高血壓為全世界主要死亡原因之一。長期服藥須考慮藥物所帶來的副作用，因此適當的協助病患是必要的。在諸多輔助與另類療法當中，「大愛手」為一接觸性治療，聲稱具有放鬆效果，對高血壓病患的生理或許有助益，但到目前為止尚未有相關之臨床研究，故本研究目的為探討大愛手對高血壓患者之心率變異的影響。研究採用單盲隨機分組實驗法，共收取24位原發性高血壓患者，符合收案標準的個案採隨機分派的方式分至A組12人及B組12人。A組個案接受大愛手調理20分鐘，B組個案則接受普通撫摸20分鐘，措施為每天進行一次，連續2天，5天之後，換B組個案接受大愛手調理，A組個案進行普通撫摸。 研究結果顯示，與普通撫摸相較，經大愛手調理後，高頻功率顯著上升(p＝0.030)，而低高頻功率比顯著下降(p＝0.043)。收縮壓(p<0.001)、舒張壓(p＝0.020)及心跳速率(p＝0.013)方面，經大愛手調理後有顯著下降，但其改變與普通撫摸無顯著差異。大愛手較普通撫摸有改善高血壓相關症狀的情形(大愛手34人次，普通撫摸14人次)，高血壓患者對大愛手有較高的滿意度(p<0.001)。 本研究為大愛手的第一次採用隨機分組實驗法之研究，結果顯示，相對於普通撫摸，接受大愛手之調理後，高血壓患者有較低之交感神經活性、較高之副交感神經活性，生理上有放鬆的傾向。 大愛手之研究設計，尤其須注意安慰劑效應和單盲設計，才不致於造成偏差，影響研究的結果。未來研究可繼續探討大愛手在生理上的變化。 Hypertension is a leading cause of mortality worldwide. Indivivuals with hypertension often have to suffer from the side effects of hypertensive medications. It is important to find ways to help these individuals. “Healing Hands of Universal Love” is a form of healing touch within the domain of complementary and alternative medicine. It has been suggested to be able to lead to relaxation which may be helpful in indivivuals with essential hypertension. However, there are no clinical studies as of today on the effect of “Healing Hands of Universal Love”. Therefore, a randomized controlled trial using crossover design was conducted to assess the change of blood pressure and heart rate variability (HRV) in individuals received “Healing Hands of Universal Love” procedure. A total of 24 individuals with essential hypertension who met the inclusion criteria were randomly assigned to two groups, receiving either “Healing Hands of Universal Love” procedure for 20 minutes (the intervention group) or a sham procedure which mimicked the movement of “Healing Hands of Universal Love” for 20 minutes (the control group). The procedure was implemented once a day for two days. The crossover was conducted after a five-day wash-out period. Results on the HRV anaylsis showed that the increase in high frequency (HF) power was significantly greater in individuals who had received “Healing Hands of Universal Love” compared to those in the control group (p=0.030). The decrease in low frequency to high frequency (LF/HF) ratio was significantly greater in individuals who had received “Healing Hands of Universal Love” compared to those in the control group (p=0.043). The systolic blood pressure (p<0.001), diastolic blood pressure (p=0.020), and mean heart rate (p=0.013) decreased significantly in individuals after receiving “Healing Hands of Universal Love” (p<0.05). However, the amount of decrease was not significantly different between two groups. In addition, individuals who had received “Healing Hands of Universal Love” reported fewer symptoms related to hypertension (with 34 person-time in the intervention group and 14 person-time in the control group). Furthermore, individuals in the intervention group reported better satisfaction with the procedure than those in the control group (p<0.001). In conclusion, this investigation was the first study using a randomized controlled design to evaluate the effect of “Healing Hands of Universal Love” on hypertension. “Healing Hands of Universal Love” was found to be more effective than the sham procedure in leading to a physiological relaxation as indicated by an increase in the parasympathetic nervous system activity. Future studies on “Healing Hands of Universal Love” should pay attention to the presence of placebo effect and any potential biases caused by the use of single-blind design. The effects of “Healing Hands of Universal Love” on physiological parameters warrant continued investigation.
