Institute of Noetic Sciences, 101 San Antonio Rd., Petaluma, CA 94952, United States.
Institute of Noetic Sciences, 101 San Antonio Rd., Petaluma, CA 94952, United States; University of California, San Diego, 9500 Gilman Dr., La Jolla, CA 92093, United States.
Explore (NY). 2021 Jan-Feb;17(1):11-21. doi: 10.1016/j.explore.2020.10.015. Epub 2020 Nov 3.
The term "energy medicine" describes healing modalities that manipulate or channel purported subtle energies associated with the body. The objectives of this pilot study were to determine the feasibility of studying energy medicine for people with carpal tunnel pain and gathering relevant preliminary data.
Following a prospective, within-participant design, participants were recruited to experience a 30 min treatment from one of 17 energy medicine practitioners. Of 374 adults experiencing carpal tunnel pain who were screened for the study, 190 received an energy medicine treatment. Practitioners delivered treatments at close distance, some with and some without light, stationary touch. Outcome measures were collected before, during, and immediately after the treatment, and three weeks later. The primary outcome measure was self-reported pain. Secondary subjective measures included credibility regarding energy medicine and expectancy regarding the efficacy of treatments, pain interference, sleep quality, well-being, mood, and sense of personal transformation. Physiological measures included median nerve conduction velocity, heart rate variability, heart rate synchrony (between the participant and practitioner), and expression levels of neuroinflammation-related genes.
On average, self-reported current pain scores decreased 2.0 points post-session and 1.3 points at three weeks compared to baseline values using a 0-10 point scale with 10 denoting worst pain (F(2, 565) = 3.82 p <0.000005). This effect was not influenced by the participants' level of expectancy or credibility regarding the energy medicine modality. Well-being, negative emotion, and sleep quality scores significantly improved at the follow-up visit. Multiple heart rate variability measures significantly changed reflecting increased parasympathetic activity which may indicate decreased stress. No other secondary outcome showed significant change.
Studying the administration of energy medicine to people with carpal tunnel pain is feasible, although requiring a documented carpal tunnel syndrome diagnosis proved to be prohibitive for recruitment. Our finding of preliminary evidence for positive effects in pain and pain-related outcomes after a single session of energy medicine warrants further controlled investigation.
“能量医学”一词描述了操纵或引导与身体相关的所谓微妙能量的治疗模式。本初步研究的目的是确定研究腕管疼痛患者的能量医学的可行性并收集相关的初步数据。
采用前瞻性、参与者内设计，招募参与者接受 17 位能量医学从业者中的一位进行 30 分钟的治疗。在为该研究筛选的 374 名患有腕管疼痛的成年人中，有 190 名接受了能量医学治疗。从业者近距离进行治疗，有些有、有些没有静止触摸的光。在治疗前、治疗期间和治疗后立即以及三周后收集结果测量。主要结果测量是自我报告的疼痛。次要主观测量包括对能量医学的可信度和对治疗效果的期望、疼痛干扰、睡眠质量、幸福感、情绪和个人转变感。生理测量包括正中神经传导速度、心率变异性、心率同步（参与者与从业者之间）以及神经炎症相关基因的表达水平。
平均而言，使用 0-10 分制（10 分表示最痛），自我报告的当前疼痛评分在治疗后 2.0 分，在 3 周时 1.3 分，与基线值相比（F(2, 565) = 3.82，p <0.000005）。参与者对能量医学模式的期望或可信度水平并不影响这种效果。在随访时，幸福感、负性情绪和睡眠质量评分显著提高。多项心率变异性测量显著变化，反映出副交感神经活动增加，可能表明压力降低。其他次要结果没有显著变化。
研究腕管疼痛患者接受能量医学治疗是可行的，尽管需要有记录的腕管综合征诊断证明，这对招募造成了阻碍。我们发现单次能量医学治疗后疼痛和疼痛相关结果有初步的积极证据，这值得进一步进行对照研究。
