology, Misinformation and unproven therapies and the tags complementary, supportive-care.