When I began practicing energy healing professionally back in 2015, I still had doubts. I’d seen friends experience real results from the work I did, but what if it had nothing to do with me? What if these results came from my friend’s expectations that healing would occur?
After all, which is more likely: That I’d found a gap in known physics, or that the results were simply placebo?
(Placebo refers to results that happen because our minds expect them to, rather than results that come from external factors like medication.)
A wonderfully supportive practitioner and researcher, Melinda Connor, encouraged me to answer my doubts by reading the research on energy healing. I’d always assumed the research was just case studies and stories of individual clients, with results that could be attributed to luck or placebo, the same as my experiences. I’d assumed that was why energy healing was so dismissed by the scientific community.
But once I explored the research, I was blown away: There were dozens of high-quality studies. Not just case studies, but placebo-controlled trials, along with studies on bacteria, human cells, plants, and animals, where the possibility of placebo doesn’t exist.
In this article, I’ll share the research I’ve found most inspiring and impactful from the last twenty years.
In Vitro Studies on Energy Healing
In vitro studies test energy healing practices on bacteria and cells.
Placebo doesn’t apply to cells in a Petri dish. Cells don’t know what you’re doing to them. They don’t have beliefs or expectations. So there’s no placebo effect here.
All of these studies compared cells receiving energy healing to identical cells receiving no treatment, and compare the results.
With all research, there’s also a chance that the results are just coincidence. Maybe everyone receiving the treatment was really healthy and would have gotten better anyway, just be chance.
In all these studies, the chance of coincidence is less than 1 in 1,000, or ten times stronger than most medical research.
#1 Therapeutic Touch affects DNA synthesis and mineralization of human osteoblasts in culture
Conducted in 2008 and published by The Orthopaedic Research Society, this study sought to examine the impact of Therapeutic Touch on the proliferation, differentiation, and mineralization of human bone-growing cells (“osteoblasts”) in vitro.
Therapeutic Touch (or TT, an energy healing practice used by many medical professionals) was provided to in vitro osteoblasts twice a week for 10-minute intervals over two weeks.
After the second week, DNA synthesis and mineralization significantly increased for TT compared to controls. Additionally, mineralization decreased in bone cancer cells (osteosarcoma) treated with TT.
Increased mineralization suggests the bone-growing cells are ready to grow faster and heal injuries to bones.
#2 Therapeutic Touch stimulates the proliferation of human cells in culture
This 2008 study also sought to assess the impact of Therapeutic Touch (TT) on the multiplication of human bone and connective tissue cells (osteoblasts, fibroblasts, and tenocytes).
As before, TT was administered for 10 minutes twice a week for two weeks. Some cultures got more sessions to see if there was a dose-dependent relationship.
The study found that TT twice a week weeks prompted significant growth of fibroblasts, osteoblasts, and tenocytes compared to the control group with no intervention. Four treatments per week further increased osteoblast multiplication.
#3 Effects of biofield therapy on calcium release in mouse keratinocyte cells
This study, published in Public Health Frontier in 2015, sought to explore the impact of biofield therapy on calcium release into mouse skin cells (keratinocyte HaCaT).
Pranic energy healing was applied for 15 minutes. Cells were then loaded with five micrometers of calcium and monitored for changes in intracellular calcium concentration.
The study found that cells treated with energy healing showed significant increases in calcium absorption and intracellular concentration.
Calcium is important for skin health, and increased calcium absorption in skin cells suggests they are becoming healthier.
Plant Studies on Energy Healing
Like cells in vitro, plants are also not affected by placebo, and make an excellent basis for energy healing research.
#4 Measuring effects of music, noise, and healing energy with seed germination
Conducted in 2004 and published in The Journal of Alternative Complementary Medicine, this study tested the effects of healing energy, pink noise (a variant on white noise), and music on seed germination (the sprouting of the seeds).
The study conducted a series of five experiments on okra and zucchini seeds, measuring how many seeds sprouted over 72 hours. Healing energy was provided for 15-20 minutes every 12 hours for the energy healing group. Altogether, a total of 4600 seeds were tested across 14 trials.
Energy healing and music both had a significant increase on seeds sprouting compared to the untreated group and the pink noise group.
Water Studies on Energy Healing
#5 Water held by therapeutic practitioners underwent infrared spectra alteration
Conducted in 2014, this study measured the impact of Therapeutic Touch (TT) on sealed vials of sterile water, measured via infrared spectrophotometry (a technique where a beam of infrared light is passed through the water to measure how much of which frequencies it absorbs).
The study included 14 trials, each trial employing a different TT practitioner. The study included several layers of controls alongside randomization and study blindness.
Researchers found that the carefully sealed vials of sterile water showed distinct changes after being held by therapeutic technique practitioners.
In other words, energy healing affected inanimate matter.
Animal Studies on Energy Healing
#6 Therapeutic touch leads to reductions in mouse breast cancer metastasis and immune responses
This 2015 study was designed to explore the impact of Therapeutic Touch (TT) on breast cancer tumors in mice. The mice received either TT or mock treatments for 10 minutes, twice per week over the course of 26 days.
While no significant differences in the primary tumor were found between the untreated control and TT group, the TT group showed significant reduction in metastasis (spread of the cancer).
Cancer growth typically elevates eleven types of cytokines (cellular messengers). The study found that mice who received therapeutic touch showed significantly reduced levels of four of the eleven cytokines compared to controls.
Human Studies
#7 Qigong for hypertension: a systematic review
This specific study was presented at the 11th International Congress of Behavioral Medicine in 2010, alongside several other studies exploring the health effects of Qigong, available here.
Researchers reviewed the clinical evidence of qigong for hypertension. They systematically analyzed all randomized clinical trials (RCTS) up through 2009 on the subject, and found that 12 RCTS met the necessary degree of scientific rigor to be included.
Seven of these RCTs explored the effects of qigong in combination with hypertensive drugs compared to hypertensive drugs alone. A meta-analysis found that qigong had a favorable effect on patients’ systolic and diastolic blood pressure.
Two RCTs explored qigong alone, compared to a control group on the waitlist for treatment, and found that qigong significantly reduced systolic blood pressure.
The final three RCTs explored qigong, exercise, and muscle relaxation, either alone or combined with antihypertensive drugs. In all three studies, qigong led to favorable results compared to the control.
So across all 11 studies, qigong showed improvements in hypertension, either alone or in combination with other treatments.
#8 Effects of qi therapy on PMS symptoms: an RCT
Published in The Journal of Alternative Complementary Medicine in 2004, this study tested qi therapy on premenstrual symptoms in women.
The study was relatively small, comprising just 36 college women with PMS symptoms, but is significant in its structure as a randomized placebo-controlled trial.
Subjects were divided into two groups: Those who received a placebo treatment, and those who received qi therapy. The interventions were performed a total of eight times during the second and third cycles as subjects completed PMS.
Researchers found that patients who received qi therapy saw significant improvements in symptoms of pain, water retention, and negative feeling compared to the placebo control group.
#9 The effect of therapeutic touch on pain and anxiety in burn patients
This randomized control study published in The Journal of Advanced Nursing tested the impact of Therapeutic Touch (TT) vs. placebo on burn patients, measuring 1) pain (as a supplement to narcotics), 2) anxiety, and 3) alterations in plasma T-lymphocytes (part of the immune system involved in inflammatory response).
Data was collected from 99 men and women who had been hospitalized for severe burns. Each patient received either sham or real TT once daily for five days. (Sham TT means the nurse touches the patient like in TT, but doesn’t move any energy.)
Patients who received TT experienced significantly greater reduction in pain and anxiety than those who received the sham treatment. Lymphocyte concentrations in the blood also dropped significantly for patients who received the real TT.
#10 The effects of therapeutic touch on patients with knee osteoarthritis
This RCT study published in the Journal of Family Practice examined the effectiveness of Therapeutic Touch (TT) for treating knee osteoarthritis.
Twenty-five patients between 40-80 years were separated into three groups and received either TT, sham TT, or neither. The study found that patients who received TT experienced significantly improved function and reduced pain.
#11 Effects of healing touch on pain and mobility of people with osteoarthritis
This 2013 RCT study tested the effects of Healing Touch (HT) on mobility, joint function, pain, and depression for people with knee osteoarthritis.
Patients received either weekly friendly visits or HT sessions three times per week for six weeks. Participants that received HT sessions experienced significant improvements in 9 out of 12 variables, including improvements in joint function and decreases in joint pain, some of which lasted up to three weeks post-treatment.
#12 Clinical Studies of Biofield Therapies: Summary, Methodological Challenges, and Recommendations
The final study we’ll be touching on is a review of the research on quality biofield (energy healing) studies up through 2015, particularly in the arenas of pain and cancer management.
Researchers started with a previous systematic review of 30+ published clinical trials, mainly with populations with chronic pain, arthritis, and impaired movement. It showed strong evidence for the effectiveness of biofield therapy in reducing self-reported pain intensity.
Another independent review that examined exclusively RCTs found that biofield practices decreased pain beyond the effects of placebo controls and standard care.
Researchers reviewed over 15 clinical trials that examined the effects of biofield therapies for patients with cancer. Numerous studies have found biofield therapies to contribute to significant decreases in persistent fatigue and depression. In addition, biofield therapies had positive effects on markers of cancer.
This review of studies also noted that positive results have been reported for patients with osteoarthritis, dementia, and for those in palliative care.
The Science of Energy Healing
This research gave me the confidence to start my healing practice. It showed me that energy healing isn’t just in our head. It works on cells in a Petri dish, plants and animals, and has profound effects on humans.
