Energy therapies for physical and occupational therapists working with older adults

Discusses complementary and alternative healing practices for physical and occupational therapists working with older adults. Qigong is an approach that promotes the ability to control personal energy, thereby ensuring a harmonious balance of energy and wellness. In polarity therapy, disease or illness is thought to be due to a disruption of energy flow; this therapy releases blocked energy and manipulates energy flow between negative and positive charges. Reiki is an ancient energetic healing practice that uses the laying on of hands. Its underlying assumption is that disharmony in subtle energy fields can result in physical or emotional dysfunction or illness. Intervention is therefore directed at affecting or modulating energy fields or flow. Therapeutic touch is a contemporary interpretation of several ancient healing practices, 1 of which is the laying on of hands. Therapeutic touch practitioners believe that disease reflects an imbalance in the human energy field, and that its balance can support an individual's own power for self-healing.