Healing touch, music, aids heart surgery patients

[Celebration]

http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=healthNews&storyID=2005-07-15T172140Z_01_B232717_RTRIDST_0_HEALTH-HEALING-TOUCH-DC.XML

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - People who learned about relaxed breathing and received soothing touch and music before heart surgery were more likely to be alive 6 months after the procedure, suggesting that these additional steps help speed recovery, according to a study released today.

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During the study, Krucoff and his colleagues assigned 748 patients undergoing heart surgery to receive either off-site prayer from congregations of various religions, or music, imagery and touch therapy, also called MIT, or no intervention. Patients did not know if they were being prayed for.

People who were prayed for appeared to fare no better after the heart procedure, and neither prayer nor MIT therapy had any effect on patients' risk of in-hospital heart events or readmission to the hospital within 6 months.

However, those who received MIT were 65 percent less likely to die within the following 6 months than people who did not receive the intervention.

Comment: Interesting the different takes on this by different publications-- some highlight the apparent lack of effect of prayer, while others emphasize the positive effect of MIT.

[Droopy]

1. I know if I were going in for heart surgery

I'd want all of the positive vibes I could get. I don't know if it really helps, but I figure it cannot hurt.