ArticleJournal of alternative and complementary medicine (New York, N.Y.)2018
Immediate Symptom Relief After a First Session of Massage Therapy or Reiki in Hospitalized Patients: A 5-Year Clinical Experience from a Rural Academic Medical Center.
Article in Journal of alternative and complementary medicine (New York, N.Y.), 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
6 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 28 citations in OpenAlex.
- Reiki and Therapeutic Touch for symptom burden and quality of life in palliative settings: A systematic review.Palliative medicine · 2026Pooled it
- Investigating perceived stress and pain reduction following brief Reiki sessions in high-stress communities: an exploratory study.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Article
- Morphine sulfate nano-controlled release microspheres effectively relieve visceral pain caused by tumor in mice.American journal of translational research · 2024Article
- Perceived Benefits of Magdalena Energy Healing Sessions: An Exploratory Study of Clients' Perspectives.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Mechanotherapy Reprograms Aged Muscle Stromal Cells to Remodel the Extracellular Matrix during Recovery from Disuse.Function (Oxford, England) · 2022Article
- Resolution of Postsurgical Diplopia, Paresthesia, and Weakness Following Inpatient Massage Therapy: A Case Report.Global advances in health and medicine · 2019Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
objectivesThere is an increasing demand for and use of alternative and complementary therapies, such as reiki and massage therapy, in hospital-based settings. Most controlled studies and practice-based reports include oncology and surgical patient populations; thus the effect in a more heterogeneous hospitalized patient population is hard to estimate. We examined the immediate symptom relief from a single reiki or massage session in a hospitalized population at a rural academic medical center.
designRetrospective analysis of prospectively collected data on demographic, clinical, process, and quality of life for hospitalized patients receiving massage therapy or reiki. SETTINGS/LOCATION: A 396-bed rural academic and tertiary medical center in the United States. SUBJECTS: Hospitalized patients requesting or referred to the healing arts team who received either a massage or reiki session and completed both a pre- and post-therapy symptom questionnaire.
interventionsFirst session of routine reiki or massage therapy during a hospital stay. OUTCOME MEASURES: Differences between pre- and postsession patient-reported scores in pain, nausea, fatigue, anxiety, depression, and overall well-being using an 11-point Likert scale.
resultsPatients reported symptom relief with both reiki and massage therapy. Analysis of the reported data showed reiki improved fatigue (-2.06 vs. -1.55 p < 0.0001) and anxiety (-2.21 vs. -1.84 p < 0.001) statistically more than massage. Pain, nausea, depression, and well being changes were not statistically different between reiki and massage encounters. Immediate symptom relief was similar for cancer and noncancer patients for both reiki and massage therapy and did not vary based on age, gender, length of session, and baseline symptoms.
conclusionsReiki and massage clinically provide similar improvements in pain, nausea, fatigue, anxiety, depression, and overall well-being while reiki improved fatigue and anxiety more than massage therapy in a heterogeneous hospitalized patient population. Controlled trials should be considered to validate the data.
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Registered trials
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