Reiki is often used for chronic conditions outside of the hospital, such as chronic pain, cancer, or depression.
I came across an article, Immediate Symptom Relief After a First Session of Massage Therapy or Reiki in Hospitalized Patients: A 5-Year Clinical Experience from a Rural Academic Medical Center. This is a 5 year study looking a certain segment of hospitalized patients benefited from Reiki and massage.
Many of our treatments in traditional allopathic medicine are based on medical studies that show benefit, risks and possible outcomes. Evidenced Based Medicine, or EBM is used for most therapies, surgeries, and medications in the United States. EBM offers guidelines and a rational approach to the choice of therapies. Physicians like EBM because it helps to remove personal and professional bias, keeping the choice of which treatment to use objective.
Reiki, and many complimentary treatments that work on the human biofield can be the most difficult to study in Evidenced Based Medicine as it is difficult to arrange studies that fit typical guidelines of EBM in energy medicine.
Evidence-based guidelines can be immensely helpful but for the most part they tend to ignore the individual. As we all know we all have individual bodies and individual needs. Although evidence based medicine reassures us but we may be taking the best option for our patients if our patients don’t respond it is likely that the individual simply doesn’t fit the mold based on the study and which the treatment was chosen. Having a therapy sessions Reiki can help fill the gap between evidence-based medicine and answering the needs of individuals.
Reiki has many benefits, including physical, emotional, mental and spiritual. This particular study showed that “reiki improved pain by 49.2% and anxiety by 59.8%1” These were patients being treated in the hospital experiencing an immediate improvement in some of the most severe symptoms related to hospitalization.
“Reiki improved pain by 49.2% and anxiety by 59.8%1“
Vergo, M. T., Pinkson, B. M., Broglio, K., Li, Z., & Tosteson, T. D. (2018). Immediate Symptom Relief After a First Session of Massage Therapy or Reiki in Hospitalized Patients: A 5-Year Clinical Experience from a Rural Academic Medical Center. Journal of alternative and complementary medicine (New York, N.Y.), 24(8), 801–808. https://doi.org/10.1089/acm.2017.0409
Applying the discipline of evidence-based medicine to the practice of Reiki is very difficult, so the researchers in this study used questionnaires to quantify symptom improvement.
As a treatment modality, there is virtually no risk Reiki. Reiki can be done hands on, or hands off. During this time of social distancing, Reiki can be done from a distance, including anywhere in the world.
As a Reiki Practitioner, I am accustomed to providing Reiki sessions in 30 minute and one hour intervals. I was delighted to read that the healing arts volunteers that participated in this study provided 20 minute sessions. This is wonderful, meaning that a shorter duration of treatment, which is likely necessary due to busy nature of hospital admissions, is still beneficial.
The research article reinforces the utility of a healing modality with so little risk and so many benefits. Reiki can feasibly be offered in a variety of medical settings. Beyond in person sessions, Distance Reiki is a completely safe option in which Reiki practitioners can provide healing without having to risk being in a hospital setting.
1.Vergo, M. T., Pinkson, B. M., Broglio, K., Li, Z., & Tosteson, T. D. (2018). Immediate Symptom Relief After a First Session of Massage Therapy or Reiki in Hospitalized Patients: A 5-Year Clinical Experience from a Rural Academic Medical Center. Journal of alternative and complementary medicine (New York, N.Y.), 24(8), 801–808. https://doi.org/10.1089/acm.2017.0409