She also shows women how to do effleurage, a delicate fluttering of the fingers on the abdomen. Healthcare providers may also be looking toward alternative treatments such as massage in response to a changing patient population. And people are living longer, meaning there are more cases of chronic diseases. These patients have exhausted their medical options. So now there is a growing re-emphasis on how to comfort patients.
Therapeutic touch looks something like giving a massage without actually touching the skin.
The therapist places her hands a few inches away from the first area to be treated, and moves them around in a prescribed pattern. You can detect changes in an energy field that can be related to pain. If you smooth the energy field, you can create changes in a person's condition, whether it be pain or restlessness. In a pilot study conducted for her master's thesis, Statler concluded that nightly sessions of therapeutic touch given to a small group of Alzheimer's patients for five days helped improve their behavior. Nurses who had been blinded to the purpose of the study evaluated the patients several times each night.