Therapeutic touch for healing acute wounds

Area of Science:

• Integrative Medicine
• Complementary Therapies
• Wound Healing Research

Background:

• Therapeutic Touch (TT) is an alternative therapy involving practitioners manipulating 'life energy' to promote healing.
• Despite anecdotal claims, scientific instruments cannot detect the purported 'life energy' used in TT.
• The efficacy of TT for wound healing has been primarily supported by anecdotal evidence.

Purpose of the Study:

• To systematically review existing data on the effects of Therapeutic Touch on the healing of acute wounds.
• To assess the scientific evidence for TT's impact on wound healing processes.

Main Methods:

• A comprehensive search of multiple databases (Cochrane Wounds Group, CENTRAL, MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL) was conducted in January 2014.
• Included were randomized or quasi-randomized controlled trials comparing TT to placebo, other treatments, or no treatment.
• Trials assessing TT as a standalone or adjunctive therapy were eligible; data extraction and validity assessment were performed independently by two authors.

Main Results:

• Four trials involving experimental wounds were included in this review update.
• Results were inconsistent: two trials showed increased healing with TT, one showed worse healing, and another found no significant 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 for promoting the healing of acute wounds.
• The variable and biased results from existing trials do not confirm TT's effectiveness.
• Further high-quality research is required to definitively ascertain the role of TT in wound healing.