How can Reiki Help With Pain?

In alternative medicine, Reiki is a treatment in which healing energy is channeled from the practitioner to the patient to enhance energy and reduce stress, pain, and fatigue. Practitioners say that it works by opening up a channel between healer and patient to transfer energy — a Reiki healer restores the body both physically and mentally.  

 

During a Reiki session, muscles are relaxed, and energy flow is unblocked. This helps reduce physical tension and pain. Anxiety and stress also are reduced, helping to unblock and release emotional pain. Although you may not be completely pain-free, you feel relaxed, refreshed, and better able to cope with your condition.

 

Reiki is very effective with no side effects.  No serious side effects or risks have been identified in the medical literature on Reiki, and it is considered to be a very low-risk intervention, since Reiki is facilitated either with a very light touch or with no touch — slightly off the body — it provides a therapeutic option for those who are in pain or unable to be touched.

 

Reiki and Chronic Pain 

Chrnic pain affects the lifestyle of millions of people every day. The pain can last for months or even years. It may disappear and then return for no obvious reason, may be limited to a single part of the anatomy, or affect the entire body. Chronic pain may not even have a clear connection to a physical cause. Often the pain cannot be measured by conventional diagnostic tests, yet it is real and can be life altering. 

Fiding a practitioner who can successfully treat chronic pain can be frustrating. Many people go from doctor to doctor achieving only minimal relief. This is especially true when the cause of the pain cannot be attributed to a specific physical event, such as a broken bone or arthritis. Reiki is a system of healing that treats the entire person both mentally and physically. It is non-invasive and can be used alone or as a complementary therapy with other conventional or alternative therapies for chronic pain.

How Does Reiki Help Chronic Pain?

Chronic pain can arise from many sources, both physical and emotional. These include pain from stress; psychological, spiritual, and emotional distress; from injuries and physical overwork; and pain caused by disease.

By opening up a channel between healer and patient to transfer energy, a Reiki healer restores the body both physically and mentally. Muscles are relaxed and energy flow is unblocked. This helps reduce physical tension and pain. Anxiety and stress also are reduced, helping to unblock and release emotional pain. Although the patient may not be completely pain free, he or she feels relaxed, refreshed, and is better able to cope with his or her condition.

Reiki for Lower Back Pain

Lower back pain is the most common type of chronic pain. Treatment of chronic lower back pain is often frustrating for conventional medical practitioners because the source of the pain is non-specific. Reiki treats lower back pain with a holistic approach. It goes beyond site-specific treatment by releasing and rebalancing energy flow and reducing the stress. It also opens emotional channels and releases stressful emotions that may be causing the body to assume physically painful defensive postures that result in lower back pain.

 

Reiki for Pain from Injuries  

Pain from injuries, whether chronic, such as carpal tunnel syndrome and other repetitive stress injuries, or acute, such as a sports injury, can be alleviated or moderated through the use of Reiki. The healer directs energy toward the site of the pain, stimulating healing. Reiki can be used either alone or in conjunction with other healing therapies to treat injuries.

Reiki for Emotional Pain

Reiki is extremely effective in healing pain caused by emotional tensions and psychological distress that has built up inside the body. Often disturbing emotions manifest themselves as physical tension. Reiki works on a physical level, rebalancing energy flow to relieve tension, but the channel it opens between healer and patient also allow it to work on a psychological and spiritual level to release traumatic emotions. The release of distressing thought helps the patient find mental peace and spiritual renewal.