~Touch Studies~

Therapeutic Touch and Progressive Muscle Relaxation Seen as Useful to Reduce Pain in Elders With Degenerative Arthritis

In a 10-week trial comparing the effectiveness of Therapeutic Touch (TT) with Progressive Muscle Relaxation (PMR) in elders with degenerative arthritis researcher Susan Eckes Peck, Ph.D. found that both TT and PMR significantly reduced baseline levels of pain and distress. 40 subjects received TT treatments and 37 received PMR treatments. The reduction was nearly equal with PMR showing slightly more pain and distress reduction than TT.

While this study did not compare TT or PMR to a control ("placebo") group, a number of studies have already shown that PMR is effective in reducing pain and distress in arthritis sufferers. Therefore, this study shows that TT treatment is nearly as effective as PMR treatments.

The author points out that both TT and PMR can be used in "practice settings for chronic conditions requiring multiple treatments." PMR can be taught to some patients so that they can practice on their own. However, for patients not able to practice PMR on their own or who have difficulty following through with self-guided PMR, TT treatments by a practitioner can be helpful.

One must keep in mind that this study focused on TT and PMR only and did not consider the benefits of concurrent changes in diet, lifestyle, or concurrent holistic treatment programs. Such a holistic healing programs can be quite helpful in curing arthritic conditions.

The study appeared in the Journal of Holistic Nursing, Volume 15, No. 2, pages 176-198, June 1997.

Aromatherapy

Adults exposed to rosemary showed decreased frontal alpha and beta power, suggesting increased alertness. They also had lower anxiety levels and performed math computations faster. Adults exposed to lavender showed increased beta power, suggesting increased relaxation. They performed math computations not only faster but also with fewer errors and had less depressed mood.
Diego, M.A., Jones, N.A., Field, T., & Hernandez-Reif, M. (1998). Aromatherapy reduces anxiety and enhances EEG patterns associated with positive mood and alertness. International Journal of Neuroscience, 96, 217-224.

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Frontal EEG asymmetry was examined in adults and infants exposed to lavender and rosemary by reanalyzing previously published data, using techniques different from those utilized in the original two studies. Results from Study 1 on 39 adults revealed significant EEG shifting in the lavender group to greater relative left frontal EEG activation (associated with greater approach behavior and less depressed affect).Study 2 on 27 full-term newborns revealed no significant shifts in asymmetry in either aroma group. However, when the aroma groups were collapsed, the right frontal EEG group exhibited significant shifting to left frontal EEG activation.
Sanders,C., Diego, M., Fernandez, M., Field, T., Hernandez-Reif, M., and Roca, A. (2002) EEG asymmetry responses to lavender and rosemary aromas in adults and infants. International Journal of Neuroscience, 112,1305-1320

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This study investigated whether exposure to lavender or rosemary would change EEG activity and behavior in infants of depressed and non-depressed mothers. Twenty newborns were exposed rosemary or lavender and their EEG was recorded for 2-minutes each at baseline and during odor exposure. Results revealed that the groups did not differ at baseline and that the two odors did not differentially affect the EEG. However, the infants of depressed mothers showed increased relative left frontal EEG activation while infants of non-depressed mothers showed increased relative right frontal EEG activation from baseline to the odor exposure phase.
Fernandez,M., Hernandez-Reif, M., Field, T., Sanders, C., Diego, M., and Roca, A. (2004) EEG during lavender and rosemary exposure in infants of depressed and non-depressed mothers.Infant Behavior and Development, 27, 91-100

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A lavender fragrance blend had a significant transient effect of improving mood, making people feel more relaxed, and perform math computation faster. The data suggest that a specific cosmetic fragrance can have a significant role in enhancing relaxation. The lavender fragrance blend had a significant transient effect of improving mood, making people feel more relaxed, and performing the math computation faster. The self-report and EEG and heart rate data are consistent with relaxation profiles during other sensory stimuli such as massage and music, as reported in the literature.
Field, T., Diego, M., Hernandez-Reif, M., Cisneros, W., Feijo, L., Vera, Y., & Gil, K. (2005). Lavender fragrance cleansing gel effects on relaxation. International Journal of Neuroscience, 115, 207-222.

Alternative Therapies Use Common in Treating Children With and Without Cancer

In a study published in the December 1997 issue of Pediatrics, researchers found that use of Alternative Therapies was used by 65% of children cancer patients and 51% of children visiting a conventional medicine center (control group).

Alternative therapies consider were prayer (when used for healing), exercise, spiritual healing, relaxation techniques, "other", medicinal herbs, massage therapy, megavitamin therapy, imagery, folk remedies, energy healing, macrobiotic diet, self-help group, homeopathy, biofeedback, chirpractic, acupuncture, and hypnosis. Even when limiting the definition of "Alternative Therapy to therapy provided by a practitioner (and thus excluding prayer for healing, exercise and home remedies), 39% of the children in the non-cancer group used Alternative Therapies.

58% of the cancer patients and 62.5% of the non-cancer patients did not give a reason for using Alternative Therapies. Faith/Spiritual and Supplement to Conventional Medicine were given as reasons some of the patients used Alternative Therapies. Being dissatisfied with convention medicine was only cited as the primary reason in 3 out of 161 cases.

One significant limitation of this study is that it did not count patients who use primarily Alternative Therapies instead of visiting the conventional medicine clinic. This is especially an issue for the non-cancer group because a growing number of people go to a holistic md, homeopath, oriental medicine practitioner, use home remedies, etc. for treating acute illnesses (such as childhood ear infections). Not only would this raise the percentage using Alternative Therapies, but the reasons for Alternative Therapy use may be significantly effected as well.