Energy medicine is one of five domains of “complementary and alternative medicine” identified by the National Institutes of Health (National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine of NIH, or NCCAM, 2005). It is based on the supposition that illness results from disturbances in the body’s energies and energy fields and can be addressed via interventions into those energies and energy fields (Feinstein & Eden, 2007).
Many of the body’s electrical systems and electromagnetic fields are well-known, readily verified, and a focus of established interventions. The application of lasers and magnetic pulsation, for instance, can be described in terms of specific, measurable wavelengths and frequencies that have been found to be therapeutic. Other postulated energies are considered to be of a more subtle nature and have not been directly measured by reproducible methods. Healing Touch, Reiki, and qi gong, for instance, purportedly influence subtle energies in ways that have not been detected by mechanical devices, and their reported therapeutic actions are not well-understood within conventional paradigms (Feinstein, 2007). Some practitioners of these methods, however, claim that they “can work with this subtle energy, see it with their own eyes, and use it to effect changes in the physical body and influence health” (NCCAM, 2005).
The practice of energy medicine dates back at least 5,000 years. A mummified body from around 3000 B.C. had tattoos on exactly the points that are indicated in Traditional Chinese Medicine for treating the kind of lumbar spine arthritis revealed by an x-ray analysis of the body. Meanwhile, the term "energy medicine" has been in general use since the founding of the non-profit International Society for the Study of Subtle Energies and Energy Medicine (http://www.issseem.org) in the 1980s and was further defined by two books, each titled Energy Medicine, one which is a guide for practitioners (Eden, 1998) and one which surveys existing research evidence (Oschman, 2000).
Energy medicine is a comprehensive term for practices that include acupuncture, acupressure, laser therapy, light therapy, magnetic therapy, millimeter wave therapy, sound therapy, qi gong, energy psychology, Reiki, Johrei, Healing Touch, Therapeutic Touch, Touch for Health, Applied Kinesiology, Energy Kinesiology, Brennan Energy Science, Eden Energy Medicine, distant healing, intuitive medicine, and intercessory prayer. A more detailed overview of energy medicine can be found at http://energymedicineprinciples.com