Therapeutic touch affects DNA synthesis and mineralization of human osteoblasts in culture

Jhaveri, Ankur; Walsh, Stephen J.; Wang, Yatzen; McCarthy, Mary-Beth; Gronowicz, Gloria

doi:10.1002/jor.20688

Cited by 32 publications

(25 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…TT treatment of osteosarcoma cells, SaOs-2, significantly decreased mRNA levels of proteins involved in osteoblast differentiation and bone formation compared to mock-treated and untreated groups [29, 36]. Conversely, normal cells demonstrated increased proliferation and differentiation with TT treatment in a dose-dependent manner [49].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Two mice at a time were placed into large tissue culture flasks (Sarstedt, Newtown, NC, 18 cm × 11.5 cm × 4 cm) with bedding by a technician through a premade hinged door. Previous studies from our laboratory had shown that tissue culture plastic did not impede human biofield treatments [36]. Flasks were clamped two feet in the air in a ring stand at the end of an L-shaped room.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Treatment lasted 10 min with hands kept 2–10 inches from all sides of the flask without touching (TT1). Briefly the treatment sequelae were centering, assessment, treatment, and evaluation and followed previously published protocols [29, 36]. The control/mock group consisted of placing two mice in a similar flask and setup for ten minutes twice a week (CA1) at the other end of the same L-shaped room with a non-TT person standing next to the flask.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Therapeutic Touch Has Significant Effects on Mouse Breast Cancer Metastasis and Immune Responses but Not Primary Tumor Size

Gronowicz

Secor

Flynn

et al. 2015

Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine

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Evidence-based integrative medicine therapies have been introduced to promote wellness and offset side-effects from cancer treatment. Energy medicine is an integrative medicine technique using the human biofield to promote well-being. The biofield therapy chosen for study was Therapeutic Touch (TT). Breast cancer tumors were initiated in mice by injection of metastatic 66cl4 mammary carcinoma cells. The control group received only vehicle. TT or mock treatments were performed twice a week for 10 minutes. Two experienced TT practitioners alternated treatments. At 26 days, metastasis to popliteal lymph nodes was determined by clonogenic assay. Changes in immune function were measured by analysis of serum cytokines and by fluorescent activated cells sorting (FACS) of immune cells from the spleen and lymph nodes. No significant differences were found in body weight gain or tumor size. Metastasis was significantly reduced in the TT-treated mice compared to mock-treated mice. Cancer significantly elevated eleven cytokines. TT significantly reduced IL-1-a, MIG, IL-1b, and MIP-2 to control/vehicle levels. FACS demonstrated that TT significantly reduced specific splenic lymphocyte subsets and macrophages were significantly elevated with cancer. Human biofield therapy had no significant effect on primary tumor but produced significant effects on metastasis and immune responses in a mouse breast cancer model.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Therapeutic Touch Has Significant Effects on Mouse Breast Cancer Metastasis and Immune Responses but Not Primary Tumor Size

Gronowicz

Secor

Flynn

et al. 2015

Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine

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“…The practice of Therapeutic Touch involves the practitioner centering, assessing the energy field of the recipient, performing the necessary intervention without actually touching the physical body, and reassessing the person's energy field posttreatment. 19,21,28 Therapeutic Touch certification requires a rigorous program, with a highly structured and disciplined practice, making it useful for scientific studies. 17,21 Clinically, Therapeutic Touch has been shown to be effective in relieving tension, headache, and pain 29 ; improving function in persons suffering from arthritis 30 ; reducing complications from bone marrow transplant 31 ; improving measures of pain, anxiety, and immune function in patients with burns 32 ; and improving the report of chronic pain and anxiety in individuals older than 65 years.…”

Section: Therapeutic Touchmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biofield Therapies in Cardiovascular Disease Management

Anderson

Taylor

2011

Holistic Nursing Practice

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Though there have been advances over the last 30 years in the therapeutic approaches to cardiovascular disease (CVD), heart disease and stroke remain the leading cause of mortality and morbidity worldwide. Many medical therapies for CVD are associated with a number of side effects, often leading patients to seek non-pharmacological treatments to complement standard care. Referred to as complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), these therapies consist of a heterogeneous group of modalities used in addition to conventional health care. Biofield therapies exist within this CAM domain and involve the direction of healing energy to facilitate general health and well-being by modifying the energy field. What follows is a brief overview of three biofield therapies developed or used within the field of nursing (Therapeutic Touch, Reiki, and Healing Touch), surveying the use of these interventions for individuals with CVD, and outcomes that may impact CVD risk factors and health-related quality of life.

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“…17 ), these do not represent meta-analytic reviews and would benefit from the inclusion of more recent work (e.g. 18,19,20,21,22 ). We proposed to blind code such studies for methodological quality as well as other parameters so as to determine (i) whether there is an overall effect that cannot be explained in terms of Type I error, methodological flaws or experimenter effects; and (ii) whether effect sizes covary with other properties of the study design in a manner that might elucidate the mechanism of such effects.…”

Section: We Should Like To Thank the Confederation Of Healing Organismentioning

confidence: 99%

Two Meta-Analyses of Noncontact Healing Studies

Roe

Sonnex

Roxburgh

2015

EXPLORE

122

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Reviews of empirical work on the efficacy of noncontact healing have found that interceding on behalf of patients through prayer or by adopting various practices that incorporate an intention to heal can have some positive effect upon their wellbeing. However, reviewers have also raised concerns about study quality and the diversity of healing approaches adopted, which makes the findings difficult to interpret. Some of these concerns can be addressed by adopting a standardised approach based on the double-blind randomised controlled clinical trial, and a recent review restricted to such studies has reported a combined effect size of .40 (p < .001). However, the studies in this review involve human participants for whom there can be no guarantee that control patients are not beneficiaries of healing intentions from friends, family or their own religious groups. We proposed to address this by reviewing healing studies that involved biological systems other than 'whole' humans (i.e. to include animal and plant work but also work involving human biological matter such as blood samples or cell cultures), which are less susceptible to placebo and expectancy effects and also allow for more circumscribed outcome measures. Secondly, doubts have been cast concerning the legitimacy of some of the work included in previous reviews so we planned to conduct an updated review that excluded that work. For phase 1, 49 non-whole human studies from 34 papers were eligible for review. The combined effect size weighted by sample size yielded a highly significant r of .258. However the effect sizes in the database were heterogeneous, and outcomes correlated with blind ratings of study quality. When restricted to studies that met minimum quality thresholds, the remaining 22 studies gave a reduced but still significant weighted r of .115. For phase 2, 57 whole human studies across 56 papers were eligible for review. When combined, these studies yielded a small effect size of r = .203 that was also significant. This database was also heterogeneous, and outcomes were correlated with methodological quality ratings. However, when restricted to studies that met threshold quality levels the weighted effect size for the 27 surviving studies increased to r = .224. Taken together these results suggest that subjects in the active condition exhibit a significant improvement in wellbeing relative to control subjects under circumstances that do not seem to be susceptible to placebo and expectancy effects. Findings with the whole human database gave a smaller mean effect size but this was still significant and suggests that the effect is not dependent upon the previous inclusion of suspect studies and is robust enough to accommodate some high profile failures to replicate. Both databases show problems with heterogeneity and with study quality and recommendations are made for necessary standards for future replication attempts.

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Therapeutic touch affects DNA synthesis and mineralization of human osteoblasts in culture

Cited by 32 publications

References 30 publications

Therapeutic Touch Has Significant Effects on Mouse Breast Cancer Metastasis and Immune Responses but Not Primary Tumor Size

Therapeutic Touch Has Significant Effects on Mouse Breast Cancer Metastasis and Immune Responses but Not Primary Tumor Size

Biofield Therapies in Cardiovascular Disease Management

Two Meta-Analyses of Noncontact Healing Studies

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