Study finds Reiki is helpful to cancer patients in integrative care

Finally. A study has found Reiki to be helpful to cancer patients in an integrative cancer care setting, with study participants reporting an over 50 per cent decrease in anxiety, distress, pain, depression and fatigue after a single first-time session. The researchers report that

176 (82.6%) of participants liked the Reiki session, 176 (82.6%) found the Reiki session helpful, 157 (73.7%) plan to continue using Reiki, and 175 (82.2%) would recommend Reiki to others.

I have one bone to pick with these findings, and that is in the conclusion stating that "an integrative Reiki volunteer program shows promise as a component of supportive care for cancer patients." Specifically I have an issue with the word "volunteer". It is expected that persons with a skill that can significantly decrease pain, anxiety, distress and fatigue in cancer patients should not be paid for their time and effort. Why? I welcome your comments and observations.

Medical body recommends no routine testing for prostate cancer - is this wise?

A recently published article in the Globe & Mail entitled "Unnecessary medical treatments can hurt budgets and patients too" listed fifteen tests or procedures that the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) now deems unnecessary or potentially harmful.

Among them is the routine prostate exam. The AAFP now recommends that physicians should not "routinely screen for prostate cancer using the prostate-specific antigen test or digital rectal exam [as] evidence shows that routine testing results in more harm than good."

This is a huge change in the course of medical practice. Does it mean that men are now supposed to wait for testing until signs of prostate trouble show up? Wouldn't it be preferable to continue testing but then to watch and wait rather than opt for aggressive intervention? Isn't stopping routine testing a bit like throwing the baby out with the bathwater?

In the best of all possible worlds, doctors would continue screening and then send patients for treatment with the Domancic Method of energy healing, which has a protocol that can lower PSA counts. If anyone would like to do double-blind testing on this, Domancic practitioners await your call.