Effects of therapeutic touch

[RedOnce]

Effects of therapeutic touch on blood hemoglobin and hematocrit level.

J Holist Nurs. 2006 Mar;24(1):41-8.
Movaffaghi Z, Hasanpoor M, Farsi M, Hooshmand P, Abrishami F.

Mashad University of Medical Sciences.

Background: Therapeutic Touch (TT) is a widely used complementary therapy. This study investigated the effects of TT on hemoglobin and hematocrit level in students who were basically healthy. Method: The volunteers with a hemoglobin level less than 12 grams per deciliter (g/dl) were randomly assigned to three groups of TT, mimic therapeutic touch (MT), and control. Blood samples were collected before the first treatment and again a week after the last one and measurements were taken. Results: TT increased the level of hemoglobin (.99 .13 g/dl) and hematocrit (2.82 .43%) significantly. MT also increased the level of hemoglobin (.55 .11 g/dl) and hematocrit (2.75 .44%) significantly. No significant changes were found in the control group. TT increased hemoglobin more effectively than MT (p< .05). Conclusions: Significant changes of both variables in TT and MTgroups suggest that more careful precision might be needed while selecting individuals as sham therapists in further experiments.

PMID: 16449745

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=16449745&query_hl=1&itool=pubmed_DocSum

[uppityperson]

1. I don't understand the conclusion and "sham therapists"

I think it is saying TT and MT both increased Hgb and Hct, but control didn't. What does this mean as far as the conclusions "sham therapists"? That you have to make sure the provider knows what they are doing?

[RedOnce]

2. I think that it confirms the therapeutic benefit of touch but..

fails to differentiate between "therapeutic touch" and sham touch.

[trotsky]

4. So, in other words, this is yet another case of something working

but working for mundane reasons (ordinary massage stimulating blood flow, stress reduction due to skin contact, etc.) rather than what proponents of TT claim (manipulating energy fields, etc.).

This study seems to be a further smackdown of TT.

[RedOnce]

6. Something wrong with...

mundane reasons or ordinary massage stimulating blood flow, stress reduction due to skin contact, etc? Sounds pretty therapeutic to me.

[trotsky]

8. No, of course not.

But attributing the effect to a bogus cause is misleading and unethical.

[RedOnce]

9. Who attributed the effect to a bogus cause?

[trotsky]

10. TT disciples, of course. n/t

[Celebration]

5. Is massage therapy a sham?

Or just another effective treatment modality?

I could do a pretty good *sham* with reiki by spinning the chakras the wrong way. However, it would also probably be unethical!!! (possibly dangerous).

All massage therapists are taught to work in a clockwise direction, for good reason. They are aware of the same principles.

[RedOnce]

11. No, I think this study confirms touch or massage therapy.

[Celebration]

12. I know, but was it supposed to be the sham treatment

And then it worked too? So that is why they said it is important to think about what represents a sham? That is what I got out of it. What would constitute a good sham treatment? I did suggest spinning the chakras the wrong way but that is not ethical. Obviously it can't be double blind because someone does know if they get massage or therapeutic touch. I mean, it is impossible not to know.

[RedOnce]

14. Both TT and MT showed significant changes of both variables...

as compared to the control. This is great because provides empirical evidence that touch is therapeutic.

"TT increased hemoglobin more effectively than MT" - showing an advantage to Therapeutic Touch. Hematocrit was about the same for both TT and MT. However, it seems, by the wording of their conclusion, to fall short of confirming that "therapeutic touch" is significantly more therapeutic than say massage. The difference between TT and MT was small enough for the authors to question the selection process of sham therapists for future experiments.

[thereismore]

13. sham means "control". Something that is not a therapist, like maybe

being touched by an artificial limb.

[Celebration]

16. Haha, That's good. Robotic Touch

[Warpy]

15. It means that ANY touch is therapeutic

which is something nurses have known for ages.

[TlalocW]

3. Was the test double-blinded?

If it wasn't, and I suspect it wasn't, then the results don't matter, and for those that don't know why, let me give you an example.

A guy who claimed that he could mentally influence blood pressure and brainwaves in a subject looked to be the real thing according to doctors. He could even do it from another side of the hospital, but it turned out that the doctors were told each time what he would be trying to influence, and so they would concentrate on looking for THOSE changes in the subject, essentially ignoring monitoring anything else and taking any deviations as proof positive. However, in another test, he randomly chose what he was supposed to do - blood pressure, brainwaves, or do nothing - and the doctors only knew that every fifteen minutes, he would be changing his focus. When the results of the doctors' measurements were compared to what he focused on, only one out of four matched, what you would expect by chance alone.

Therapeutic Touch like so many other things is a sham as far as I can make out.

TlalocW

[RedOnce]

7. I don't know. The study was just published. This is all I have seen.

[uppityperson]

17. My further take is that touch is good, does good things.

It is just the word "sham" sets me off and is confusing. I would need to read the whole study, but it is not online yet.