Just-released research shows that Healing Touch, a form of energy work, resulted in decreased frequency, intensity and duration of headache pain, as well as profound shifts in recipients’ view of themselves, their lives and their potential for healing and transformation.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate an energy healing treatment for possible inclusion as a Kaiser Permanente Northwest Pain Clinic provided therapy, and to identify the appropriate number of treatment sessions for a pain Ccinic protocol, should the intervention prove successful.

“Energy healing can be an important addition to pain management services,” the researchers from Helfgott Research Institute, National College of Natural Medicine , Portland, Oregon noted at the conclusion of the study.

The treatment consisted of three Healing Touch sessions provided by a Certified Healing Touch Practitioner.

“More in-depth qualitative research is needed to explore the diversity of outcomes facilitated by energy healing treatments,” the researchers noted. “Furthermore, the development of new instrumentation is warranted to capture outcomes that reflect transformative change and changes at the level of the whole person.”

Previous research reported by MASSAGE Magazine shows massage combined with Healing Touch reduced pain, mood disturbance (anger, anxiety, depression, confusion) and fatigue in cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy; Healing Touch performed on adult acute leukemia patients led to significant short-term improvements in fatigue and nausea; and Healing Touch can decrease pain, improve vitality and increase physical functioning in women undergoing radiation for gynecological or breast cancer.