Sometimes all it takes is a calming hand on the shoulder when you are nervous or upset and you instantly start to feel better. Your mind feels eased and your body relaxes. Now researchers are investigating how using a complimentary therapy called healing touch combined with a sedative can calm patients who experience anxiety when undergoing minor surgical or investigative procedures.
Healing Touch uses a sequence of technique to re-establish balance within an individual’s mind, body and spirit. This energy therapy is used alongside many conventional medical treatments.
The lead author of this study is Natan Schmulewitz, and has found that people can struggle to fall asleep when being sedated due to extreme anxiety. Schmulewitz is a endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) specialist. This is an investigative technique used to provide images of the cest and abdomen often used to screen for cancer and other problems.
If the patient is to anxious then stronger seadtives have to be used and this can cause problems later in recovery. Judy Bowers, a Healing Touch practitioner talks of Healing Touch and says:
“By restoring balance within the energy system, you create an optimal environment for healing. This is complementary medicine, not alternative medicine, so it can be easily incorporated in a medical model. Some of the patients are asleep before they even receive the intravenous sedation.’
And Schmulewitz adds:
“It will be a fairly easy way to enhance patient care with acceptable and specific means and without increased risk of injury.’