This critical review was conducted in order to evaluate the effect of
Reiki on postoperative pain given the increasing popularity of Integrative
medicine and growing need for unconventional approaches to pain control. The
review was conducted at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Online
databases were searched in Spring 2018 and identified five randomized controlled
trials meeting inclusion criteria. Risk of bias was evaluated with the Cochrane
risk of bias 2.0 tool. Four of five studies, with some concern for bias, showed
a statistically significant decrease in post-operative pain in Reiki groups
compared to sham-Reiki or control groups. There is evidence, with some concerns
for bias, that Reiki attunements can effectively reduce post-operative
pain.