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Where Does Energy Work Belong?
The comment period for the second draft of the Massage Therapy Body of Knowledge ended a week ago. I’ve made comments on both drafts, and I hope you have too.
A number of my own comments were in regard to the amount of energy work-related statements that were included. I don’t think most of it belongs there. Before anyone gets their chakras in a twist at me, let
me state that Healing Touch was the very first class I ever took, back
in 1993. I went on to follow that up with classes in Reiki, polarity,
and a few other energy modalities. I’ve also studied and used Shiatsu
for years. I have in fact in the past taught a lot of Reiki classes
myself, but I’ve decided not to teach it anymore. I blogged that
decision on my FB page a few months ago. Some of these scientific minds
around here are rubbing off on me.
I honor anyone who lays their hands on another, or directs energy at another, with the intent for the highest good to take place, whether that’s to heal, to comfort, or to ease someone’s passing. I don’t have
any objections to energy work, either giving or receiving. I just think
it’s a separate body of knowledge.
Yes, I know that plenty of massage therapists use energy work, not only from my own past experience, but also from spending a few hours surfing through the approved provider pages on the NCB’s website
recently. It appears that there’s more energy-related classes than
hardcore bodywork and/or evidence-based classes. Obviously there’s a
demand, or that wouldn’t be the case. READ MORE.....
Views: 268
Comment
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Comment by Vlad on March 24, 2010 at 9:51pm
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Or does anyone know where I could find that info?
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OK - cool, so long as MT wasn't dropped in favor of Healing Touch.
So does anyone have any statistics on CAM in hospitals overall in the US? As in, what % of all CAM in hospitals is massage therapy?
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Comment by Erica Olson on March 24, 2010 at 9:25pm
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The demise always starts when he returns, with his attacks.
Um. I would submit that the record indicates that the attacks--at least, the ugly personal ones--seem to have started with you, Mike, when you stated that Chris was "just another researcher trying to control research funding." If you didn't mean that as a personal attack, then I apologize.
At the very least, however, I don't think there's any way of misreading Emma's blatant disregard of Chris as "just a troublemaker" as anything but an attack. Nor do I appreciate the bold-faced insinuations that I am trying to suck up (to whom?) because I state that I happen to agree with opinions that have already been voiced.
Chris immediately 'fessed up to poor behavior and inflammatory remarks when confronted with it. Mike, Emma--are you willing to do the same?
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Terry,
Thanks for the info.
and the CFO knew that Massage Therapy would draw patients as the therapy was free for antepartum, postpartum and post surgical (this was true - #1 hospital for deliveries in Indianapolis at the time I was there).
Good to hear that, especially for the antepartum and postpartum cases.
As for the second hospital. They moved all their efforts into Healing Touch?
See, this is what worries me. If massage and neuromuscular therapy is passed over in favor of other modalities, then is this a good thing for the massage profession in general?
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I just watched it. Everyone should watch it since there are mega-uber-cool aspects of it (even if anyone is totally unpolitical, like me) like when they show the acupuncture trial happening and how they have a control for it with the sham acupuncture and they used a credibility questionnaire etc.
It was interesting and I did think it was pretty balanced.
It's funny. When I watch things like this I jot down stuff.......it's a weird habit, but it's in case I want to look up stuff later, but sometimes I just write down word ts that are coming to mind.
I wrote down the name of a journal, names of some of the peeps in the documentary, plus I want to look at the acupuncture study. Anyway, I also wrote down "Money" twice and "More Money" once and then a phrase "ugh....it's all about Money" (this is true - I can send a .jpg of my notes if anyone needs evidence :D).
The history of how the NCCAM all came about was interesting for sure.
The emphasis from both sides on the fact that the shift has gone on who has the authority was interesting. It's become clear that hospitals don't tell people what to do and the statement that "science no longer has the authority" rang clear. The supplement segment was also interesting and I don't think I'll be drawn to using coffee enemas. I'm not going to say anything about the homeopathy part because I'm too negative about it.
Massage wasn't mentioned. The word "massage" was shown once in a list of therapies. That was it. Maybe it's not considered alternative enough for the makers of the program to pay attention to.
As for Laura's Reiki reference.
Yes, I have wondered about this before.
I know there was a lot going back and forth a while back about Reiki in hospitals and there's the group that promotes it. But what I wonder is, who is pushing hard for massage therapy in hospitals?
Yes, worthy of a view......it'll make people think.
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Comment by Christopher A. Moyer on March 24, 2010 at 8:03pm
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A little bit more about the PBS Frontline documentary. Laura's blog posted noted
One of them is that some major teaching hospitals, including Duke University, Stanford, UCLA at Berkely, Sloan-Kettering, and dozens more, are offering Reiki, Healing Touch or other energy work to patients.
The docu addresses this (more generally about CAM, that is). They discuss how and why CAM practices have entered top hospitals, and they recruit pro positions (from hospital admins who point to patient demand) and con positions (from scientists and major medical journal editors who maintain that patient-driven models of health care are, in essence, 'upside-down'). The docu also explains in detail how the personal experience of two specific senators played a major role in the creation of NCCAM, and how NCCAM was received by the other units of NIH. There's more, too, , including some discussion about the latest info on the placebo effect, but the length of the program is only about an hour, if I remember correctly.
I usually show this program in my Health Psychology class. It usually generates some good discussions.
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Comment by Mike Hinkle on March 24, 2010 at 7:23pm
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Glad to see alternative research taking place, Vlad. Again those opposed to any alternative research will give only the negative press, that those opposed want you to see. They want to control all massage related research. They will fail. They are FOX TV all over.
Substance? Like I said Fox TV. I would love to see something other than opinion or cherry picked articles that are one-sided, someday. And yes it was, the "other side" as always, that starts creating division, as proven once again.
The demise always starts when he returns, with his attacks. But it's okay, he has a PHD and we should all bow, because of it. What a joke. He has lost so much respect from therapists and after every dialog I am getting more letters from therapists that agree. Yes, he has his few followers that don't care how he treats others. That is their choice. Vlad you have a great evening and Emma, try to as well.
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I'm not saying that the NCCAM is a bad thing - it's a good thing,
The history around the founding of NCCAM is pretty interesting. Many folks in the scientific community would disagree with you about whether it is a good thing.
There is a PBS Frontline Special about Alt Med which touches on the creation of NCCAM and the politics of it. You can watch it for free online:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/altmed/
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Erica -
I'll cop to it - I was the one who introduced some snark into this conversation. But, whether it was right or wrong of me to do that, I tried to combine it with substance. I also tried to use it as a tool to highlight some problems with this discussion.
I don't mind that you've called me on it, and I'll try to behave for a while.
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There are people who say that they can't help but work with energy when doing massage. To that, I say "fine." I don't think anyone's going to get spanked by a regulatory body for incorporating an undefined instinctual somatic connection.
Yep.
I'm not into energy work, but there is something undefinable about touch and it is different from person to person. I found that out very early on in school. One day we worked on feet. We had gone over a sequence of strokes for the foot. So we practiced and it was a round robin practice since the sequence wasn't a long one. So I had about 8 people do the exact same sequence one after the other and I was astounded at how different they felt, even though it was the exact same sequence. So I tried analyzing it - was it the speed at which they did it? Was it the softness of their hands or the amount of surface area of skin on skin? Was it the temperature of their hands or maybe the amount of lotions and all that stuff. But I came to the conclusion that even though I could have broken it down in that way, there was something else. That something else will never even be definable and no one will ever convince me that they have defined and made generalizations on it since it different from person to person - not just for the giver, but also the receiver.
You know, the whole EB "them and us" thing is weird, isn't it? Aren't most therapists just in a scale of evidenced based. I'm not full on at one end of the scale, but I am aware of the fact that I'm ignorant of a lot of things. There is one thing about the EB peeps that is good though - they look at studies and they study them. Shouldn't everyone be doing that, even if we discard what we learn? I think there is a very low percentage of us that do that.
Here's another thing. Are people aware of the fact that tax payer money is being pumped into CAM studies, including energy work (especially Reiki)? NCCAM is funded by tax money. What do people think about the fact that only 1% of NCCAMs funds are put towards massage therapy even though it's the #1 out of pocket expense for practitioner intervention that the public use? One percent.
That statistic blows me the *%&^ away.
I am paying for studies and so are you. Go and take a look at their site and see the wide range of studies in a wide range of CAM that are funded and remember that statistic. I'm not saying that the NCCAM is a bad thing - it's a good thing, But 1%?
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