Альтернативная и интегративная медицина

Why Do Touch-Based Therapies (Reiki, Healing Touch and Therapeutic Touch) Work?

Abstract

Luigi Cristiano

Introduction: Touch-based therapies (Reiki, Healing Touch, Therapeutic Touch) are the subject of study and scientific research and thanks to the numerous publications of the last forty years, they have been shown to have a positive effect on a wide variety of disorders. But why do they work?

Discussion: The human being is a complex organism and in this brief communication it is divided into four fundamental parts, namely physical body, mind, emotions and soul. A fifth part considered is the self. In this brief communication it is theorized and explained, for the first time, how touch-based therapies act simultaneously on the four fundamental components of the person with different mechanisms of action, specific for each of these parts. These mechanisms of action emerge from the analysis of the main publications concerning touch-based therapies.

Conclusion: Touch-based therapies have shown their effectiveness in numerous independent studies to be a useful complementary and complementary medicine therapy to stimulate self-healing mechanisms, prevent disease and improve overall health. The mechanisms of action reported in this brief communication are a theory that emerges from the analysis of what has been published and that wants to explain why touch-based therapies work. However, further studies and research are needed to more clearly define their various mechanisms of action.