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Therapeutic touch for healing acute wounds.
Dónal P O'Mathúna1, Robert L Ashford
1School of Nursing & Human Sciences, Dublin City University, Dublin, Ireland. donal.omathuna@dcu.ie
The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews
|June 15, 2012
Summary
Therapeutic Touch (TT) shows inconsistent effects on wound healing. Current evidence is insufficient to support TT as a reliable method for promoting the healing of acute wounds.
Area of Science:
- Complementary and Alternative Medicine
- Wound Healing Research
- Evidence-Based Practice
Background:
- Therapeutic Touch (TT) is an alternative therapy popular for wound healing.
- Practitioners use meditative techniques to manipulate 'life energy' or chi.
- Scientific evidence for TT's efficacy and the existence of 'life energy' is lacking.
Purpose of the Study:
- To systematically review all available data on the effects of Therapeutic Touch (TT) on acute wound healing.
Main Methods:
- Searched multiple databases including Cochrane, MEDLINE, EMBASE, and CINAHL up to January 2012.
- Included randomized or quasi-randomized controlled trials comparing TT to placebo, other treatments, or no treatment.
- Assessed trial eligibility, validity, and extracted data independently.
Main Results:
- Four trials involving experimental wounds were included; no new trials were identified.
- Results were variable: two trials showed increased healing with TT, one showed worse healing, and one showed no difference.
- All included trials were assessed as having a high risk of bias.
Conclusions:
- There is a lack of robust scientific evidence to support the use of Therapeutic Touch (TT) for promoting acute wound healing.
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