Reiki for the Treatment of Fibromyalgia: A Randomized Controlled Trial

[Guest guest]

Hmmm... this study says that Reiki does NOT help with FMS symptoms. I have

heard otherwise. Does anyone have any experience with Reiki and FMS that

would like to comment on this article?

Shari

Shari Ferbert

President, AFFTER

Advocates for Fibromyalgia Funding,

Treatment, Education and Research

www.affter.org

______________________________________

Reiki for the Treatment of Fibromyalgia: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

J Altern Complement Med. 2008 Nov 8. [Epub ahead of print]

Assefi N, Bogart A, Goldberg J, Buchwald D.

Department of Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, WA.,

Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Washington, Seattle,

WA.

PMID: 18991519

Abstract

Objective: Fibromyalgia is a common, chronic pain condition for which

patients frequently use complementary and alternative medicine,

including Reiki. Our objective was to determine whether Reiki is

beneficial as an adjunctive fibromyalgia treatment.

Design: This was a factorial designed, randomized, sham-controlled

trial in which participants, data collection staff, and data analysts

were blinded to treatment group.

Setting/location: The study setting was private medical offices in

the Seattle, Washington metropolitan area.

Subjects: The subjects were comprised 100 adults with fibromyalgia.

Intervention: Four (4) groups received twice-weekly treatment for 8

weeks by either a Reiki master or actor randomized to use direct

touch or no touch (distant therapy).

Outcome measures: The primary outcome was subjective pain as measured

by visual analog scale at weeks 4, 8, and 20 (3 months following end

of treatment). Secondary outcomes were physical and mental

functioning, medication use, and health provider visits. Participant

blinding and adverse effects were ascertained by self-report.

Improvement between groups was examined in an intention-to-treat analysis.

Results: Neither Reiki nor touch had any effect on pain or any of the

secondary outcomes. All outcome measures were nearly identical among

the 4 treatment groups during the course of the trial.

Conclusion: Neither Reiki nor touch improved the symptoms of

fibromyalgia. Energy medicine modalities such as Reiki should be

rigorously studied before being recommended to patients with chronic

pain symptoms.