Energy Medicine

Wikis > Alternative Practices > Energy Medicine

Energy medicine is a pseudoscience that is based on the concept that healers can channel what they call the “healing energy” into a patient to promote health and well-being. According to the belief system of practitioners of the energy medicines, the body has a natural ability to heal itself, and that there are various forms of energy that can help to support this healing process. Proponents of energy medicine believe that imbalances in the body’s energy field can lead to physical and emotional illnesses, and that restoring balance to this field can help to alleviate these symptoms. None of the “energies” or the “energy field” has ever been documented and there is no evidence to even support their existence. There is no physiological rationale for their existence.

The National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH) (USA) defines energy medicine as:

A technique that involves channelling healing energy through the hands of a practitioner into the client’s body to restore a normal energy balance and, therefore, health. Energy healing therapy has been used to treat a wide variety of ailments and health problems, and it is often used with other alternative and conventional medical treatments.

The NCCIH recognises two forms of energy: the verifiable energies that can be measured (such as sound, light and electromagnetic) and the putative energies that have not yet been measured (such as the biofields of energy medicine). No one has been able to demonstrate if they actually exist. Physics can now measure energy down to the sub-atomic level and they have never been able to detect anything close of being energy fields of the body as claimed by energy medicine practitioners.

Energy medicine comes in a variety of forms, none of which work and any positive outcomes or anecdotes are due to the placebo effect, natural history of the condition, regression to the mean, post hoc ergo propter hoc or mood changes from the theatrics of the clinical encounter. The use of the energy medicine might be helpful in managing stress and promoting relaxation, however that benefit is not due to anything to do with ‘energies’ or ‘energy balance’, but just due to the relaxing natures of the clinical encounter.

Example of energy medicines include acupuncture, yoga, tai chi, reiki, qigong, biofield energy healing, crystal healing, magnetic healing, ayurveda, distant healing, energy bracelets (eg Power Balance).

Published research that has showed a positive outcome for one of the energy medicines is typically flawed with various biases, lack of blinding and a lack of an adequate and blinded control group (to rule out placebo, natural history of the condition, Hawthorne effect and regression to the mean). None of them have been able to be replicated.

Video lecture on the energy medicines:

Relevance to Podiatry:
Sellers of magnetic insoles claim that the static electromagnetic energy field from their magnetic insoles can treat a range of health problems via the feet. They can’t.
Ayurveda has been used for plantar fasciitis.


Other Alternative Practices:

AcupuntureAmino Neuro FrequencyApplied KinesiologyAyurvedaChinese Medicine
ChiropracticCraniosacral TherapyEnergy MedicineFish PedicureFoot Reading
Functional MedicineGroundingHomeopathyIntegrative MedicineNeurokinetic Therapy
OsteopathyOzone TherapyReflexologyReikiTai chi
Urine Therapy

Page last updated: @ 5:49 am

Comments are closed.