Pain Management Research Paper

Reiki Therapy for Pain Management
M. Adams
University of Central Florida

Topic Reiki is a form of energy healing in which the practitioner uses light touch to channel the flow of energy to promote healing, relaxation, and overall wellness (Richeson, Spross, Lutz & Peng, 2011). Reiki has its roots in Japan as a method of therapeutic healing (Ernst, Lee & Pittler, 2008). It is believed to have originated in Tibet thousands of years ago and renewed in the 1800s by a Japanese monk (Gijsen, Koren, VanderVaart & Wildt, 2009). Reiki is a Japanese word derived from Rei, meaning free passage or universal spirit and Ki, meaning vital life force energy or universal life energy (Ernst, Lee & Pittler, 2008).
Reiki is currently used as an alternative or complementary method by the general public seeking relief from pain, anxiety, stress, and depression (Gijsen, Koren, VanderVaart & Wildt, 2009). The concept is that health and healing involve incorporation of the human and environmental energy fields with physical and spiritual healing which results in positive health effects (Vitale, 2011). It removes negative energy and replaces it with positive energy and is safe and natural (Bourne, 2009). During a Reiki session clients are taught to breathe deeply and relax (Bourne, 2009). The practitioner then gently places their hands over the patients various key focal points of the body starting at the head working through to the feet (Bourne, 2009). The hands are intended to be a channel for universal life energy balancing energy and redirecting it within and around the
There are cancer patients, surgical patients, and multiple sclerosis to name a few. Reiki therapy can be used as an option to help alleviate the pain these patients may experience. I support the use of it as a complementary way to treat the whole patient through touch and to manage the symptoms of pain. Results of a randomized clinical study using Reiki on 120 chronically ill men and women ages 21 to 62 years with pain showed a substantial reduction of pain (Ernst, Lee & Pittler, 2008). Participants were assigned into one of four treatment groups: reiki (n=30), progressive muscle relaxation (n=30), sham reiki (n=30) and no treatment (n=30) (Ernst, Lee & Pittler, 2008). All participants attended ten biweekly reiki sessions (Ernst, Lee & Pittler, 2008). Outcome parameters were measured pre-test, post-test and at three month follow-up (Ernst, Lee & Pittler, 2008). The study showed there was a significant reduction in pain that had lasting effects of up to three months in the reiki group compared with all other groups (Ernst, Lee & Pittler, 2008). Currently, there are many hospitals throughout the country that have successfully incorporated the use of reiki as a complementary therapy (Miles, 2012). One particular hospital in New Hampshire, Portsmouth Regional Hospital, has been offering Reiki to patients and staff since 1995 (Portsmouth Regional Hospital, 2012). To help decrease