RESEARCH PAPERS

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The following demonstrate the clinical contribution made by Reiki treatments:

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Effects of Reiki on pain, anxiety, and blood pressure in patients undergoing knee replacement: a Pilot Study.

‘…This blinded, controlled pilot study investigated the effects of Reiki on 46 patients undergoing knee replacement surgery. Of the 3 groups, Reiki, Sham Reiki, and Standard of Care, only the Reiki group showed significant reductions in pain, blood pressure, respiration rate, and state anxiety, which provides evidence for a full-scale clinical study…’

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The increasing use of Reiki as a complementary therapy in specialist palliative care.

‘…Reiki is a more recent addition to the range of CTs available to cancer patients. As an energy-healing intervention it has gained in popularity as a non-invasive and non-pharmacological approach. Anecdotal evidence suggests that the profound relaxation effect has a positive impact on alleviating anxiety, stress, perception of pain and promotes a feeling of wellbeing particularly relating to the nature of psychospiritual wellbeing…This article will consider the position of reiki as an emerging CT within SPC…’ 

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Use of complementary therapies in hospice and palliative care.

‘…patients were evaluated for changes in symptoms such as pain reduction, ease in breathing, stress/anxiety reduction, and increased relaxation, with the results being predominantly beneficial…’

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The effects of Yoga, Massage, and Reiki on patient well-being at a Cancer Resource Center.

‘…Reiki reduced the pain of patients with cancer to a greater extent than either massage or yoga…’

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An exploratory study of Reiki experiences in women who have cancer.

‘…Key themes identified were: limited understanding of reiki prior to receiving any reiki; release of emotional strain during reiki-feelings of a release of energy, a clearing of the mind from cancer, inner peace/relaxation, hope, a sense of being cared for; experience of physical sensations during reiki, such as pain relief and tingling; physical, emotional and cognitive improvements after reiki, such as improved sleep, a sense of calm and peace, reduced depression and improved self-confidence…’

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Reiki for cancer patients undergoing Chemotherapy in a Brazilian Hospital: A pilot study.

‘…The Reiki practice delivered as part of the integrative care in oncology did produce clinically significant effects, although not statistically significant results, for more than half of the patients undergoing cancer treatment…’

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Reiki’s effect on patients with total knee arthroplasty: A pilot study.

‘…As a result of positive feedback and decreased pain ratings following Reiki sessions, a Reiki program has been established at the hospital. Ten nurses became trained and certified in Reiki…’

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Effects of Distant Reiki on pain, anxiety and fatigue in Oncology patients in Turkey: A Pilot study.

‘…The control group demonstrated greater levels of pain (p=0.002), stress (p=0.001) and fatigue (p=0.001). The Reiki group pain score (p<0.0001), stress score (p<0.001) and fatigue score were also significantly lower…’

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Effect of Reiki therapy on pain and anxiety in adults: an in-depth literature review of randomised trials with effect size calculations.

‘…Although the number of studies is limited, based on the size Cohen’s d statistics calculated in this review, there is evidence to suggest that Reiki therapy may be effective for pain and anxiety…’

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Development of a hospital reiki training program: training volunteers to provide reiki to patients, families, and staff in the acute care setting.

‘…This program demonstrates that a volunteer-based program can successfully support nurses in meeting patient, family, and staff demand for Reiki services…’

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Reiki and related therapies in the dialysis ward: an evidence-based and ethical discussion to debate if these complementary and alternative medicines are welcomed or banned.

‘…While a classical evidence-based approach, showing low-grade efficacy, is likely to lead to a negative attitude towards the use of Reiki in the dialysis ward, the ethical discussion, analyzing beneficium (efficacy) together with non maleficium (side effects), justice (cost, availability and integration with mainstream therapies) and autonomy (patients’ choice) is likely to lead to a permissive-positive attitude…’

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Reiki training for caregivers of hospitalised paediatric patients: a pilot programme.

‘…Seventeen of the 18 families agreed to participate. Most families (65%) attended three Reiki training sessions, reporting that Reiki benefitted their child by improving their comfort (76%), providing relaxation (88%), and pain relief (41%). All caregivers identified becoming an active participant in their child’s care as a major gain from participation in the Reiki training. A hospital-based Reiki training program for caregivers of hospitalized pediatric patients is feasible and can positively impact patients and their families…’

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Symptomatic improvement reported after receiving Reiki at a cancer infusion center.

‘…Reiki results in a broad range of symptomatic benefits, including improvements in common cancer-related symptoms…’

 

Reiki as a pain management adjunct in screening colonoscopy.

‘…Results from this pilot study suggest that there may be a decrease in meperidine needed during screening colonoscopy when patients receive Reiki treatments before the procedure…’

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Benefits of Reiki therapy for a severely neutropenic patient with associated influences on a true random number generator.

‘…Statistically significant relationships were documented between Reiki therapy, a quieting of the electronically created white noise of the RNG during healing sessions, and improvement in the patient’s ANC. The immediate clinical result was that the patient could tolerate the high-dose interferon regimen without missing doses because of absolute neutropenia. The patient was initially a late responder to interferon and had been given a 5% chance of clearing the virus. He remains clear of the virus 1 year after treatment…’

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The effects of Reiki therapy on pain and anxiety in patients attending a day oncology and infusion services unit.

‘…Overall, the sessions were felt helpful in improving well-being, relaxation, pain relief, sleep quality and reducing anxiety. Offering Reiki therapy in hospitals could respond to patients’ physical and emotional needs…’

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Effects of Reiki on Pain and Vital Signs when applied to the Incision Area of the body after Cesarean Section Surgery: A single-blinded, randomised, double-controlled study:

‘…The Reiki group was observed to use fewer analgesics throughout the study and to need them after a longer time than the sham Reiki and control groups (P < .05)…’

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A phase II trial of Reiki for the management of pain in advanced cancer patients
Olson K, Hanson J, Michaud M.
Faculty of Nursing and International Institute for Qualitative Methodology, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Participants experienced improved pain control following Reiki treatment

Using Reiki to manage pain: a preliminary report.
Olson K, Hanson J.
Cross Cancer Institute, Edmonton, Alta. karino@cancerboard.ab.ca
Research showed a highly significant reduction in pain following Reiki treatment.

Long-term effects of energetic healing on symptoms of psychological depression and self-perceived stress
Reiki Treatment for Psychological Symptoms – an Intervention Protocol
J.Joyce, Complementary Health Clinic, Dunedin, New Zealand and G.P. Herbison, Dept. Of Preventive and Social Medicne, Dunedin School of Medicine, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand.
has as its objective the examination of the effectiveness of Reiki when compared with no intervention/sham Reiki/treatment as usual/waiting list, pharmacological treatments or psychological therapies for anxiety and depression.

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.
Participants experienced a decrease in cancer related fatigue and a significant improvement in quality of life.

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Energy therapies in advanced practice oncology: an evidence-informed practice approach.

Potter P J

Abstract excerpt: ‘…Reiki as supportive interventions in cancer care…bring harmony and balance to the system in the direction of health…research literature demonstrates the safety of these therapies…’

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Effect of Reiki therapy on pain and anxiety in adults: an in-depth literature review of randomised trials with effect size calculations.

Thrane S & Cohen S M

Abstract excerpt: ‘…Although the number of studies is limited, based on the size Cohen’s statistics calculated in this review, there is evidence to suggest that Reiki therapy may be effective for pain and anxiety…’

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The empowering nature of Reiki as a complementary therapy
Nield-Anderson L, Ameling A.
Yale University School of Nursing, New Haven, Connecticut, USA.
The reasons for the increased success of Reiki as an alternative and complementary healing method in the Western world are addressed as well as the practice of Reiki as a healing method for self and others.

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Feasibility of Energy Medicine in a Community Teaching Hospital (including Reiki)

‘…This study successfully implemented EM provided by a solo practitioner in inpatient and emergent hospital settings and found that acceptability and demand justified its presence. Most patients experienced marked, immediate improvement of symptoms associated with their chief complaint…’

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Reiki therapy: the benefits to a nurse/Reiki practitioner.
Whelan KM, Wishnia GS.
Graduate Family Nurse Practitioner Program, Spalding University, Louisville, KY, USA. kwhelan931@aol.com
This study evaluates how nurses who gave Reiki therapy perceived the benefit of this therapy on their clients and themselves.

TOMS, Nelda C. Stark College of Nursing, Texas Woman’s University, Houston, TX 77030, USA. Examined Reiki Therapy and explored Reiki as a valuable nursing intervention.

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Autonomic nervous system changes during Reiki treatment: a preliminary study.
Mackay N, Hansen S, McFarlane O.
Institute of Neurological Sciences, South Glasgow University Hospital NHS Trust, 1345 Govan Road, Glasgow G51 4TF, Scotland, UK.
This study indicates that Reiki has some effect on the autonomic nervous system.

The increasing use of Reiki as a complementary therapy in specialist palliative care.
Burden B, Herron-Marx S, Clifford C.
Compton Hospice, Wolverhampton, West Midlands, UK. Barbaracompt@aol.com
This article considers the position of Reiki as an emerging Complementary therapy within the field of specialist palliative care and, within this context, the rise in popularity of Reiki and its potential benefits.

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
This article describes the process of Reiki, reviews current literature, presents vignettes of patient responses to the intervention and makes recommendations for future study.

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Biological Correlates of Reiki Touch Healing 
Wardell DW and others
Journal of Advanced Nursing Vol.33 Issue 4, Pages 439-445
Findings suggest both biochemical and physiological changes in the direction of relaxation.

Touch therapies for pain relief in adults
So PS, Jiang Y, Qin Y
This is a Cochrane review abstract and plain language summary, prepared and maintained by The Cochrane Collaboration, currently published in The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2009 Issue 2, Copyright © 2009 The Cochrane Collaboration. Published by John Wiley and Sons, Ltd.
Main results
Twenty four studies involving 1153 participants met the inclusion criteria. There were five, sixteen and three studies on HT, TT and Reiki respectively. Participants exposed to touch had on average of 0.83 units (on a 0 to ten scale) lower pain intensity than unexposed participants (95% Confidence Interval: -1.16 to -0.50). Results of trials conducted by more experienced practitioners appeared to yield greater effects in pain reduction. 
It is also apparent that these trials yielding greater effects were from the Reiki studies.
 

Whether more experienced practitioners or certain types of touch therapy brought better pain reduction should be further investigated. Two of the five studies evaluating analgesic usage supported the claim that touch therapies minimized analgesic usage. The placebo effect was also explored. No statistically significant (P = 0.29) placebo effect was identified.

 

Authors’ conclusions, excerpt: ‘…Touch therapies may have a modest effect in pain relief…”

Kerr CE, Wasserman RH, Moore CI. Cortical dynamics as a therapeutic mechanism for touch healing. Journal of Alternative & Complementary Medicine 13 (1): 59-66, Jan-Feb 2007.

 

Touch Healing therapies, treatments whose primary route of administration is tactile contact and/or active guiding of somatic attention, are ubiquitous across cultures. Despite increasing integration of touch healing into mainstream medicine through therapies such as Reiki, Therapeutic Touch and somatically focused meditation practices such as Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction, relatively little is known about potential underlying mechanisms.

 

This review presents a neuroscientific explanation for the prevalence and effectiveness of these therapies for relieving chronic pain. It begins with a cross-cultural review of several different types of touch healing treatments and identifies common characteristics, including: light tactile contact and/or a somatosensory attention directed toward the body, a relaxed context and repeated treatment sessions. These cardinal features are also key elements of established mechanisms of neural plasticity in somatosensory cortical maps, suggesting that sensory reorganization is a mechanism for the healing observed.
 

Consideration of the potential health benefits of meditation practice specifically suggests that these practices provide training in the regulation of neural and perceptual dynamics that provide ongoing resistance to the development of maladaptive somatic representations. This model provides several direct predictions for investigating ways that touch healing may induce cortical plasticity and dynamics in pain reduction.

 

This review presents a neuroscientific explanation for the prevalence and effectiveness of these therapies for relieving chronic pain.

It begins with a cross-cultural review of several different types of touch healing treatments and identifies common characteristics, including: light tactile contact and/or a somatosensory attention directed toward the body, a relaxed context and repeated treatment sessions. These cardinal features are also key elements of established mechanisms of neural plasticity in somatosensory cortical maps, suggesting that sensory reorganization is a mechanism for the healing observed.

Consideration of the potential health benefits of meditation practice specifically suggests that these practices provide training in the regulation of neural and perceptual dynamics that provide ongoing resistance to the development of maladaptive somatic representations. This model provides several direct predictions for investigating ways that touch healing may induce cortical plasticity and dynamics in pain reduction

BALDWIN and  SCHWARTZ, Department of Physiology, College of Medicine, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85724-5051, USA, have found that Reiki can reduce bleeding caused by excessive noise exposure.

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Reiki is beginning to be used in hospitals to accelerate recovery. Despite many anecdotes describing Reiki’s success, few scientific studies are reported and none of those use animals. Animal models have the advantage over human subjects in that they provide well-controlled, easily interpretable experiments. The use of noise is relevant to hospital patients because of the excessive ambient noise in hospitals in the United Kingdom and United States. Loud noise can lead to several non-auditory disorders in humans and animals that impair recovery. In the rat, stress from noise damages the mesenteric microvasculature, leading to leakage of plasma into the surrounding tissue.

The aim of this study was to determine whether Reiki can significantly reduce microvascular leakage caused by exposure to excessive noise using an animal model.

In all three experiments, Reiki significantly reduced the outcome measures compared to the other noise groups (p < 0.01): http://www.positivehealth.com/researches/reiki

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Long-term effects of energetic healing on symptoms of psychological depression and self-perceive stress. Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine 10 (3): 42-48, May-Jun 2004. Shore AG writes about a trial on the long-term effects of energetic healing on symptoms of depression and stress.
The aim of the study was to examine the long-term effects of Reiki healing on symptoms of depression and self-perceived stress.
46 patients were randomly assigned to one of three groups: hands-on Reiki, distance Reiki, or distance-Reiki placebo, with patients blinded to treatment conditions. Each patient received a 1 to 1.5 hour treatment weekly for 6 weeks. Beck Depression, Beck Hopelessness, and Perceived Stress were completed at baseline, port treatment, and one year later.
At the end of treatment, there was a significant reduction in symptoms of psychological distress in both treatment groups compared with controls (p < 0.05), and these differences persisted at one-year follow-up (p < 0.05).

Reiki, whether administered hands-on or at distance, leads to long-lasting improvements in people’s emotional state.

GALLOB, University of Rochester School of Nursing, Loving Touch Center of East Rochester, NY, USA, has reviewed (13 references) the literature on Reiki.

• Reiki is a form of energetic healing that is uniquely suited to nursing practice.

• Reiki training offers a precise technique for tapping into healing energy, or ki, and transmitting it through touch.

• Reiki treatments support the wellbeing and healing process of each individual patient in whatever way the patient needs, on all levels of body, mind and soul. Relaxation, pain relief, physical healing, reduced emotional distress, and a deepened awareness of spiritual connection are among the benefits that have been reported in case studies, anecdotes, and exploratory research.

• Reiki is easily adaptable to any setting and provides support and healing for the practitioner as well as for the recipient.

Preliminary report on the use of Reiki HIV-related pain and anxiety
Miles P, Alternative Therapy Health Med. 2003 Mar-Apr; 9(2);36

Effect of Reiki Treatments on Functional Recovery in Patients in Post Stroke Rehabilitation: a Pilot Study
Shiflett SC and others
J Altern Complement Med. 2002 Dec; 8(6); 755-63

Research: Rubric and Others
Reiki improved growth of heat-shocked bacteria in a healing context: http://www.positivehealth.com/researches/reiki

Reiki Review of a Biofield Therapy history, theory, practice and research
Miles P, True G
Altern. Ther. Health Med. 2003 Mar-Apr; 9(2): 62-72

Palliative Care Service at NIH includes Reiki and other mind-body modalities
Miles P, Adv. Mind Body Med. 2004 Summer; 20(2); 30-1

If there is any significant experience with using Reiki in the hospital or ER Setting and if there is any literature to support this use?
Miles P, Explore (NY). 2005 Sep; 1(5): 414

LEE and COLLEAGUES, Complementary Medicine, Peninsula Medical School, Universities of Exeter & Plymouth, Exeter, UK. Review [34 refs] and evaluate the effectiveness of Reiki.

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FERRARESI and COLLEAGUES,  (1)SS Nephrology ASOU, san Luigi (regione Gonzole 10), Orbassano 10043, Torino, Italy, applied integrated evidence based approaches and ethical discussion, to discuss the pros and cons of CAMs in the dialysis ward

Results (excerpt):

 ‘According to the EBM approach, Reiki allows a statistically significant but very low-grade pain reduction without specific side effects. Gentle-touch therapy and Reiki are thus good examples of approaches in which controversial efficacy has to be balanced against no known side effect, frequent free availability (volunteer non-profit associations) and easy integration with any other pharmacological or non-pharmacological therapy.’ 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23799960

http://www.positivehealth.com/research/ferraresi-and-colleagues

Listed in Positive Health Online, Issue 225 (17.09.15).

 

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PALLIATIVE NURSING 2016, Vol 22, No4 An exploratory study of Reiki experiences in women who have cancer (Marilynne N Kirshbaum, Maxine Stead & Serena Bartys)

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Distant Healing Intention Therapies: An Overview of the Scientific Evidence.

Radin D, Schlitz M, Baur C

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and see full article here which concludes (italics added):

‘…[experiments on ‘Distant mental interactions with living systems – DMILS] studies indicate that DHI [Distant Healing Intention] effects are on average small in magnitude, but they do exist, and thus, in principle, some clinical applications of DHI may be efficacious…’

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CANCER RESEARCH UK research into Reiki for people with cancer

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Science and the Human Energy Field
Oschman, J.L.
Reiki News Magazine, Vol 1, Issue 3.  Winter 2002.  www.reiki.org

Reiki medical papers: www.reikiinmedicine.org/medical-papers/

FURTHER RESEARCH: https://www.evidence.nhs.uk (insert “Reiki” in the search box).

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