Health is one of the important factors that influence all aspects of people’s lives. Every individual desires to lead a healthy life; however, availability and accessibility to care and treatment services determine the levels at which they meet this necessity. Healthcare professionals use varying techniques to manage and treat diverse conditions. While conventional medicine is the most used approach to treating illnesses, alternative interventions are increasingly gaining popularity. Touch therapies, such as healing touch, are an example of alternative treatments that can be used in clinical practice. A description of healing touch, including prior knowledge and experience, helps explain why healthcare professionals can apply it in clinical practice, the possible benefits to patients, and how it can be further researched.
Description of Healing Touch
Healing touch is a therapeutic practice where healthcare practitioners use gentle hand techniques to accelerate the curing of mind, body, and spirit by re-patterning patients’ energy fields. According to Nelson et al. (2018), the belief that humans are energy fields that constantly interact with others and the environment is the foundation of the healing touch. The main objective of this technique is to restore patients’ energy systems harmony by purposefully using energetic interaction between the latter and healing touch practitioners. Raypole and Legg (2020) add that healing touch is more of a treatment philosophy than a specific method since it involves several energy healing practices. Healthcare professionals can apply this non-conventional treatment approach to a wide range of health conditions.
Healing touch requires patients to participate in several sessions, each lasting at least twenty minutes. Healthcare practitioners manipulate and direct the flow of energy throughout patients’ bodies using their hands to restore the latter’s ability to heal itself and accelerate the healing process (Nelson et al., 2018). At the beginning of the treatment, therapists collect essential background information such as symptoms, their duration, and other health concerns patients may have. They can further seek to know why the patient opted for healing touch treatment and the goals for the therapy. Healing touch sessions involve four different stages regardless of their length.
Stages of Healing Touch Treatment
Centering is the first stage, where practitioners, before starting the treatment, focus their awareness and enter a semi-meditative state by making a few movements and breathing deeply. According to Raypole and Legg (2020), this stage is vital since it helps therapists to clear any potentially distracting thoughts from their minds, facilitating better focus on the treatment they are about to give. Assessment is the next stage, where the healing touch practitioners focus on sensing patients’ biofield. They do the latter by holding their hands slightly above and sweeping them slowly over their client’s body, from head to toe. Assessment helps therapists to identify areas that they believe have blocked energy flow, describing them as cool, warm, or tingly (Raypole & Legg, 2020). Although healing touch integrates multiple approaches, practitioners can recommend the most potentially beneficial techniques depending on patients’ needs.
The other stages of healing tough that follow are intervention and evaluation. The intervention involves addressing energy blockages identified during the assessment. In most instances, therapists make rhythmic hand motions over the affected part of the body (Raypole & Legg, 2020). The process continues for at least twenty minutes, constantly checking on the patients for symptom improvement until they believe that the energy blockage has been removed. Evaluation checks for outcomes of the treatment and other areas that may need attention. Notably, an increased sense of relaxation and calm is noticeable after several minutes of intervention (Raypole & Legg, 2020). Therapists make quick reassessments to confirm there are no unaddressed energy blockages before ending the session.
Prior Knowledge and Experience
Although healing is a new nonconventional treatment method, there is significant knowledge and experience among healthcare practitioners and patients. Previous studies by Gentile et al. (2018), Nelson et al. (2018), and Liu et al. (2021) show that healthcare professionals know and apply this treatment modality in their practice. These researchers found that healthcare professionals use healing touch as a technique for managing or relieving pain. Nelson et al. (2018) add that the treatment method improves sleep quality and relieves anxiety. The approach is also used to help wounds heal faster, manage stress, enhance the immune system’s functionality, reduce fatigue, and improve symptoms of chronic illnesses (Raypole & Legg, 2020). Patients who undergo healing treatment report improved satisfaction.
Why Healing Touch Might Interest Healthcare Professionals and Recommendable Further Research
Healing touch can be of interest to healthcare professionals because it provides an alternative for managing a wide range of symptoms without causing any side effects such as those associated with conventional medications. Additionally, the technique is non-invasive and can improve the patient-care provider relationship since involves both parties. While the treatment method is new, healthcare professionals might want to whether they can apply it in evidence-based practice. Notably, although the few studies about the therapy are promising, there is concern about quality and effectiveness (Raypole & Legg, 2020). Therefore, further research using larger samples should be undertaken to test the technique’s effectiveness when used alone and together with conventional treatments. Equally, experts should study to provide a scientific explanation of how improvement occurs after healing tough sessions.
How Patients Can Benefit From Healing Touch Treatment
Although no evidence healing tough cures any disease, it is beneficial to patients in different ways. The technique minimizes risks for drug interaction or possible side effects of conventional medicines. Additionally, the treatment method can improve patients’ mental health by reducing stress and anxiety associated with illnesses and medications. Lastly, patients can become more satisfied with healthcare services when practitioners combine therapy with conventional treatment methods.
References
Gentile, D., Boselli, D., O’Neill, G., Yaguda, S., Bailey-Dorton, C., & Eaton, T. (2018). Cancer pain relief after healing touch and massage. The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, 24(9-10), 968-973. Web.
Liu, P., Yao, J., & Qiu, C. (2021). Nursing intervention using healing touch in total knee replacement. Medicine, 100(3), 1-3. Web.
Nelson, J., James, L., Cone, L., & Gottschlich, M. (2018). 320 effectiveness of healing touch on sleep, pain, anxiety, anesthesia emergence and satisfaction. Journal of Burn Care &Amp; Research, 39(1), S130-S130. Web.
Raypole, C., & Legg, T. (2020). Touch Therapy: Pseudoscience or valid treatment? Healthline. Web.