: Johrei is a biofield therapy established in Japan that is purportedly derived from techniques thousands of years old. Johrei is practiced in centers worldwide, and claims that it can serve as a complementary medicine modality, to enhance recovery from surgery. As part of the Center for Frontier Medicine in Biofield Science, this collaborative three-year project is designed to determine if Johrei, practiced proximally (at the bedside) or distally (away from the patient), has effects that can documented clinically, psychophysiologically, and biophysically. Two studies are proposed. Study 1 (primary) is an exploratory, double-blind distal clinical Johrei experiment examining recovery from elective surgery (hernia and coronary bypass) on subjective pain, anxiety and depression, use of pain medication, wound healing, medical complications, and patient satisfaction, as well as on physiological recovery (as indexed by heart rate variability) in coronary bypass surgery patients. Study 2 (secondary) is an exploratory, non-blind proximal basic science and clinical Johrei experiment examining measures of ECG and EEG in practitioners and patients as possible psychophysiological and biophysical markers of recovery from elective surgery. In Study 1, hernia patients (N=60) and coronary bypass patients (N=60) will be randomly assigned to receive Johrei therapy. Both the patients and the hospital staff will be blind to which patients receive Johrei. Distal Johrei will be provided twice a day (a) 3 days before surgery, (b) during surgery, and (c) 3 days after surgery. To assess changes in heart rate variability in coronary bypass surgery patients, ECG measures of recovery will be obtained on day 4 pre-operative (before Johrei therapy in the Johrei group), and days 3, 14, and 28 post-operative. In addition to regular clinical outcome measures, patient's beliefs about CAM therapy before and after surgery will be ascertained. The specific hypothesis is that distal Johrei will have significant effects on measures of recover) front surgery, and this effect may be amplified in patients most open to receiving CAM assistance. In Study 2 (run in parallel), a separate sample of hernia patients (N=60) and coronary bypass patients (N=60) will be randomly assigned to receive proximal Johrei therapy. The therapy will be provided twice a day for 3 days after surgery. ECG and two sites of EEG will be simultaneously recorded from the practitioner and the patient. Established measures of heart rate variability, and EEG spectral analysis, as well as innovative measures of ECG-EEG synchrony within and between practitioner and patient. will be assessed. The specific hypothesis is that proximal Johrei will have significant effects on measures of recovery front surgery, and that this effect will be strongest in patients who show the greatest increases in heart rate variability, EEG alpha-theta, and practitioner/patient ECG-EEG synchrony. This will be the first comprehensive project to evaluate the potential CAM effects of a biofield therapy in recovery from surgery as well as explore the application of psychophysiological marker; to document the purported physiological and biophysical interaction effects resumed to occur in biofield therapies.
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