Therapeutic touch has been practised for some time, but like most complementary therapies, it carries images of being ‘unscientific! for many sceptical practitioners. The author defines the therapy, then summarises some of the research which measured its effectiveness. Therapeutic touch, she believes, helps patients to get themselves into the best state for self-healing to occur

Modern physicists have now joined the mystics in perceiving the universe as a dynamic web of interrelated events, none of which functions in isolation. Eastern philosophies have always viewed humans and the environment as being inseparable and co-extensive with the universe. Some may recognise this concept as Ancient Wisdom, which can be traced back to between 7,000 to 8,000 years ago, but it is only in the last 20 years that quantum physics has made it ‘scientific’.