Issue link: https://www.massageandbodyworkdigital.com/i/640605
Concepts such as "draining my energy," transfer of "bad energy," maintaining proper "polarity of energy flows" from the therapist to the client, and protection by surrounding oneself with "white light" are often mentioned. Intention is a powerful factor in therapeutic interactions, but these concepts have little basis in current science, with the exception of "draining my energy." We now have a likely scientific explanation, based on simple physics, for describing the loss of electrons and consequent reduction in ATP production when a client's inflammation pulls electrons from a therapist. Inflammation is one of the most widely studied phenomena in medical research: a search for "inflammation" on PubMed (www.pubmed.gov) shows nearly 500,000 articles published between 1819 and 2015. By far, the most significant finding in all of this research is the nearly universal relationship between inflammation and virtually every chronic disease. An unsolved mystery has been why this correlation exists. Our research offers an explanation: disconnection with the earth. While science is still attempting to determine what causes chronic pain, we know from Earthing research that grounding offers a natural and effective solution. Specifically, Richard Brown and his colleagues at the University of Oregon studied the effects of Earthing on delayed-onset muscle soreness (DOMS), the muscular pain and stiffness that takes place hours to days after excessive, strenuous, or unfamiliar exercise—overdoing it, in other words. DOMS is widely used as a research model by exercise and sports physiologists. Brown's study showed that "grounding the body to the earth alters measures of immune system activity and pain," suggesting that grounding appears to speed recovery from DOMS. 13 Physicians and practitioners of a wide variety of bodywork, energy, and movement therapies are aware of the necessity of protecting themselves from picking up pathologies through skin contact with their clients. Since the work of Ignaz Semmelweis, Louis Pasteur, and Joseph Lister in the 1800s, handwashing to prevent the spread of infection has become routine. Earthing research has revealed that inflammation, like infection, may also be contagious. Grounding clients greatly reduces inflammation and its side effects, and may very well prove more important to the therapist than handwashing. Notes 1. Clinton Ober, Stephen T. Sinatra, and Martin Zucker, Earthing: The Most Important Health Discovery Ever! (Laguna Beach, CA: Basic Health Publications, 2014). 2. The Earthing Institute, "Earthing Research," accessed February 2016, www.earthinginstitute.net. E ARTHING 3. Accessed February 2016, www.earthing.com. 4. For grounding shoes, visit www.pluggz.com. 5. Sotaa Omoigui, "The Biochemical Origin of Pain— Proposing a New Law of Pain: The Origin of All Pain is Inflammation and the Inflammatory Response," Medical Hypotheses 69, no.1 (2007): 70–82. 6. William Amalu, "Clinical Earthing Application in 20 Case Studies," The Earthing Institute, accessed February 2016, www.earthinginstitute. net/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Amalu_ thermographic_case_studies_2004.pdf. 7. N. Cheng et al., "The Effects of Electric Currents on ATP Generation, Protein Synthesis, and Membrane Transport of Rat Skin," Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research (Nov–Dec 1982): 264–72. 8. Hans Selye, The Stress of Life, 2nd ed. (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1978). 9. Ida P. Rolf, Rolfing: Reestablishing the Natural Alignment and Structural Integration of the Human Body for Vitality and Well-Being, revised ed. (Rochester, VT: Healing Arts Press, 1989). 10. Toyoichi Tanaka, "Gels," Scientific American 244 (1981). 11. James L. Oschman, Energy Medicine: The Scientific Basis, 2nd ed. (Edinburgh: Elsevier, 2015). 12. William Amalu, "Clinical Earthing Application in 20 Case Studies." 13. Dick Brown, Gaétan Chevalier, and Michael Hill, "Pilot Study on the Effect of Grounding on Delayed-Onset Muscle Soreness," Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine 16, no. 3 (March 2010): 265–73. James Oschman, PhD, has an academic background in biophysics and cell biology, and has made pioneering studies on the science supporting massage and bodywork techniques. He has published more than 100 articles in leading scientific journals and in principal journals of complementary, alternative, and integrative medicine. Oschman has written three books on the science supporting energy medicine. His latest is a second edition of his popular Energy Medicine: The Scientific Basis (Elsevier, 2015). He lives in Dover, New Hampshire, and lectures and presents workshops internationally. For more information, visit www.energyresearch.us. C h e c k o u t A B M P 's l a t e s t n e w s a n d b l o g p o s t s . Av a i l a b l e a t w w w. a b m p . c o m . 81 While SCIENCE is still attempting to determine what causes chronic pain, we know from Earthing research that grounding offers a natural and effective solution.