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Energy Medicine in Therapeutics and Human Performance
Complementary Therapies in Medicine (2004) 12, 59—60
MEDIA REVIEWS
Clinical Research in Complementary Therapies. Principles, Problems and Solutions G. Lewith, W.B. Jonas, H. Walach (Eds.), Published by Churchill Livingstone, 2002, Paperback, 376 pp., ISBN 0 443 06367 2, £25.99 The publication of this book is good news for all interested in clinical research in complementary/alternative medicine (CAM). Readers may remember its forerunner, Clinical Research Methodology, edited by Lewith and Alridge,1 a milestone text which marked the fruitful meeting between CAM and the theory of evidence-based medicine, and started the long and difficult road to integration. Nine years on, this new book allows us to measure how far we have come, and how refined are the present investigations in this stimulating field. It also shows us some of the difficulties along the way, e.g. the fact that ‘‘the basic mindset for this research is to test whether a CAM treatment works rather than to prove that it does work, and this attitude may seem incomprehensible to practitioners because they are surrounded by grateful patients every day’’ (p. 307). The book has two sections. Section 1 deals with the strategic theoretical and practical issues raised by CAM research, sweeping from methods for bettering the daily practice (clinical audit) to others usually handled by professional researchers (randomized controlled trials). Strategic issues, like the placebo effect, safety, the economic evaluation of complementary therapies, and others, are discussed in dedicated chapters, written by some of the most authoritative experts in the field. Section 2 translates the issues raised in the first into a variety of specific therapies, including herbal medicine, homeopathy, manual therapy, massage, environmental medicine, acupuncture, distant healing, and naturopathy. The tone of this book left me with the impression that clinical research in CAM is slowly but surely developing its own language and theory and, at the same time, setting off its points and territory. No doubt this process will help CAM to leave the limbo of ‘‘non science’’, integrate with mainstream medicine, and enrich the latter with its patient-centered attitude of mind. An example of
this enhanced CAM self-esteem is the growing attention that the book gives to pragmatic research, although explanatory research is still the focus. On the other hand, two strategic points seem to me still poorly investigated if not totally removed. The first relates to Traditional Medicines: the relation and collaboration with the Traditions’ original owners, no matter if easy or difficult, cannot be evaded any longer. The second relates to the conflict of interests and to good quality information for the public: the best way to avoid the mistakes of mainstream medical research in these fields is to involve the consumers in fixing priorities and in discussing outcomes of clinical research.
Reference 1. Lewith G, Alridge D, editors. Clinical research methodology. Hodder & Stoughton; 1993.
Francesco Cardini doi: 10.1016/S0965-2299(03)00123-7
Energy Medicine in Therapeutics and Human Performance James L. Oschman, Butterworth Heinemann (Elsevier Science), 2003, P/back, xxxviii + 359 pp, Price: £19.99, ISBN 0-7506-5400-7 ‘Models are Just Models . . . ‘‘Truth’’ is Actually a Relative Matter’ Prologue Energy medicine: The Scientific Basis (Churchill Livingstone, 2000) may be familiar to many readers. The first major book by Jim Oschman, a former cellular biologist turned multidisciplinary researcher, it provided an introduction to current scientific thinking on the concept of ‘energy’ in energy medicine. This new book is not so much a sequel as an enlarged restatement of much of what Oschman has written before, in particular, of his position that living energetics has a scientific basis and
60 can be pictured without reference to ‘mysterious or unknown forces’. As such, it is a book of ideas, hypotheses, speculations, drawn from many sources (mostly scientific, but many not), a huge and sometimes indigestible bricolage of juxtaposed headings, slogans and jostling quotations, a ‘stamp collection’ from which Oschman redistils his vision of the ‘tensegruous’ living matrix, the ‘continuum consciousness’ that he believes underlies bodymind function and healing. Despite its title, the book is not so much about therapeutics and human performance in practice as ‘multiple working hypotheses’ for understanding this practice. Thus it is designed not so much to convince as to inquire and stimulate creative thought. As such, it is admirable as a piece of experimental writing, even if, after the intellectual excitement (and sometimes confusion) of reading it, you may well be left somewhat unsure what to actually do with the ferment of ideas it stirs. The book is divided into 25 chapters, together with a lengthy prologue and introduction, and followed by an afterword and appendices. Two of the chapters are ostensibly about acupuncture—‘The living matrix and acupuncture’ and ‘More clues from acupuncture’ (chapters 10 and 11)—although, as Oschman says, all of the material presented before these ‘may relate to acupuncture theory’. In chapter 10, he sketches how the meridian network can be considered as a high-speed communication system, a signal processing network built up of bioelectronic components (this is material he has written about elsewhere). In chapter 11, he looks at Stephen Birch’s ‘splinter hypothesis’ of acupuncture, more recent research on needle grasp and the winding of conductive tissue fibres around the needle, meridians as fascial linkages throughout the body, and the electrical and other characteristics of wound healing. He concludes, as he has before, that ‘we now recognise’ the living matrix as ‘the origin, conductor and interpreter of qi’, giving rise to and maintaining the form of the organism. I am not quite sure who ‘we’ is. Succeeding chapters are loosely organised around concepts such as ‘the continuum in natural systems’, biological coherence, limitations of the neuron doctrine, ‘sensation and movement’ (in which, however, somato sensory perception, so central to acupuncture, is barely mentioned), solitons, soft tissue memory, holography . . . . As in
Media Reviews his earlier book, it is easy to be carried along by Oschman’s scientific optimism that all, eventually, can be explained by science, but again as in his earlier book the fine details of what is testable and usable in practice are glossed over. For example, in a brief appendix on the application of ‘magnetobiology and electro-dynamic fields in therapeutics and human performance’, only a very perfunctory sketch is given of how energy medicine could be applied to injuries on the football field. The appendix concludes with exhortatory words about ‘transcendent performance’ as ‘the basic stuff of human evolutionary progress’. For me, these phrases somehow summarise what I feel is disquieting about Oschman’s writing. As an acupuncturist, I believe the key to the ‘evolution’ of both patient and practitioner lies in their interaction on many levels. Spiritual growth, the deepening of our connection with what is other than our small selves, happens not just through ‘transcendence’, but through an acceptance that sometimes suffering is necessary. Healing cannot occur if there are no discontinuities in the living matrix of our lives. Mind’s models can never do justice to the richness and mystery of life (although of course they are part of it). Having said this, in the very readable afterword to this book, Oschman not only summarises some of the key themes he has explored but also reaches, tentatively, towards an understanding of unconsciousness, consciousness and meaning. As he says, ultimately healing transcends method (and models). In conclusion, this book, sometimes dry, confusing, exciting, exhausting, in parts a very readable homage to Jim Oschman’s teacher-guru, Nobel laureate Albert Szent-Györgyi, is useful if you want to think about acupuncture or bodywork practice in biological/biophysical terms. It encourages focus on the patient-practitioner interaction and, paradoxically, stilling the mind to listen and observe. However, a lot of it is scientific, even pseudoscientific froth, best left on the beach after the tide recedes. Readers will have to decide for themselves what to take back with them into the depths of their practice, what to discard as so much flotsam and jetsam. David Mayor doi: 10.1016/S0965-2299(03)00146-8
MEDIA REVIEWS
Clinical Research in Complementary Therapies. Principles, Problems and Solutions G. Lewith, W.B. Jonas, H. Walach (Eds.), Published by Churchill Livingstone, 2002, Paperback, 376 pp., ISBN 0 443 06367 2, £25.99 The publication of this book is good news for all interested in clinical research in complementary/alternative medicine (CAM). Readers may remember its forerunner, Clinical Research Methodology, edited by Lewith and Alridge,1 a milestone text which marked the fruitful meeting between CAM and the theory of evidence-based medicine, and started the long and difficult road to integration. Nine years on, this new book allows us to measure how far we have come, and how refined are the present investigations in this stimulating field. It also shows us some of the difficulties along the way, e.g. the fact that ‘‘the basic mindset for this research is to test whether a CAM treatment works rather than to prove that it does work, and this attitude may seem incomprehensible to practitioners because they are surrounded by grateful patients every day’’ (p. 307). The book has two sections. Section 1 deals with the strategic theoretical and practical issues raised by CAM research, sweeping from methods for bettering the daily practice (clinical audit) to others usually handled by professional researchers (randomized controlled trials). Strategic issues, like the placebo effect, safety, the economic evaluation of complementary therapies, and others, are discussed in dedicated chapters, written by some of the most authoritative experts in the field. Section 2 translates the issues raised in the first into a variety of specific therapies, including herbal medicine, homeopathy, manual therapy, massage, environmental medicine, acupuncture, distant healing, and naturopathy. The tone of this book left me with the impression that clinical research in CAM is slowly but surely developing its own language and theory and, at the same time, setting off its points and territory. No doubt this process will help CAM to leave the limbo of ‘‘non science’’, integrate with mainstream medicine, and enrich the latter with its patient-centered attitude of mind. An example of
this enhanced CAM self-esteem is the growing attention that the book gives to pragmatic research, although explanatory research is still the focus. On the other hand, two strategic points seem to me still poorly investigated if not totally removed. The first relates to Traditional Medicines: the relation and collaboration with the Traditions’ original owners, no matter if easy or difficult, cannot be evaded any longer. The second relates to the conflict of interests and to good quality information for the public: the best way to avoid the mistakes of mainstream medical research in these fields is to involve the consumers in fixing priorities and in discussing outcomes of clinical research.
Reference 1. Lewith G, Alridge D, editors. Clinical research methodology. Hodder & Stoughton; 1993.
Francesco Cardini doi: 10.1016/S0965-2299(03)00123-7
Energy Medicine in Therapeutics and Human Performance James L. Oschman, Butterworth Heinemann (Elsevier Science), 2003, P/back, xxxviii + 359 pp, Price: £19.99, ISBN 0-7506-5400-7 ‘Models are Just Models . . . ‘‘Truth’’ is Actually a Relative Matter’ Prologue Energy medicine: The Scientific Basis (Churchill Livingstone, 2000) may be familiar to many readers. The first major book by Jim Oschman, a former cellular biologist turned multidisciplinary researcher, it provided an introduction to current scientific thinking on the concept of ‘energy’ in energy medicine. This new book is not so much a sequel as an enlarged restatement of much of what Oschman has written before, in particular, of his position that living energetics has a scientific basis and
60 can be pictured without reference to ‘mysterious or unknown forces’. As such, it is a book of ideas, hypotheses, speculations, drawn from many sources (mostly scientific, but many not), a huge and sometimes indigestible bricolage of juxtaposed headings, slogans and jostling quotations, a ‘stamp collection’ from which Oschman redistils his vision of the ‘tensegruous’ living matrix, the ‘continuum consciousness’ that he believes underlies bodymind function and healing. Despite its title, the book is not so much about therapeutics and human performance in practice as ‘multiple working hypotheses’ for understanding this practice. Thus it is designed not so much to convince as to inquire and stimulate creative thought. As such, it is admirable as a piece of experimental writing, even if, after the intellectual excitement (and sometimes confusion) of reading it, you may well be left somewhat unsure what to actually do with the ferment of ideas it stirs. The book is divided into 25 chapters, together with a lengthy prologue and introduction, and followed by an afterword and appendices. Two of the chapters are ostensibly about acupuncture—‘The living matrix and acupuncture’ and ‘More clues from acupuncture’ (chapters 10 and 11)—although, as Oschman says, all of the material presented before these ‘may relate to acupuncture theory’. In chapter 10, he sketches how the meridian network can be considered as a high-speed communication system, a signal processing network built up of bioelectronic components (this is material he has written about elsewhere). In chapter 11, he looks at Stephen Birch’s ‘splinter hypothesis’ of acupuncture, more recent research on needle grasp and the winding of conductive tissue fibres around the needle, meridians as fascial linkages throughout the body, and the electrical and other characteristics of wound healing. He concludes, as he has before, that ‘we now recognise’ the living matrix as ‘the origin, conductor and interpreter of qi’, giving rise to and maintaining the form of the organism. I am not quite sure who ‘we’ is. Succeeding chapters are loosely organised around concepts such as ‘the continuum in natural systems’, biological coherence, limitations of the neuron doctrine, ‘sensation and movement’ (in which, however, somato sensory perception, so central to acupuncture, is barely mentioned), solitons, soft tissue memory, holography . . . . As in
Media Reviews his earlier book, it is easy to be carried along by Oschman’s scientific optimism that all, eventually, can be explained by science, but again as in his earlier book the fine details of what is testable and usable in practice are glossed over. For example, in a brief appendix on the application of ‘magnetobiology and electro-dynamic fields in therapeutics and human performance’, only a very perfunctory sketch is given of how energy medicine could be applied to injuries on the football field. The appendix concludes with exhortatory words about ‘transcendent performance’ as ‘the basic stuff of human evolutionary progress’. For me, these phrases somehow summarise what I feel is disquieting about Oschman’s writing. As an acupuncturist, I believe the key to the ‘evolution’ of both patient and practitioner lies in their interaction on many levels. Spiritual growth, the deepening of our connection with what is other than our small selves, happens not just through ‘transcendence’, but through an acceptance that sometimes suffering is necessary. Healing cannot occur if there are no discontinuities in the living matrix of our lives. Mind’s models can never do justice to the richness and mystery of life (although of course they are part of it). Having said this, in the very readable afterword to this book, Oschman not only summarises some of the key themes he has explored but also reaches, tentatively, towards an understanding of unconsciousness, consciousness and meaning. As he says, ultimately healing transcends method (and models). In conclusion, this book, sometimes dry, confusing, exciting, exhausting, in parts a very readable homage to Jim Oschman’s teacher-guru, Nobel laureate Albert Szent-Györgyi, is useful if you want to think about acupuncture or bodywork practice in biological/biophysical terms. It encourages focus on the patient-practitioner interaction and, paradoxically, stilling the mind to listen and observe. However, a lot of it is scientific, even pseudoscientific froth, best left on the beach after the tide recedes. Readers will have to decide for themselves what to take back with them into the depths of their practice, what to discard as so much flotsam and jetsam. David Mayor doi: 10.1016/S0965-2299(03)00146-8