Biofield therapies: biophysical basis and biological regulations?

Complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) is increasingly popular in biomedical health care. One area of alternative medicine, biofield therapies, claims to manipulate individuals 'energy field' in order to enhance healing and wellbeing. This article reviews some recent studies addressing the characterization of endogenous energy fields and the way they affect the physiologic processes.

Effects of therapeutic touch on blood hemoglobin and hematocrit level.

BACKGROUND: Therapeutic Touch (TT) is a widely used complementary therapy. This study investigated the effects of TT on hemoglobin and hematocrit level in students who were basically healthy. METHOD: The volunteers with a hemoglobin level less than 12 grams per deciliter (g/dl) were randomly assigned to three groups of TT, mimic therapeutic touch (MT), and control. Blood samples were collected before the first treatment and again a week after the last one and measurements were taken. RESULTS: TT increased the level of hemoglobin (.99 .13 g/dl) and hematocrit (2.82 .43%) significantly. MT also increased the level of hemoglobin (.55 .11 g/dl) and hematocrit (2.75 .44%) significantly. No significant changes were found in the control group. TT increased hemoglobin more effectively than MT (p< .05). CONCLUSIONS: Significant changes of both variables in TT and MTgroups suggest that more careful precision might be needed while selecting individuals as sham therapists in further experiments.