Overview

Therapeutic touch is a practice intended to treat medical conditions, especially pain, anxiety, and stress, by manipulating the "human energy field."

Practitioners of therapeutic touch believe that the world is an energy system. They believe they can heal medical conditions by unblocking areas of congested energy that hovers just above a person's skin.

People use therapeutic touch for anxiety and stress. It is also used for asthma, cancer-related pain, insomnia, chronic pain, quality of life, and many other conditions, but there is no good scientific evidence to support these uses.

Uses & Effectiveness

Possibly Effective for

  • Anxiety. Therapeutic touch seems to help reduce anxiety in people with different types of medical conditions.
  • Stress. Therapeutic touch might help reduce stress in some people.

There is interest in using therapeutic touch for a number of other purposes, but there isn't enough reliable information to say whether it might be helpful.

Side Effects



Special Precautions and Warnings



Therapeutic touch is likely safe for most people. There are no known safety concerns.

Pregnancy and breast-feeding: Therapeutic touch is possibly safe when used during pregnancy and breast-feeding. There's no reason to expect safety concerns.

Children: Therapeutic touch is possibly safe when used in children. There's no reason to expect safety concerns.

Interactions

We currently have no information for Therapeutic Touch overview.

Dosing

Therapeutic touch is an alternative practice that was developed by Dolores Krieger, PhD, RN, in the 1970s. There is no standard training or licensing requirement for practitioners, but it's most commonly used by nurses.

Therapeutic touch involves three steps. The first step is called "centering,' in which the practitioner focuses or meditates on the intent to treat the person. The second step is called "assessment," in which the practitioner moves their hands over the person's body. The hands never touch the body. The third and final step is "intervention." During this phase the practitioner moves their hands over the person's body, without touching it, to unblock areas of congested energy or restore the proper energy balance.
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CONDITIONS OF USE AND IMPORTANT INFORMATION: This information is meant to supplement, not replace advice from your doctor or healthcare provider and is not meant to cover all possible uses, precautions, interactions or adverse effects. This information may not fit your specific health circumstances. Never delay or disregard seeking professional medical advice from your doctor or other qualified health care provider because of something you have read on WebMD. You should always speak with your doctor or health care professional before you start, stop, or change any prescribed part of your health care plan or treatment and to determine what course of therapy is right for you.

This copyrighted material is licensed from Therapeutic Research Center, LLC. Information from this source is evidence-based and objective, and without commercial influence. For professional medical information on natural medicines, see Natural Medicines Comprehensive Database Professional Version.
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