Problem: Management of intractable pain has been dominated by medication alone. With the growing prevalence of opioid abuse and dependence in the United States, it is prudent to seriously consider integrating Complementary and Alternative Medicine into pain control regimens. Reiki therapy, an energy flow therapy becoming more popular in various institutions across the country, has had scant research done exploring its efficacy. Methods: Peer reviewed articles within the last 10 years have had mixed results when measuring subjective and objective effects of Reiki. Articles were found via PubMed database using the terms "Reiki research", "Reiki" and "pain", "Reiki" and "cancer", and "intractable pain." Results: The majority of studies have found that Reiki provides a subjective decrease in pain and fatigue with a concurrent increase in energy and quality of life. However, when compared to placebo or "sham" Reiki, the studies have not been large enough or long enough to discern any significant difference from true Reiki. Conclusions: Further studies with extended courses of Reiki as compared to placebo or "sham" groups with a larger patient sample size are needed to discover if true Reiki therapy has any of the benefits practitioners claim it has, as measured both subjectively and objectively.
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