Title : Is reiki more effective than placebo
Abstract:
Given Reiki’s unorthodox roots as a Biofield Treatment, the need for safe, effective, inexpensive treatments to alleviate the socioeconomic burden on healthcare internationally, the increased popularity and public spending on CAM, growing research on Reiki’s effectiveness, and research demonstrating Reiki’s effectiveness over placebo in non-human living systems, it is important to examine Reiki’s effectiveness over placebo in benefiting humans. This study examined this question through a systematic review (SR) that incorporated the Revised Cochrane Risk of Bias 2 tool and a GRADE assessment of all randomized controlled trials of hands-on Reiki in adults that controlled for the placebo effect. This study identified 35 randomised placebo-controlled trials (RPCTs) that met the inclusion criteria. A high, or moderate to high level of evidence was found for Reiki’s effectiveness over placebo in treating clinically relevant symptoms of anxiety, stress, depression, acute pain, and moderate to high diastolic and systolic blood pressure. A moderate level of evidence was found for Reiki’s effectiveness over placebo in reducing normal range diastolic blood pressure, normal symptoms of stress, and improving heart rate/heart rate variability.
A low to moderate level of evidence was found for Reiki over placebo in improving symptoms of burnout, chronic conditions, and chronic pain. No evidence was found for Reiki over placebo in assisting normal range symptoms of anxiety and depression, normal range systolic blood pressure, breathing rate, or reducing cortisol. Most studies had a risk of bias of some concern. These findings suggest Reiki may be appropriate as an additional supportive treatment for clinical range symptoms of anxiety, depression, stress, elevated to high blood pressure, acute pain, and potentially normal symptoms of stress, heart rate/heart rate variability, and normal range diastolic blood pressure. Further research is needed with larger sample sizes.
