The effect of Therapeutic Touch on Back Pain in Adults on a Neurological Unit: An Experimental Pilot Study.

BACKGROUND: Chronic back pain affects many aspects of everyday life and is a common reason for medical visits, leading to high direct and indirect health care costs. Innovative and cost-effective nonpharmacologic pain management methods should be promoted to ensure adequate treatment.

AIMS: The aim of this pilot study was to investigate the pain-relieving effect of Therapeutic Touch in adult neurologic patients with back pain.

DESIGN: A pretest-post-test randomized controlled trial.

SETTINGS: A university hospital in Austria.

PARTICIPANTS/SUBJECTS: Patients with back pain diagnosis (N = 29) on hospital admission.

METHODS: A pilot study was conducted for 3 months. The control group (n = 14) received the pharmacologic pain management recommended by the World Health Organization; patients in the intervention group (n = 15) received additionally four Therapeutic Touch treatments on 4 consecutive days. The Quebec Back Pain Disability Scale and the Numeric Pain Rating Scale were used as outcome measures to evaluate activity domains affected by back pain and pain intensity.

RESULTS: Pain improvement was found in the intervention group according to the mean score of the Quebec Back Pain Disability Scale (day 1: 72.53, standard deviation [SD] ± 14.10; day 4: 39.47, SD ± 8.77; p < .001). The Numerical Pain Rating Scale score averaged 4.33 points (SD ± 2.09) on the first day and 2.47 points (SD ± 1.12) on the fourth day. The long-term effect of Therapeutic Touch was significant and indicated a major effect (Pillai's trace = .641, F(3.12)  = 7.1, p = .005, ηp 2  = .641).

CONCLUSIONS: Therapeutic Touch seems to be a noninvasive nursing intervention for back pain management to provide more professional patient care.