Therapeutic Touch (TT) is an alternative therapy that has gained popularity over the past two decades for helping wounds to heal. Practitioners enter a meditative state and pass their hands above the patient's body to find and correct any imbalances in the patient's 'life energy' or chi. Scientific instruments have been unable to detect this energy. The effect of TT on wound healing has been expounded in anecdotal publications. To identify and review all relevant data to determine the effects of TT on healing acute wounds. For this fourth update, we searched The Cochrane Wounds Group Specialised Register (searched 27 January 2012); The Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) (The Cochrane Library 2012, Issue 1); Ovid MEDLINE (2010 to January Week 2 2012); Ovid MEDLINE (In-Process & Other Non-Indexed Citations, January 26, 2012); Ovid EMBASE (2010 to 2012 Week 03); and EBSCO CINAHL (2010 to January 6 2012). All randomised or quasi-randomised controlled trials, which compared the effect of TT with a placebo, another treatment, or no treatment control were considered. Studies which used TT as a stand-alone treatment, or as an adjunct to other therapies, were eligible. One author (DO'M) determined the eligibility for inclusion of all trials in the review. Both authors conducted data extraction and evaluation of trial validity independently. Each trial was assessed using predetermined criteria. No new trials were identified for this update. Four trials in people with experimental wounds were included. The effect of TT on wound healing in these studies was variable. Two trials (n = 44 & 24) demonstrated a significant increase in healing associated with TT, while one trial found significantly worse healing after TT and the other found no significant difference. All trials are at high risk of bias. There is no robust evidence that TT promotes healing of acute wounds.

Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2012 Jun 13;6:CD002766. O'Mathúna DP, Ashford RL. School of Nursing & Human Sciences, Dublin City University, Dublin, Ireland. donal.omathuna@dcu.ie

Arthritis is considered the leading cause of disability among adults in the United States today and contributes substantially to the rising cost of health care. Residents of rural areas are especially affected. The purposes of this article are to describe chiropractic use by rural and nonrural individuals with arthritis and to identify differences in other health care use and health status by those using chiropractic care plus conventional care or conventional care alone. A longitudinal cohort from panel 12 (N = 12440) of the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey spanning 2007 to 2008 was selected for this study to represent changes in health care expenditures and use and outcomes throughout this period. The population was stratified by self-reported physician-diagnosed arthritis and rural status and compared across demographics, health status, and health care use and expenditures, including use of chiropractic services plus conventional care or conventional care alone. Twice as many rural people with arthritis had 1 or more visits with a doctor of chiropractic compared with nonrural persons with arthritis. More rural chiropractic users with arthritis reported their perceived health status as excellent, very good, or good compared with nonrural chiropractic users with arthritis and to rural people with arthritis who reported no chiropractic visits. Health care expenditures for other physician services were higher among rural chiropractic users with arthritis than nonrural users with arthritis. Differences in chiropractic use were observed between rural and nonrural individuals with arthritis. More studies are needed to investigate these differences and the impact on health care use and expenditures and outcomes of individuals with arthritis.

J Manipulative Physiol Ther. 2012 Aug 27. Enyinnaya EI, Anderson JG, Merwin EI, Taylor AG. Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Center for the Study of Complementary and Alternative Therapies, School of Nursing, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA.