Reiki therapy for pain, anxiety and quality of life.

Author: Billot M1,2, Daycard M3, Wood C4, Tchalla A5,2
Affiliation:
1Clinical Geriatric, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Limoges, Limoges, France maxime.billot2@gmail.com.
2Faculty of Sport Sciences, Laboratoire HAVAE, Limoges, France.
3Eveil: l'équilibre par les mains, Limoges, France.
4Centre de la douleur chronique, pôle clinique médicale, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Limoges, Limoges, France.
5Clinical Geriatric, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Limoges, Limoges, France.
Conference/Journal: BMJ Support Palliat Care.
Date published: 2019 Apr 4
Other: Pages: bmjspcare-2019-001775 , Special Notes: doi: 10.1136/bmjspcare-2019-001775. [Epub ahead of print] , Word Count: 190


The use of complementary and alternative therapies is growing year after year, and Reiki therapy takes a place of choice. Reiki therapy, classed as a biofield energy therapy, raises the question of validity when applied to patients, especially in palliative care. The purpose of this review is to highlight the effects of Reiki therapy on pain, anxiety/depression and quality of life of patients, specifically in palliative care. The current article indicates that Reiki therapy is useful for relieving pain, decreasing anxiety/depression and improving quality of life in several conditions. Due to the small number of studies in palliative care, we were unable to clearly identify the benefits of Reiki therapy, but preliminary results tend to show some positive effects of Reiki therapy for the end-of-life population. These results should encourage teams working in palliative care to conduct more studies to determine the benefits of Reiki therapy on pain, anxiety/depression and quality of life in palliative care.

© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2019. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.

KEYWORDS: anxiety/depression; pain; palliative care; quality of life; reiki therapy

PMID: 30948444 DOI: 10.1136/bmjspcare-2019-001775

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