Energy Medicine treatments for hand and wrist pain: A pilot study.

INTRODUCTION: The term "energy medicine" describes healing modalities that manipulate or channel purported subtle energies associated with the body. The objectives of this pilot study were to determine the feasibility of studying energy medicine for people with carpal tunnel pain and gathering relevant preliminary data. METHODS: Following a prospective, within-participant design, participants were recruited to experience a 30 min treatment from one of 17 energy medicine practitioners. Of 374 adults experiencing carpal tunnel pain who were screened for the study, 190 received an energy medicine treatment. Practitioners delivered treatments at close distance, some with and some without light, stationary touch. Outcome measures were collected before, during, and immediately after the treatment, and three weeks later. The primary outcome measure was self-reported pain. Secondary subjective measures included credibility regarding energy medicine and expectancy regarding the efficacy of treatments, pain interference, sleep quality, well-being, mood, and sense of personal transformation. Physiological measures included median nerve conduction velocity, heart rate variability, heart rate synchrony (between the participant and practitioner), and expression levels of neuroinflammation-related genes. RESULTS: On average, self-reported current pain scores decreased 2.0 points post-session and 1.3 points at three weeks compared to baseline values using a 0-10 point scale with 10 denoting worst pain (F(2, 565) = 3.82 p <0.000005). This effect was not influenced by the participants' level of expectancy or credibility regarding the energy medicine modality. Well-being, negative emotion, and sleep quality scores significantly improved at the follow-up visit. Multiple heart rate variability measures significantly changed reflecting increased parasympathetic activity which may indicate decreased stress. No other secondary outcome showed significant change. DISCUSSION: Studying the administration of energy medicine to people with carpal tunnel pain is feasible, although requiring a documented carpal tunnel syndrome diagnosis proved to be prohibitive for recruitment. Our finding of preliminary evidence for positive effects in pain and pain-related outcomes after a single session of energy medicine warrants further controlled investigation.

A qualitative exploratory analysis of channeled content.

Throughout history, within numerous multicultural contexts across the globe, channeling has been expressed, practiced, revered and shunned. Broadly defined, channeling is "communication of information to or through a physically embodied human being, from a source that is said to exist on some other level or dimension of reality than the physical as we know it, and that is not from the normal mind…of the channel" (Klimo, 1998, p. 2). Despite its persistence and presence across time, the enigmatic, speculative nature of channeling creates a unique research challenge. Historically, scientific channeling research tends to minimize attention on the actual channeled material, in part due to validation constraints. The focus of this qualitative exploration was to categorize and thematically analyze content channeled during the final segment of a trance channeling study. Recorded over two days, 13 healthy adult trance channels responded to the question, "Do you have any suggestions/messages regarding the current or future channeling experiments?" Transcribed content analysis revealed seven common themes under three categories - Scientific Methodology: (1) Constraints of the current quantitative study, (2) Advancing channeling research; Channeling Processes:(3) 'How-to' of channeling, (4) Experienced processes described from the "non-physical being's" point-of-view; Open-Ended Information: (5) Philosophical - personal to global to universal, (6) Gratitude and Collaborative spirit, and (7) Personal messages for healing/growth. Themes 2 and 6 were the most represented content of messages delivered. This analysis was designed to present the experiences of the channelers, how that might be interpreted and to provide global access to the potentially valuable content.