Therapeutic Touch: A Case Study

“Pain is much more than a physical sensation caused by a specific stimulus. An individual's perception of pain has important affective (emotional), cognitive, behavioral, and sensory components that are shaped by past experience, culture, and situational factors. The nature of the stimulus for pain can be physical, psychological, or a combination of both.” (Potter, Perry, Stockert, Hall, & Peterson, 2014 p. 141) As stated by Potter et al, the different natures of pain are dealt with differently depending on many factors. Knowing this, treating pain can be very difficult as there is no single or clear cut way of measuring it; “Even though the assessment and treatment of pain is a universally important health care issue,

The relationship discovered in the articles written by Denneson, et., al (2011) and Fletcher, et., al (2016) discuss how the Department of Veterans Affair is studying the significance of using complementary alternative medicine to effectively control chronic noncancerous pain versus the continuous use of opioids. Massage therapy was the most preferred and effective method for management of pain. In the article written by Fletcher, et., al (2016), about 60 percent of the outpatient was taking opioids for management of chronic pain.

According to The World Health Organisation (1999), defined pain as an unpleasant sensory or emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage, or described in terms of such damage. Pain is traditionally described as acute or chronic pain. The prevalence of chronic pain (CP) is higher than of acute of pain, as it affects 7.8 million people of all ages in the UK (Chronic Pain Policy Coalition., 2006). The current leading cause of mortality that is accounting for 60% of all deaths is due to chronic diseases and is also a problem as causes an increasing burden on the health care service (World Health Organisation., 2007). CP can affect a person’s quality of life if managed poorly, statistics shows that 25% of people lose their job and 22% leads to depression. (Chronic Pain Policy Coalition.,

Pain is the most commonly reported reason for coming to the hospital in America. It’s causes have a massive variance, and in many chronic cases the root source of pain can not be articulated at all. When a patient reports pain, the role of the nurse, and the whole healthcare staff, is to aim to reduce that pain. In many cases pain reduction can be attained through nonpharmacologic, complementary and alternative methods (CAM). Using CAM to reduce pain is an ideal scenario for both the patient and the healthcare staff as these alternative methods have fewer negative consequential effects.

Another obstacle to controlling pain in said population is that there is an “increased prevalence of cognitive, sensory-perceptual, and motor problems that interfere with a person’s ability to process information and to communicate [as

For example, synopsis of a few studies are presented which showcase the therapeutic benefits of touch on premature infants and the elderly population, to imply the benefits of such therapies throughout the life-span of humans. Research findings of touch therapies used in Korea are briefly mentioned as are the healing/touch ceremonies known to indigenous peoples of the Amazon, Australia and Africa. In addition the Netherlands, New Zealand, France, Romania Germany, Hawaii, South Africa, Tibet and various countries around the globe are recognized for practicing established touch modalities. Chapter I also states the research purpose which is: to analyze, explore, and develop foundational theory about the benefits of touch in so far as its board range healing capabilities, in particular that of pain management, anxiety reduction and relaxation in humans. Immediately followed the research question is stated which is: what are the uses and benefits of therapeutic touch? Subsequent to the identification of delimitations and limitations, Chapter I concludes with a discussion around cost savings that can result from touch therapies and a list of Operational

Touch therapies have great the potential to result in significant cost savings and health benefits to patients due to the fact that touch therapy is less expensive that ongoing pharmaceutical regimens.

Therapeutic Touch is a scientifically based healing method in which the human energy field is re-patterned in order to promote health and healing. Developed in 1972 by Prof. Dolores Kreiger, PHD, RN, and natural healer Dora Kunz, Therapeutic Touch is now practiced in over 90 countries. Treatments last up to 30 minutes and have been shown to lower anxiety, reduce pain, stabilize blood pressure, support the healing process and induce relaxation among many other benefits.

Multimodal intervention along with attentive care and patient participation is necessary to achieve a balance between analgesia and side effects. Assumptions to the conceptual framework must be identified to understand the specific relevance of the theory to pain

A holistic approach to managing pain and discomfort is important because pain has an impact on not just the individuals physically but in many other ways such as: mental Cultural, Social, Emotional, Religious and spiritual needs

Assess the degree of pain by use of a pain scale (Durham & Chapman, 2014)

In addition, it is hard to draw conclusions about the interaction of pain perception and age because, as seen in previous studies, findings about pain and age are often a side note and not part of the original purpose. There are many cross-sectional studies, but few longitudinal studies. Also, there are few studies that observe changes in both pain sensitivity and pain threshold, and none that observe these constructs while utilizing the cold pressor

G. T., Dailey, D. L., Rakel, B. A., & Sluka, K. A. (2014). Using TENS for pain control: The state of the evidence. Pain Management, 4(3), 197-209. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.2217/pmt.14.13

The first dressing change series had a total of 98 patients that were separated randomly into two groups of 49 individuals each (Guo et al., 2014). Some of the criteria to be included in the study include: “serious hand injuries, debridement or suturing within 72 hours of injury, age greater than 18 years old, male or female, the ability to complete the scale and volunteer for the research” (Guo et al., 2014, p. 116). There was no major difference between the two groups, which means that the anxiety levels between them were comparable. The data was collected by using a visual analog scale, which compared the pain levels between the two groups before and after the dressing change. Both groups were subjected to three dressing changes. The experimental group was given equipment that used a realistic 3D film “Afanda” which was played 5 minutes prior to the completion of the dressing change, while the control group did not receive the virtual reality. The visual analog scale was recorded within 5 minutes of the dressing change (Guo et al., 2014). There are three different categories of pain: mild pain is less than three, moderate pain is between three and six, and severe pain which is more than six points. This pain assessment describes the pain based on the patient’s perspective (Pagare n.d.) “If a patient’s pain is five but decreases to three with an intervention, then the intervention measures are

The International Association for the Study of Pain defines pain as “an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage, or described in terms of such damage” (1979). Pain is actually the culprit behind warranting a visit to a physician office for many people (Besson, 1999). Notoriously unpleasant, pain could also pose a threat as both a psychological and economic burden (Phillips, 2006). Sometimes pain does happen without any damage of tissue or any likely diseased state. The reasons for such pain are poorly understood and the term used to describe such type of pain is “psychogenic pain”. Also, the loss of productivity and daily activity due to pain is also significant. Pain engulfs a trillion dollars of GDP for lost work time and disability payments (Melnikova, 2010). Untreated pain not only impacts a person suffering from pain but also impacts their whole family. A person’s quality of life is negatively impacted by pain and it diminishes their ability to concentrate, work, exercise, socialize, perform daily routines, and sleep. All of these negative impacts ultimately lead to much more severe behavioral effects such as depression, aggression, mood alterations, isolation, and loss of self-esteem, which pose a great threat to human society.