Therapeutic touch

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'''Therapeutic touch''' is a type of "healing" not uncommonly taught at nursing schools.  Like faith-healing, prayer, and other non-traditional healing methods, it relies on hypotheses that have no scientific basis and are easily disproved.  Also, like other "alternative" medical techniques, practitioners are unregulated and not required to prove the efficacy or safety of their techniques.   
 
'''Therapeutic touch''' is a type of "healing" not uncommonly taught at nursing schools.  Like faith-healing, prayer, and other non-traditional healing methods, it relies on hypotheses that have no scientific basis and are easily disproved.  Also, like other "alternative" medical techniques, practitioners are unregulated and not required to prove the efficacy or safety of their techniques.   
==Theory==
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==History==
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Various types of healing-at-a-distance have been used for millennia.  Such theories as Mesmerism and Animal Magnetism have existed for over a century, and are completely discredited.  Therapeutic Touch became popularized in the early 1970s as an outgrowth of arua-theory, ESP, and other New Age ideas.  Since it is taught in many mainstream nursing schools, it has undergone a special level of scrutiny, rather than being dismissed out of hand. 
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==Hypotheses==
  
 
==Efficacy==
 
==Efficacy==

Revision as of 19:56, 11 June 2007

Template:Notscience Therapeutic touch is a type of "healing" not uncommonly taught at nursing schools. Like faith-healing, prayer, and other non-traditional healing methods, it relies on hypotheses that have no scientific basis and are easily disproved. Also, like other "alternative" medical techniques, practitioners are unregulated and not required to prove the efficacy or safety of their techniques.

History

Various types of healing-at-a-distance have been used for millennia. Such theories as Mesmerism and Animal Magnetism have existed for over a century, and are completely discredited. Therapeutic Touch became popularized in the early 1970s as an outgrowth of arua-theory, ESP, and other New Age ideas. Since it is taught in many mainstream nursing schools, it has undergone a special level of scrutiny, rather than being dismissed out of hand.

Hypotheses

Efficacy

  • http://www.quackwatch.org/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/tt.html
  • http://skepdic.com/tt.html
  • http://www.therapeutic-touch.org/newsarticle.php?newsID=1
  • http://www.phact.org/e/tt/
  • http://www.csicop.org/articles/therapeutic-touch/
  • Krucoff MW. Crater SW. Gallup D. Blankenship JC. Cuffe M. Guarneri M. Krieger RA. Kshettry VR. Morris K. Oz M. Pichard A. Sketch MH Jr. Koenig HG. Mark D. Lee KL. Music, imagery, touch, and prayer as adjuncts to interventional cardiac care: the Monitoring and Actualisation of Noetic Trainings (MANTRA) II randomised study.[see comment]. [Clinical Trial. Journal Article. Multicenter Study. Randomized Controlled Trial. Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't] Lancet. 366(9481):211-7, 2005 Jul 16-22. The primary study endpoint in this 2×2 randomised trial was a composite of in-hospital major cardiovascular events, death, or readmission within the next 6 months. Neither prayer nor music, imagery, or touch produced any effect on this outcome.
  • Tall FD. A close look at "A close look at therapeutic touch". [Review] [17 refs] [Journal Article. Review] Nursing Outlook. 51(3):126-9, 2003 May-Jun. Adherent rants against data
  • L. Rosa, E. Rosa, L. Sarner and S. Barrett, A close look at therapeutic touch. JAMA 279 (1998), pp. 1004–1010. Conclusions.— Twenty-one experienced TT practitioners were unable to detect the investigator's "energy field." Their failure to substantiate TT's most fundamental claim is unrefuted evidence that the claims of TT are groundless and that further professional use is unjustified.
  • Mentgen JL. Healing touch. [Review] [21 refs] [Journal Article. Review] Nursing Clinics of North America. 36(1):143-58, 2001 Mar. This article explores how nurses can use energetic principles and Healing Touch to enhance the healing of their patients, for their own personal healing and growth, for improving job satisfaction, and for identifying educational resources available for more intense study
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