Scientists Discover a Surprising Way to Reduce Pain Without Medication

Chronic pain affects more than 60 million adults in the US. Perhaps you’ve tried heat therapy, cold plunges, stretching, over-the-counter pain medicines, supplements, injections, and possibly surgery, without getting relief. Constant pain can make your day-to-day life challenging.

“Knee osteoarthritis pain can deeply impact daily life, from walking and exercising to simply getting through the day,” says head researcher Adam Hanley, PhD. “Seeing meaningful reductions without medication is encouraging and opens the door for safer, complementary options.”

New research from experts at Harvard, the University of Utah, and Florida State University found that two complementary therapies can help end the pain cycle of knee osteoarthritis: Reiki and a mindfulness practice. This was published in the journal Complementary Therapies in Medicine. Other studies have also found Reiki to be effective in reducing pain.

What is Reiki?

Reiki, which originated in Japan in the 1920s, is a practice of light-touch or hands-off techniques to support the body's natural healing response, redirecting energy in the body for various mental health and physical ailments. Until now, there’s been scant scientific evidence that this technique truly works, or it’s just some form of placebo effect, but the participants who received Reiki treatment from a trained professional experienced pain relief.

Mindfulness Practice

In addition, a mindfulness practice, which may include certain breathing techniques have also been shown to offer pain relief, even more so than people in the Reiki arm of the trial. The researchers followed up at one month and two months to see if the therapy has lasting benefits.

“Reiki’s potentially lasting benefit, combined with strong patient engagement and minimal adverse events, supports continued investigation into its role in whole-person care approaches for chronic pain and may prove to be an effective approach for addressing chronic pain relief,” says Rob R. Edwards, PhD, Associate Professor of Anesthesia and a licensed clinical psychologist in the Pain Management Center at Brigham and Women’s Hospital / Harvard Medical School.

Larger clinical trials are needed to more deeply investigate the efficacy of this treatment. Going forward, this may be used in addition to, but not instead of, traditional pain relief techniques. Consider it another tool in the toolbox.