CAM 101: What is Reiki, anyway?
CAM 101: What is Reiki, anyway?
It’s almost impossible for case managers to keep up with the growing number of complementary and alternative therapies (CAMs) available in many American markets, notes Cynthia Jean Westley, RN, MSN, ANP-C, community care manager at the University of Virginia Health System in Charlottesville. "Chiropractic and acupuncture are becoming so widely accepted they are now considered part of the accepted offerings of many health plans," she says. "However, there are other CAMs gaining acceptance with the public with which case managers may not be as familiar."
The glossary below includes CAM therapies gaining popularity with the public.
• Acupressure: an ancient Chinese technique that involves the use of finger pressure rather than needles, as in acupuncture, on specific points along the body’s 12 energy paths. Pressure is said to release obstructed energy and treat ailments such as tension, stress, aches, pains, menstrual cramps, and arthritis.
• Alexander technique: based on the belief that the ways you move and hold your body affect everything you do in life. As we age, we develop patterns of tension. These patterns restrict movement and tighten the body. An Alexander technique teacher works to restore freedom of move- ment and enhance body awareness by applying subtle adjustments in posture and alignment.
• Anthroposophic medicine: a medical system that takes into account the spiritual and physical components of illness. A treatment regime may include herbal and homeopathic medicines as well as dietary recommendations, art therapy, movement therapy, massage, and specially prepared baths.
• Applied kinesiology: a system that determines health imbalances in the body’s organs and glands by identifying weaknesses in specific muscles. By stimulating and relaxing key muscles, an applied kinesiologist can diagnose and resolve a variety of health problems.
• Craniosacral therapy: a manual therapeutic procedure for remedying distortions in the structure and function of the craniosacral mechanism: the brain and spinal cord, the bones of the skull, the sacrum, and interconnected membranes. It also is used to treat chronic pain, migraine headaches, and a range of other conditions.
• Magnetic field therapy: the use of magnets or electromagnetic generating devices to stimulate energetic responses that help relieve pain, aid the healing of broken bones, and diagnose and treat disease.
• Orthomolecular nutritional medicine: the practice of treating illnesses by adjusting the balance of vitamins, minerals, amino acids, and other nutrients in the body. Practitioners use vitamins in the optimum quantity for conditions that may or may not be vitamin deficiency disease.
• Polarity therapy: based on the principle that every cell has negative and positive poles; uses subtle touch or holding of specific points to harmonize the flow of energy through the body while enhancing structural balance. Emotional tensions or physical pains are released as the flow of energy becomes more properly balanced.
• Qi Gong: ancient Chinese exercise system that stimulates and balances the flow of qi along the acupuncture meridians or energy pathways. Qi Gong is used to reduce stress, improve blood circulation, enhance immune function, and treat a variety of health conditions.
• Reflexology: based on the idea that specific points on the feet and hands correspond with organs and tissues throughout the body. With fingers and thumbs, the practitioner applies pressure to these points on the foot to treat a wide range of stress-related illnesses and ailments.
• Reiki: the Japanese word for "universal life energy." The Reiki practitioner serves as a conduit for healing energy coming from the universe. Reiki energy enters the practitioner through the top of the head and exits through the hands and is directed into the body or energy field of the recipient.
• Shiatsu: the most widely known form of acupressure. Shiatsu has been used in Japan for more than 1,000 years to treat pain and illness and for general health maintenance. The practitioner uses a series of techniques to apply rhythmic finger pressure at specific points on the body to stimulate chi, or vital energy.
• Therapeutic touch: practiced by registered nurses and others to relieve pain and stress. The practitioner assesses where the person’s energy field is weak or congested, and then uses his or her hands to direct energy into the field to balance it.
• Trager: the use of gentle, noninvasive movements to help release deep-seated physical and mental patterns. It allows deeper relaxation, increased physical mobility, and better mental clarity. Practitioners move the client’s trunk and limbs in a gentle, rhythmic way to help the recipient experience new sensations of freedom and lightness.
• Watsu: a form of massage performed in chest-high, body-temperature water. The practitioner guides the client through a series of dance-like movements while using Zen shiatsu techniques to release blockages in the body’s energy pathways.
• Zero balancing: a method for aligning body structure and body energy. Through touch, the practitioner seeks to overcome imbalances in the body’s "structure/energetic interface," which practitioners say exists beneath the level of conscious awareness.
"CAM therapies maintain a belief in the self-healing of the body and emphasize balanced lifestyle. The patient is partner with the practitioner, and self-assessment is vital to the process," says Westley. "In most CAM therapies, the practitioner works as a coach."
(Detailed information on these and other therapies your patients may be interested in can be found in the article on p. 135.)
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