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Healers in the Operating Room Sheldon Marc Feldman, MD FACS Chief Breast Surgery, NYP/Columbia Vivian L. Milstein Associate
Professor of Clinical Surgery, CUMC Breast program welcomes alternative practitioners before and during breast surgery.
 Sheldon Marc Feldman, MD FACS
Chief Breast Surgery, NYP/Columbia
Dr. Sheldon Marc Feldman at 2012 New York Reiki Conference
Gloria A. Gronowicz, Ph.D. Director of the Skeletal Craniofacial and Oral Biology Graduate Program Departments of Surgery
and Orthopaedic Surgery Professor, University of Connecticut Health Center
Prof Mines “Ki” Mysteryby Abram Katz | June 25, 2009 11:56 AM | 
Gloria A. Gronowicz doesn’t believe in mysterious powers or healing from afar. That leaves her with
a dilemma. Results of a vigorously designed three-year study that she conducted suggest that test-tube
cells grew better when people trained in reiki touch therapy passed their hands over the containers. They did not touch the test tubes, or warm them, or affect them physically in any
known way, Gronowicz said. She was stunned. And puzzled. The tightly controlled study suggests that patients could physically benefit from some sort of energy emanating from
the skilled human hand. “This is quite astonishing to me,”
Gronowicz said. “How do humans interact with biofields?” The
University of Connecticut Health Center study was financed by the National Institutes of Health center for complementary and
alternative medicine, and published in the Journal of Orthopedic Research. Gronowicz presented the study this spring during an
NIH meeting in Austin, Texas. A professor of surgery at UConn with a doctorate in molecular biology from Columbia University,
she was one of the last people who expected to find evidence of human non-touch therapy. In reiki, the hands of the practitioner never touch the patient. Rather, the hands are believed to manipulate “ki,”
or “life energy.” The technique was developed long ago in Japan and become popular in the U.S. in the 1970s as
patients searched for alternatives to regular medicine. The therapy
is not part of any religion. Practitioners must be certified at one of several reiki institutes and centers. According to a 2007 NIH survey, “energy-healing” therapy is used by more than 1.2 million adults and
161,000 children annually. “Clients may experience a deep state
of relaxation during a reiki session. They might also feel warm, tingly, sleepy or refreshed. Reiki appears to be generally
safe and no serious side effects gave been reported,” the NIH concluded. Studying people is difficult, because the presence of a person could raise the patient’s spirits and ease his
pain. So Gronowicz used cells in discarded bone chips, and from skin and tendons. The cell cultures received two 10-minute treatments a week for two weeks. One set of treatments was performed by people trained in reiki. The other set was carried out by untrained people.
When all of the hand waving was done, Gronowicz examined the cells.
The results showed that reiki had no effect on bone cancer cells, but that the process improved bone cell growth by
a statistically significant percent. Skin and tendon cells also grew under the reiki regimen. “We saw a dose-response curve,” Gronowicz said, an effect noted in tests of drugs and other conventional
therapies.”The practice of energy medicine has been around for thousands of years,” she said. Most previous studies
of reiki were small and “under-powered,” but did show a slight effect, she said. Nonetheless, response to the work has not been overwhelmingly positive. Reiki is already available at Yale-New Haven,
Waterbury, Griffin, Hartford and the University of Connecticut Hospitals. All offer reiki as part of an overall treatment
plan. “If the mind-body effects balance health, why not use it?”
she said. Gronowicz said she has come to accept the idea of biofields
and would like to collaborate with a physicist to study them. So far
there are no takers. “Are there receptors? There must be a biofield
that affects health. Maybe I’ve lost it, but what if it’s true? That would represent a whole new avenue of medical
treatment,” Gronowicz said. Gronowicz has spent 25 years researching
bones, and has published about 50 papers. The reiki paper has prompted doubt and scorn among some scientists, but she is not
worried. “I feel like I ought to be doing risky science at this
point in my career. Science requires risks. I would urge others to do the same tests,” she said. “I would like to spend the rest of my career working on this,” she said. FULL
STORY: http://www.newhavenindependent.org/archives/2009/06/gloria_a_gronow.php Informatin found on Facebook and The Reiki Digest From Harvard Health Healing Touch Therapy : Alternative therapies relax heart patientsBOSTON,
MA - Some medical centers are integrating alternative treatments known as "touch therapies" into their cardiac care
practices, reports the October Harvard Heart Letter. And several studies of these treatments have shown positive results in
people hospitalized for heart trouble. Some touch therapies involve massage, while others aim
to change the body's "energy fields." Among the more promising approaches are these: Healing
touch. Practitioners use their hands above or on the body, using a gentle touch, with the intent of affecting the body's energy
fields. One study found that patients had shorter hospital stays if they received healing touch before and after open-heart
surgery. Reiki. This centuries-old practice involves light touch over different parts of the body in an ordered sequence.
In one study, people who underwent Reiki sessions before cardiac catheterization reported feeling more confident, and their
cardiologists said these patients were more relaxed and cooperative.... The Heart Letter
points out that there's one form of touch therapy that almost everyone is familiar with-hugging. Recent research found that
women who often hug their partners have lower blood pressure than those who do so infrequently.
Acording to Jeremy R. Geffen, MD, Reiki can help people with
cancer. Gelfen stats "Despite the lack of scientific evidence of its efficacy, many people with cancer who receive
Reiki treatments report positive benefits in alleviating anxiety, stress, and pain. Many also report increased feelings of
physical as well as psychological and spiritual well-being. Reiki can be easily learned and used by patients themselves or
family members, which is part of its appeal."
Reiki Therapy at
Boston's Dana-Farber Cancer Institute: Watch here http://www.webmd.com/video/reiki-alternative-good-health
The National Center for Complementary & Alternative Medicine (NCCAM)
NCCAM is
the center in the National Institutes of Health (NIH) that studies the safety and effectiveness of complementary and alternative
therapies such as Reiki. Reiki has been use at NIH’s Palliative Care Unit since 2000. See: http://nccam.nih.gov/health/reiki/
Health Information: Reiki for Cancer Patients Channel 5 - MYFOXNY.COM -- A hospital in New Jersey is using an unusual treatment to help fight pain. It
doesn't involve painkiller medication or needles. Instead the Japanese technique involves using hands -- and it's NOT MASSAGE!
There is a Reiki program as well as other alternative medicine programs currently at Morristown
Memorial Hospital. For more information on the Reiki program and other alternative medicine programs at Morristown Memorial
Hospital go to http://www.atlantichealth.org/Morristown
The Alternative Health Therapy Reiki is an ancient miracle for modern times. The knowledge
that an unseen energy flows through all living things and directly affects the quality of health has been a part of the wisdom
of many cultures. Through experiments, medical doctors are considering the role it plays in the functioning of the immune
system and in the healing process. Because of this, it is has become more widely accepted. The system of Reiki is also
being accepted into hospitals across the world.
Reiki and
The Medical Community The article ‘The first Reiki Practitioner in our O.R.’ by Jeanette Sawyer
in 1988 in the AORN Journal describes the steps that were taken to allow a Reiki practitioner into the theatre at the request
of a patient during a laparoscopy. Also
in 1988, patients were given the opportunity to experience a 15minute pre- and post- surgery Reiki treatment. More than 870
patients took part and as a result there was less use of pain medication, shorter stays in hospital and increased patient
satisfaction. This was discussed in the article, ‘Using Reiki to Support Surgical patients’ by Patricia and Kristin
Aladydy in the Journal of Nursing Care Quality.
Heart surgeon, Dr Mehmet Oz, has worked with
Julie Motz who used Reiki on his patients. These patients had received heart transplants and had experienced open-heart surgery.
She treated 11 patients in total and none of them had the usual post-operative depression. The bypass patients had no post-operative
pain or leg weakness and the transplant patients experienced no organ rejection. Julie Motz has written about this experience
in her book, ‘Hands of Life’.
There are many aspects of Reiki that are being researched today. Some
to see if Reiki speeds up healing, others to see if, how and whom it relaxes, to measure biomagnetic fields and to verify
the concept of distant healing.
Here is a well-known trial completed using Reiki to examine its effect on human
blood levels.
Human Hemoglobin Levels and Reiki
Reiki Healing: a Physiologic Perspective
Wetzel,
Wendy (1989).
Published in Journal of Holistic Nursing 7(1), 47-54.Reiki & St. Vincent's Comprehensive Cancer Center, NYCAt St. Vincent's Comprehensive Cancer Center, we believe that aligning your
spiritual and emotional needs with your medical treatment can help improve your outcome and quality of life. The Complementary
Therapies Program aims to provide a truly comprehensive approach by treating the whole person and not just the disease.Experienced professionals will help you access
therapies such as yoga, massage, acupuncture, Reiki, therapeutic touch, Qi Gong and mind-body skills group. These are not
alternative treatments to your medical care; rather, they are therapies used in combination with traditional treatments to
provide you with a well-rounded approach.
REIKI AND PUBLISHED MEDICAL RESEARCH:
According to the classification, designed by the
National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine at NIH, Reiki belongs to "Biofield Medicine, which involves
systems that use subtle energy fields in and around the body for medical purposes".Reiki therapy is safe and non-invasive. It is proving useful in hospices,
nursing homes, emergency rooms, operating rooms, organ transplantation care units, pediatric, neonatal and OB/GYN units; facilitating
relaxation and recovery and decreasing anxiety and pain; it can be a helpful addition to conventional therapy for HIV/AIDS
and cancer patients [Miles: http://www.alternative-therapies.com/at/pdfarticles/0103reiki.pdf].The medical research on Reiki
is still preliminary. Medline search reveals several publications on Reiki in peer-reviewed journals. It was used as an adjuvant
to opioid therapy in pain management, resulting in significant reduction of pain following the Reiki treatment [Olson]. Reiki
was shown to be beneficial in supporting surgical patients [Alandyly, Sawyer]. When Reiki treatments were given to terminally
ill cancer patients, some general trends included periods of stabilization in which there was time to enjoy the last days
of one's life; a peaceful and calm passing if death was imminent; and relief from pain, anxiety, dyspnea and edema [Bullock].
Reiki has also been documented to benefit patients with multiple sclerosis, lupus, fibromyalgia and thyroid goiter [Hartwell].
Reiki treatments caused increase in hemoglobin values in patients with various diseases, such as pancreatitis, rheumatoid
arthritis, congestive heart failure, emphysema and even in cancer patients, inspite of simultaneous treatment with bone-marrow
suppressive agents [Rand: http://www.reiki.org/reikinews/reikin24.html]. Hemoglobin was found to increase
among initiates after Reiki initiation [Wetzel]. Standardization procedures to conduct randomized placebo-controlled studies
of Reiki are being developed [Mansour].
The
nature of psychological effects arising during a Reiki session were studied, and anxiety was shown to reduce after treatments
[Engebretson, Wardell]. Certain physiological changes were associated with receiving Reiki treatments, including decrease
in systolic blood pressure, increase in salivary IgA levels and decrease in salivary cortisol after treatments, increase in
skin temperature and decrease in electromyographic activity during treatments [Wardell].
Reiki is already used
in several hospitals for cancer patients: Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center (Lebanon, NH), Integrative Medicine Outpatient
Center at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (New York, NY), Intergative Therapies Program for Children with Cancer at
Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center (New York, NY), Metropolitan South Health Center (" Direccion de Servicios Metropolitano
Sur", Santiago, Chile) [Miles: http://www.alternative-therapies.com/at/pdfarticles/0103reiki.pdf] Used in conjunction with conventional cancer treatments, Reiki is reported to ease the side effects of chemotherapy and
radiation, improve immune function, ease anxiety and enhance positive emotional attitude, decrease pain and promote relaxation.Reiki is also used in Mercy Hospital (Portland,
ME), Willcox Memorial Hospital (Lihue, Kauai, Hawaii), Center for Integrative Medicine at George Washington University Hospital
(Washington, D.C.), Samuels Center for Comprehensive Care at St. Lukes-Roosevelt Hospital Center (New York, NY), Siloam
(Philadelphia, PA), Tucson Medical Center (AZ), California Pacific Medical Center (CA), Portsmouth Regional Hospital (NH),
Marin General Hospital (CA), University of Michigan Hospital (MI), Foote Hospital (MI), The Manhattan Eye, Ear and Throat
Hospital (NY) and others [ Miles: http://www.alternative-therapies.com/at/pdfarticles/0103reiki.pdf].There are ongoing clinical
trials of Reiki healing techniques for diabetic peripheral vascular disease and autonomic neuropathy, carried out at the Center
for Complementary and Alternative Medicine Research in CVD, Adult Cardiac Surgery/Thoracic Transplantation [The University
of Michigan Taubman Health Care Center 2120, Box 0344, AnnArbor, MI 48109; Tel: (734)936-4984, Fax: (734)764-2255, http://www.med.umich.edu/camrc/research/reiki.html], and rehabilitation from stroke, spinal cord injury and traumatic brain injury, carried out at the Center for Research in
Complementary and Alternative Medicine for Stroke and Neurological Disorders at the Kessler Institute for Rehabilitation (West
Orange, NJ) [1199 Pleasant Valley Way, West Orange, NJ 07052, Tel: (201)243-6972, Fax: (201)243-6984]. Bullock M. Am J Hosp Palliat Care 1997 Jan-Feb;14(1):31-3 Reiki: a complementary
therapy for life. Hospice of the Valley , Phoenix, Arizona, USA. Tom was diagnosed with a very aggressive cancer and received
only palliative radiation and medication. At the time of diagnosis, his symptoms suggested that he had a very limited life
expectancy. With the Reiki and his intent, he was able to achieve his goal of long-term stability with freedom from immobilizing
pain and swelling. Tom's comfort and quality of life improved dramatically, and he is living well with his cancer. Reiki
has been associated with dramatic results for many patients. The importance of the patient's intent during Reiki treatments
cannot be overemphasized. Some general trends seen with Reiki include: periods of stabilization in which there is time to
enjoy the last days of one's life; a peaceful and calm passing if death is imminent; and relief from pain, anxiety, dyspnea
and edema. Reiki is a valuable complement in supporting patients in their end-of-life journey, enhancing the quality of their
remaining days. PMID: 9069762 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE] Brewitt,
B., Vittetoe, T, and Hartwell, B.,
1997."The Efficacy of Reiki Hands-On Healing: Improvements in spleen and nervous system function as quantified by
electrodermal screening".Alternative Therapies , July 1997, Vol.3, No.4, pg.89 Improvement in spleen, immune, and
nervous system function were quantified by electrodermal screening, and a reduction of pain, an increase in relaxation, and
more mobility was reported in patiens with chronic conditions as multiple sclerosis, lupus, fibromyalgia, thyroid goiter. Cross Cancer Institute, Edmonton. Using Reiki to Manage Pain:
a preliminary report alta. Cancer Prev Control 1997;1(2):108-13. Purpose: to explore the usefulness of “Reiki
as an alternative to opioid therapy in the management of pain. This was a pilot study. Aladydy, Patricia and Kristen Alandydy, 1999."Using Reiki to Support Surgical
Patients". Journal of Nursing Care Quality , 1999 Apr;13(4): pp. 89-91. Surgical patients at Columbia/HCA Portsmouth
Regional Hospital in Portsmouth, New Hampshire are given the option of a 15 minute pre- and post-surgery Reiki treatment.
In 1998 more than 870 patients participated. As a result there was less use of pain medications, shorter lengths of stay,
and increased patient satisfaction. This article discusses how this program was set up. Plans for the future include documentation
of the benefits and the further use of complementary therapies. Boon H, Stewart M, Kennard MA, Gray R, Sawka C, Brown JB, McWilliam C, Garvin
A, Baron RA, Aaron D, Haines-Kamka T.
Use of complementary / alternative medicine by breast cancer survivors in Ontario: prevalence and perceptions.. Clin Oncol
2000; 18:2515–2521. Bullock,
Marlene (Jan/Feb 1997).
"Reiki: A Complementary Therapy for Life," The American Journal of Hospice & Palliative
Care 14(1): pp. 31-3. This article describes the treatment of a 70 year-old man with an aggressive cancer using
palliative radiation and medication, and Reiki. Through her hospice experiences the author concludes that, "Some general
trends seen with Reiki include: periods of stabilization in which there is time to enjoy the last days of one's life,
a peaceful and calm passing if death is imminent; and relief from pain, anxiety, dyspnea and edema. Reiki is a valuable complement
in supporting patients in their end-of-life journey, enhancing the quality of their remaining days." "Reiki Technique Study to Control Chronic
Pain in Diabetic Neuropathy", The Department of Public Relations & Marketing Communications, University of Michigan,
http://www.med.umich.edu/1libr/topics/alt03.htm The University of Michigan Complementary and Alternative Medicine Research
Center is studying Reiki, to determine whether chronic pain in diabetic neuropathy can be controlled, thereby increasing the
patients' quality of life. This is one of the first studies of this technique funded by the National Institutes of Health,
and has the full support of the University of Michigan Health System. The Reiki Clinic at the Tucson Medical Center in Arizona has a team of Reiki
practitioners who give Reiki to patients in their rooms. The program first began in the Cancer Care Unit, but has since expanded
to many other areas in the hospital. Conditions treated at the Reiki Clinic include cancer, pain, chronic conditions, postoperative
surgery, and they also deal with childbirth. (Source: "Reiki In Hospitals" by William Lee Rand, Reiki Master, http://www.reiki.org/Healing/reiki_in_hospitals.html).
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