Effects of therapeutic touch on blood hemoglobin and hematocrit level.
BACKGROUND
Therapeutic Touch (TT) is a widely used complementary therapy. This study investigated the effects of TT on hemoglobin and hematocrit level in students who were basically healthy.


METHODS
The volunteers with a hemoglobin level less than 12 grams per deciliter (g/dl) were randomly assigned to three groups of TT, mimic therapeutic touch (MT), and control. Blood samples were collected before the first treatment and again a week after the last one and measurements were taken.


RESULTS
TT increased the level of hemoglobin (.99 .13 g/dl) and hematocrit (2.82 .43%) significantly. MT also increased the level of hemoglobin (.55 .11 g/dl) and hematocrit (2.75 .44%) significantly. No significant changes were found in the control group. TT increased hemoglobin more effectively than MT (p< .05).


CONCLUSIONS
Significant changes of both variables in TT and MTgroups suggest that more careful precision might be needed while selecting individuals as sham therapists in further experiments.
Movaffaghi
Zahra
Z
Mashad University of Medical Sciences.
Hasanpoor
Morteza
M
Farsi
Mohammad
M
Hooshmand
Poory
P
Abrishami
Fatemeh
F
D000328:Adult; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D005260:Female; D006400:Hematocrit / Q000451:nursing*; D006454:Hemoglobins / Q000378:metabolism*; D006694:Holistic Health; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D012016:Reference Values; D012107:Research Design; D019124:Therapeutic Touch / Q000451:nursing*
D006454:Hemoglobins