Wound healing and complementary therapies: a review

Area of Science:

• Integrative Medicine
• Wound Healing Research
• Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM)

Background:

• Wirth et al. conducted five experiments to evaluate complementary healing interventions.
• Interventions included Therapeutic Touch (TT), Reiki, LeShan, and Intercessory Prayer.
• The study focused on the reepithelialization rate of full thickness human dermal wounds.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the methodological and related factors influencing the outcomes of complementary healing interventions on wound reepithelialization.
• To explore potential reasons for differential results observed in the series of experiments.
• To analyze the efficacy of TT, Reiki, LeShan, and Intercessory Prayer in accelerating dermal wound healing.

Main Methods:

• Review of five experimental studies on complementary healing interventions.
• Analysis of methodological designs, including placebo-controlled double-blind protocols.
• Examination of TT practitioners' phenomenological journal reports.

Main Results:

• Statistical significance was observed in the initial two experiments.
• Non-significance or reverse significance was noted in the remaining three studies.
• Identified potential factors: methodological restrictions, transference/inhibition, assistant influence, healer visualization, subject variations, and cancellation effects.

Conclusions:

• The experiments yielded inconclusive results regarding the efficacy of the studied interventions for accelerating wound reepithelialization.
• Methodological design restrictions and other identified factors may have influenced the differential outcomes.
• Despite stringent designs, the overall efficacy of these complementary healing methods for dermal wound healing remains undetermined.