Many practitioners also claim that therapeutic touch can help with fibromyalgia, sleep apnea, high blood pressure, lupus, addictions, and many other medical conditions (“Therapeutic touch,” 2016). Although traditional healing methods are also effect, therapeutic touch “stimulates the body’s natural healing process,” enabling the individual to health at a faster rate and reducing the side effects of traditional treatments (Bach, 2015). Touch therapy practitioners also complete several hours and levels of training to insure proper patient care, including a 12-hour basic therapeutic touch program, 14-hour intermediate program, complete at least 36 hours of work under the guidance of a qualified touch therapy practitioner, and practice therapeutic touch at least twice weekly with documentation of sessions and completion of case studies (“Qualified Therapeutic Touch,” 2016). Regardless of personal opinions, practitioners of therapeutic touch believe in their therapies and research and take great strides to insure proper patient …show more content…
However, how acupuncture works remains unclear. One theory suggests that stimulated nerve fibers transmit signals to the central nervous system, which then, in turn, releases pain-reducing hormones. Other studies suggest that it increases an individual’s pain threshold, which may explain why it cases long-term pain relief, increases body temperature, and affect the body’s while blood cell activity (Ehrlich, 2016). Other known medical applications of acupuncture include: nausea relief, asthma, addiction, irregular menstrual cycle, IBS, facial tics, and diarrhea (Ehrlich). Like most traditional medical practice, most states require that acupuncturists have a license and a title (Lac) and the American Academy of Medical Acupuncture can provide a list of licensed practitioners (Ehrlich, 2016). Acupuncture claims many benefits over traditional medicine, up to and including reducing the side effects of chemotherapy without drugs and the wide variety of ailments it treats outnumbers any singular drug that a physician would prescribe (Ehrlich, 2016). Although having someone insert needles into one’s body man seem intimidating for some, many doctors studies support that acupuncture is a viable and almost painless alternative to traditional