Reiki Renaissance in WA health By Heath Werrett The head of research for a WA Complementary Integrated Therapy (CIT) organisation said little has changed in opinion towards Reiki in recent years despite some hospitals now accommodating the treatment for cancer patients. SolarisCare Foundations research and education manager Dr Anna Petterson said after 13 years working in local hospitals, she felt there had been little progress in attitudes towards Reiki in WA Medicine. “There is still an assumption from the medical community what we are providing is ok but with very little evidence to support it other than anecdotal patient evidence,” she said. Founder of Perth Reiki Jess Pridmore said she defined Reiki as a Japanese term and ancient art which translated to “universal life force energy or Qi” and referred to the transmission of energy through the hands. Ms Pridmore said Reiki understood the human body as an energy system and Western doctors and scientists were now starting to understand what has already been known for thousands of years in Eastern medicine. “Physical disease is therefore seen as the direct result of anomalies in this energy. SolarisCare is a not-for-profit organisation established in 2001 inside Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital’s cancer ward to provide free holistic CITs to cancer patients, their carers, and families. Supported by a network of 250 volunteer therapists and meet and greet personnel, a small team of staff support four Cancer Support Centres across WA located also at St John of God Hospital Subiaco, Genesis Care Bunbury and Albany Health Campus. SCGH senior Haematologist and SolarisCare founder Dr David Joske said Reiki incorporated hands-off massage to affect lines of energy in the body and was still seen as very controversial. And yet as I say in my lectures to doctors and medical students, we use acupuncture widely now with 40 per cent of Perth GPs referring to acupuncturists, which is based upon Chinese traditional medicine concepts of lines of energy in the body, he said. In a study published by UWA exercise physiologist Bonnie Furzer, 66 patients were surveyed after accessing CITs. 100 per cent of those surveyed indicated they would “recommend CITs to other patients”. 92 per cent stated “CITs would play a significant role in their future lifestyle”. Ms Furzer outlined the themes of empowerment, support and relaxation as key features in her study. “Often in the medical setting treatment is done to the patient whereas complementary therapies allow individuals to play an active role. This is key as they are doing something to complement and aid their treatment and recovery,” she said. Local Residential designer John McQuade (below) recently battled prostate cancer has been a volunteer Reiki practitioner with SolarisCare for the past eight years. He said after an operation five months ago his work at SolarisCare put his life into perspective. “When you see the people in here and the courage of them battling for their lives, whatever problems you’ve had, you no longer have. Its a good awakening. Mr McQuade said his patients were often highly stressed. I just came from a patient this morning who was very stressed out and when I left her she was just about asleep and just wanted to lay there,” he said. Mr McQuade said treatments like chemotherapy weren’t usually looked forward to by patients but by giving them a massage or a Reiki treatment, patients are given something to look forward to in coming to the hospital. Cancer Council WA support groups manager Louise Good said CITs did not aim to cure a patient’s illness, but instead were used to complement mainstream treatment or care. The term CIT defines evidence-based therapies used in combination with mainstream treatment but is often misused interchangeably with the term alternative therapies, which are known to often replace mainstream treatments. A North Metropolitan Health Service spokesperson said complementary therapy was adjunct to conventional treatment, whereas alternative therapy replaced conventional treatment. “Reiki therapy is not a curative treatment, and is not recommended as an alternative treatment for cancer. We explain to patients that complimentary therapies are not curative,” said the spokesperson. Dr Petterson said the term ‘complementary and alternative medicine’ was used to describe such therapies in the past. Mr McQuade said former terminology made it difficult to get into hospitals because they took such treatments as a “direct threat to them”. “Part of that ability to come into WA hospitals was to take that threat away. “So we are saying ‘We’re here to work with the doctors, not against them’ and ‘We are here to help in the healing process’,” he said. According to the American Hospital Association, in 2007, 15 per cent of American hospitals offered Reiki as a service. HBF spokesperson Leroy Pereira said CITs such as Reiki would need national accreditation and a higher amount of clinical evidence before health funds could pay for such services. Mr Pereira said Reiki practitioners would be required to meet the same criteria as a physiotherapist or chiropractor to prevent back-yard operators. Australian Reiki Connection Inc. president John Coleman said his organisation’s members were upheld to strict annual accreditation guidelines. “I think that what is needed is for greater awareness of Reiki associations like ARC because we have criteria that members and practitioners have to meet.” Mr Coleman regularly gives educational talks to hospitals, government departments and other organisations and said the awareness of Reiki was growing across the country. Mr Pereira said adding Reiki as a covered natural therapy was something HBF would consider provided both accreditation and government approval were met. Mr Coleman said one of the problems with Reiki was too many people practising similar energy type healing modalities under the banner of traditional Japanese Reiki but they had nothing to really do with Reiki. “What we do however, is do no harm which covers us from most criticisms,” said Dr Petterson. “Reiki for the patients is deeply relaxing and I think just as there is an element of mystery with mainstream medicine, we would like to see medical practitioners acknowledge that there is an element of mystery that happens to patients when they receive CITs including Reiki. Despite an apparent hesitation to accept Reiki by the WA health industry, Dr Joske said he hoped to continue providing the therapy as part of care at SCGH. I am happy to suspend my own scepticism in the face of not having a good scientific rationale for how it may work, and in the absence of any evidence of harm, to continue having Reiki as part of SolarisCare.
Posted on: Mon, 15 Sep 2014 10:30:31 +0000
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