The effect of distant reiki on pain in women after elective Caesarean section
By Dr. Sondra VanderVaart
Approximately 25% of all babies in North America are delivered via Caesarean section (C-section). Though a common surgical procedure, C-section recovery can be painful. Opioids, specifically codeine, are commonly used to ease pain; however, its active metabolite, morphine, passes into breast milk, and may produce unwanted side effects in neonates; therefore, alternatives to opioids are being sought. Reiki is an ancient Japanese form of healing where practitioners transfer healing energy through light touch and positive healing intention. Although 1.2 million Americans use reiki to reduce pain or depression, there is a lack of strong evidence supporting its effectiveness. A recent systematic review showed existing studies to be of poor methodological quality, with the common limitation of lack of blinding. To overcome this issue, the authors used distant reiki to assess its effectiveness in reducing pain following an elective C-section.
We now know that morphine passes into breast milk. In 2005, a published study alerted the medical community to a case where a full-term breast-fed baby died from a morphine overdose as a result of his mother taking Tylenol no 3 with codeine to manage her pain; the mother had several copies of the CYP2D6 allele and had converted more than 10% of codeine into morphine.5 6 Maternal breast milk is considered the optimal nutrition for infants, and the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends exclusive breastfeeding for the first 6 months of life.7 To ensure that all mothers who are recovering from C-sections and wish to breastfeed are able to do so safely, alternatives to opioids are sought.
Several complementary and alternative medicine therapies are used to alleviate pain. In an attempt to reduce or eliminate the need for opioid pain medication, we sought to examine the effect of distant reiki on pain. Reiki, an ancient Japanese form of hands-on healing, used to alleviate pain and depression,8 is classified as an Energy Medicine by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM).9 Despite being an ancient Japanese practice, reiki is practised by over 1.5 million Americans, and its popularity is growing.10 It was promoted by Dr Oz, prominent cardiothoracic surgeon, host of the Dr Oz Show and frequent Oprah guest, as his ‘ultimate complementary and alternative medicine therapy for 2010.’11 However, while it is commonly practised, there is no agreed-upon theory for how reiki might work, and its mechanism of action is still unknown.8
Reiki practitioners believe that they can direct healing energy through their hands to their patients. To direct this energy, practitioners maintain a meditative presence and place their hands lightly over the person they are treating to aid in the patient’s natural ability to heal. Reiki can be practised either proximally, with the patient located beside the practitioner, or distally, with the patient and practitioner in separate locations. Both types of reiki rely on the premise of a universal source of healing energy which a reiki practitioner can direct through intention.
A distant reiki treatment is like distant prayer, in that the practitioners are thinking of their patients from a distance. In distant reiki, reiki practitioners first undertake a specific protocol which allows them to send the healing energy to the patient. Second, practitioners mentally ask the person who is absent if he or she consents to treatment. Lastly, if practitioners do not hear a response or if they hear ‘yes’ in their head, they follow the same procedure as for traditional reiki, but they place their hands on a substitute (eg, pillow) for the person being treated; if they hear ‘no,’ the session ends immediately.
Reiki may work. Several studies have found a reduction in pain when using reiki12–15; furthermore, one of the studies found that women who received reiki after hysterectomy reported less pain and requested fewer analgesics.12 While there were no studies which specifically evaluated distant reiki for pain, one study found that distant reiki was as effective as traditional reiki in the management of depression and anxiety. The authors concluded that the distant reiki was as efficacious as traditional reiki, and the healing power of reiki was not due to placebo.16