What alternative health

practitioners might not tell you

 

ebm-first.com

Note that some links will break as pages are moved, websites are abandoned, etc.

If this happens, please try searching for the page in the Wayback Machine at www.archive.org.

Read the original article

“Some CAM practices involve manipulation of various energy fields to affect health. Such fields may be characterized as veritable (measurable) or putative (yet to be measured). Practices based on veritable forms of energy include those involving electromagnetic fields (e.g., magnet therapy and light therapy). Practices based on putative energy fields (also called biofields) generally reflect the concept that human beings are infused with subtle forms of energy; qi gong, Reiki, and healing touch are examples of such practices [2]. NCCAM's description of nonmeasurable "energy fields" is interesting. Various dictionaries define putative as "commonly regarded as such," "reputed," "supposed," "considered to exist," and/or "assumed to be such or to exist." [3] I believe that "putative" implies general acceptance. Most dictionaries do not include the word biofield. The most accurate way to characterize the "energy fields" of qi gong, reiki, and healing touch is that they do not exist and that belief in them is delusional, and therefore that tax dollars should not be spent studying them. But NCCAM prefers language that suggests that they might be real and therefore worthy of government-funded study.” Barrett S. NCCAM Watch (28th July 2011)