Healing energy

part 1:
historical
background
The theme of energy permeates many areas of health
care, from acupuncture to homeopathy, as well as
many systems of bodywork and movement therapy,
and increasingly mainstream medicine (MRI scans for
example). JBMT has commissioned an important
series of in-depth articles to be presented by a leading
researcher in this field, James L. Oschman PhD, who
will scrutinize and report on this phenomenon. In this
o e o o o o o o o e o o o
series he will review the research which has inquired
into the nature, source(s), influences, therapeutic and
J.L. Oschman
diagnostic potentials of 'energy'. Each of the first five
issues of JBMTwill carry two articles by Dr
Oschman, one will focus on the broad topic of energy
as it relates to the human body in general and health in Abstract Energy fields have been used for healing since ancient times. By the late
particular (in this issue providing an historical 1880s, thousands of physicians in the USA and Europe were using electricity daily to treat
overview of the subject). The other article will be a
a wide range of ailments. All of this went on while mainstream science was rejecting
supplementary paper examining therapeutic aspects of
'vitalism', the idea that living matter possesses some sort of 'life force' that is separate
energy, in this issue relating to acupuncture and
related methods. from the known laws of nature. In 1910, science was formally established as the basis for
medicine, and medical schools were overhauled. Clinical electrotherapy became illegal in
Editor
the USA. Few academic scientists dared to study the therapeutic potentials of energy
fields. One exception was Yale Professor H.S. Burr, who was convinced that energy fields
are the basic blueprints for all life, that every physiological process has an electrical
counterpart, and that diseases alter energy fields before pathological changes begin. In the
early 1980s, the FDA cautiously began to approve electrical and magnetic devices to
James L. Oschman PhD
Nature's Own Research Association, PO Box 5101,
stimulate bone repair. This was the start of a new era of electromagnetic medicine.
Dover, NH 03821, USA Research from around the world began to confirm many of Burr's conclusions about the
(Requests for offprints to JLO) importance of energy fields in physiology and medicine. Along with this article is a brief
Correspondence to: J. L. Oschman, Tel. ++1 603 742 summary of research on the flow of the 'life force' as conceptualized in acupuncture and
3789; Fax. ++1 603 742 2595; E-mail JO related methods.
schman @aol.com

Received April 1996

of exploration and discovery that
Revised May 1996 Introduction
Accepted June 1996
could be told, n o n e is more fascinating
In our current era of rapid scientific or clinically important than the story
progress, m a n y of the concepts we of the h u m a n energy field. In a few
Journal of Bodywork and Movement Therapies (1996) were absolutely certain about 20 years decades scientists have gone from a
1(1), 34-43
© Pearson Professional Ltd 1996 ago are no longer true. Of all the tales conviction that there is no such thing

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JOURNAL OF BODYWORK AND MOVEMENT THERAPIES OCTOBER 1996
 Healing energy Part 1A

as an energy field around the human include therapeutic touch, polarity matter. This concept is ancient and
body, to an absolute certainty that it therapy, Reiki, aura balancing, and universal, appearing in some form or
exists. We begin with a brief summary many others. another in many different cultures and
of the history of the role of energy Since ancient times people have religions.
fields in medicine. feared the powerful and invisible Ever since the discovery of
forces of nature. The Shaman and electricity, vitalists have associated
other religious figures derived electrical fields with a 'life force'. For
Energy fields in authority from their ability to 'explain' a detailed account of the history of this
medicine
the unknown, and calm the people. In subject, see Electromagnetism and
The earliest recorded use of electricity many ways, science is another way of Life (Becker & Marino 1982).
for healing dates from 2750 BC, when 'seeing' and explaining that which is
sick people were exposed to the normally hidden from our view.
Electrotherapy
shocks produced by electric eels For biologists, the relationship
(Kellaway 1946). Around 400 BC, between energy fields and life has Medical electricity had its 'golden era'
Thales rubbed amber and obtained been a subject of bitter and continuous between the late 1700s and the early
static electricity. controversy for over 400 years. The 1900s. During that period, a variety of
Different forms of magnet healing battle concerns a fundamental electrical healing devices were
may be even older. An African mine disagreement about the nature of life. developed and were widely used by
over 100 000 years old was a source Competing philosophies have physicians for treating a range of
of red iron ore, called bloodstone or generated much emotion and dogma. ailments (Geddes 1984). Four
ocher, that has been used since ancient The argument is referred to as different forms of electricity were
times for healing and ceremonial mechanism vs vitalism. used, called static or franklinic
purposes. Magnetite or lodestone was electricity, direct or galvanic current,
used for healing by the ancient induction-coil or faradic current, and
M e c h a n i s m vs vitalism
Egyptians, Chinese, and later, by the high-frequency or d'Arsonval current.
Greeks (Payne 1990). Mechanists hold that life obeys the Electrotherapy was thriving at the
In 1773, Franz Anton Mesmer laws of chemistry and physics, and will same time that vitalism was being
began using magnets for healing. His ultimately be totally explained by those rejected by mainstream science. By
patients frequently noticed 'unusual laws. In contrast, vitalists firmly 1884 it was estimated that 10 000
currents' coursing through their bodies believe that life will never be explained physicians in the USA were using
prior to the onset of a 'healing crisis' by normal physics and chemistry, and electricity every day for therapeutic
that led to a cure. Soon Mesmer that there is some kind of mysterious purposes, totally without the blessings
discovered that he could produce the 'life force' that is separate from the of science. Figure 1 shows an
same phenomena without the magnets, known laws of nature and that electromagnetic healing device
simply by passing his hands above the distinguishes living from non-living patented by Elias Smith in 1869, and
patient's body. After some careful
experimentation, Mesmer published
his Memoir on the Discovery of
Animal Magnetism in 1779 (Mesmer
1948).
Mesmer was convinced that there is a
sort of attraction and repulsion
phenomenon around the body that
corresponds to the sensations one has in
handling iron magnets. He invited
scientists to witness his very successful
and popular work with 'incurable' cases,
but the scientific and medical
community responded mainly with
ridicule, animosity, malicious rumours, Fig. 1 Healing device patented by E. Smith on October 19, 1869,
slander and fear. His method closely Patent No. 96,044. For convenience the coil is in two parts so the
resembled the 'laying on of hands' used patient can step into the lower one and have the upper one placed
by Jesus and other religious figures. over the head. Current flowing through the coil creates a magnetic
field around the body. This is augmented by passing another current
Modem versions of Mesmer's work through the body from the head to the feet.

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JOURNAL OF B O D Y W O R K A N D M O V E M E N T T H E R A P I E S OCTOBER 1996
 Oschman

primordial sea to its present level of

complexity, could be explained
scientifically. Organisms, like
machines, could be broken down into
their components and studied piece by
piece until all mysteries are solved. It
was just a matter of time and hard work
before everything about life and disease
could be understood. For the vitalist
position, the fundamental discoveries
caused a steady retreat, but the basic
mystery of the driving force for nature
remained.
By the turn of this century, a wide
variety of electrical and magnetic
Fig. 2 French version of the Smith invention, described by d'Arsonval (1894).
healing devices were on the market,
providing therapies for every disease
and problem. Figure 4 illustrates some
Figure 2 shows a French version hand' was used to stroke or massage items listed in the 1902 Sears Roebuck
(d'Arsonval 1894). the patient over various parts of their Catalogue. Many claims were made
A popular approach was the body (Ziemssen 1864). For many, a about the miraculous healing powers of
'electric hand' shown in Figure 3. The 'general faradization' of the whole these products. The electric belts were
patient sat on a stool with their bare body produced an ecstatic experience. 'capable of providing a quick cure of all
feet on a metal plate connected to an 'Localized faradization' of specific nervous and organic disorders arising
induction coil. An electrode attached regions was used to treat a variety of from any cause' and Dr Hammond's
to the other terminal of the coil was medical problems. In some cases, Nerve and Brain Pills were 'positively
held in one hand by the therapist. The special electrodes were used to guaranteed to cure any disease.' There
therapist's other hand, the 'electric stimulate particular parts of the body. was virtually no systematic verification
One discovery made using the that any of these devices had
electric hand was that stimulation of therapeutic value. Note that we are not
specific points on the body surface saying these products were ineffective,
causes the underlying muscles to there simply was no scientific evidence
contract. In 1864, Ziemssen charted one way or the other.
the locations of these points, which are

Induction ~ now called 'muscle points' or 'motor

points.' Using fresh cadavers,
Flexner report
Ziemssen marked many of the motor The total absence of standards for
points, dissected the underlying tissue, medical education and clinical
and found they were the places where practice in the USA led to the
the nerves entered the muscles. This passage of the federal Pure Food and
discovery gave rise to the modem Drugs Act of 1906, and publication
field of medical electromyography, in of the famous 'Flexner Report' in
which electrical recordings are made 1910. The latter established science
of the activity of the motor points to as the basis for medicine and clinical
determine if the muscle is properly education. Medical schools were
innervated. completely overhauled.
Clocptrp
ee oedfoot
re The discoveries of the cellular and
molecular basis of life, the bacterial
Electrotherapy was declared
scientifically unsupportable and was
Fig3
. The 'electric hand' method widely origin of infectious diseases, Darwin's legally excluded from clinical
used in the late 1800s. The therapist and theory of evolution, and the electrical practice. Many doctors had
patient are connected in series to an aspects of nerve conduction were all equipment removed from their offices
induction coil that generates electricity. Here
taken by the scientific establishment as and were told that if they wanted to
the therapist is shown massaging and
'faradizing' the patient's shoulder with his the final blows to the vitalist position. continue electrotherapies, they would
left hand. All of life, from its beginnings in the be doing it in prison! Dr Hammond's

J O U R N A L OF B O D Y W O R K A N D M O V E M E N T T H E R A P I E S OCTOBER
1996
 Healing energy Part 1A

$ 1 8 . 0 0 Giant P o w e r Heidelberg Electric Belt they could be free to explore the role
of energy fields in living processes
without the danger of being fired from
THE1902EDITIONOF their university positions.

Is% Harold Saxon Burr

CATALOGUE ~=: One pioneer was Harold Saxon Burr,
who obtained his PhD degree at Yale
in 1915 and became full Professor at
Yale School of Medicine in 1929.
Burr was E.K. Hunt Professor of
Anatomy for 40 years, beginning in
1933. His early work was on the
"lectric Battery Plasters, development of the nervous system,
and he published nearly 20 papers on
this subject between 1916 and 1935.
In 1932, Burr began a series of
important and controversial studies of
Electric Insoles, the role of electricity in development
and disease. From his work on the
development of the nervous system,
Burr realized how little was actually
known about the control of form in
Electric Liniment. animals. Molecular genetics was
Electric Ring for Rheumatism. revealing how the parts of the body
Fig. 4 Electrical healing devices listed in the 1902 Catalogue of the Sears Roebuck Company, are manufactured, but there was little
Chicago, Illinois. understanding of the 'blueprint' that
directs their assembly into the whole
organism.
Burr had many students and
pills were no longer sold through the fervour of the past persists. There collaborators, some of whom were or
Sears Catalogue. continues to be a strong academic bias became leading figures in science. All
against any suggestion that the in all, he published some 93 papers, and
electrical fields generated by tissues stimulated his colleagues in the
Electrobiology and organs have any important production of about a hundred more. He
In the meantime, rapid progress began to biological purpose - they are merely also wrote a book about his conclusions
take place in electrobiology - the study by-products of cellular activities, entitled Blueprint for Immortality, The
of the electrical properties of living useful for diagnosis only. We shall Electric Patterns of Life (1972), which
systems. Various useful diagnostic tools see, though, that there are exceptions was also published under the title The
were developed that involved recording to this, and 'electromagnetic Fields of Life.
the electrical fields produced by organs medicine' is beginning to revive, but Burr's work on energy fields, from
such as the heart, the other muscles, the with far more sophisticated science to 1932 to 1956, was way out of step with
eye, and the brain. We will explore support it. the mainstream medicine and biology of
some of this in Part 2 of this series. In the climate produced by the the time. This was a period of explosive
With progress in electrobiology, Flexner Report, some prominent growth in pharmaceutical medicine and
electricity gradually lost its mystery and scientists, seeking to explore the the use of X-rays for diagnosis.
became less attractive as the elusive possible role of electricity in the Antibiotics were winning the war
force the vitalists were searching for. control of growth and development, against disease, and the thrust of
This does not mean that vitalism is dead, realized they were entering politically medical research and public policy was
nor does it mean we fully understand all hazardous territory. Some researchers toward a pill for every problem. The
of the energies and forces of nature, obtained academic tenure by doing public was dazzled by the seemingly
including electricity and magnetism. mainstream research before they continuous and accelerating rate of
The emotional and dogmatic began investigating fields. In this way scientific and medical progress. There

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J O U R N A L OF B O D Y W O R K A N D M O V E M E N T T H E R A P I E S OCTOBER 1996
 Oschman

was a very successful concept of convinced that all living things, from
60-
bioenergetics, but it was entirely mice to men, from seeds to trees, are 40-
confined to the study of biochemical formed and controlled by fields that 20 -

reactions and the ways molecules store can be measured with standard ~0
~°
and release metabolic energy. detectors. He published a series of 40
During this period, most biologists articles on how the electric fields of
and physicians were certain that all trees change in advance of weather 80-

notions of 'energy therapy' and 'life patterns and other atmospheric

DAYS
force' were complete nonsense. The phenomena. Burr was convinced that
experiences of practitioners and patients the 'fields of life' are the basic Fig. 5 The electrical rhythm of the ovulation
of energy therapies were dismissed, blueprints for all living things. The cycle in the human female as recorded
between two fingers. Before and after
either by ignoring them, or by stating fields reflect physical and mental ovulation the potentials are negative. About
that they were victims of deception, conditions, and are therefore useful for 5-6 days before ovulation, the potential
illusion, trickery, fakery, quackery, diagnostic purposes. begins to rise and increases above zero a few
hallucination or the 'placebo effect.' The use of fields for diagnosis is days before ovulation. Afterwards there is a
Scientists could say with certainty that based on the premise that every rapid decline to below zero, at which time the
body is free of a fertilizable ovum. The curve
any 'energy field' around an organism physiological process in the body has is from US Patent 3,924,609.
would be far too weak to be detected. If an electrical counterpart. As we shall
such a field existed, it surely had no see in Part 2 of this series, modern
biological significance. Healing with research has confirmed this. heart and brain. Once other electrical
energy fields was fantasy, and any In 1935 Burr described the rhythms are filtered, the monthly
notion that light could be emitted by the detection of ovulation by monitoring rhythm of the ovary can be recorded.
body was certainly quite foolish. the substantial voltage changes during A graph of the rhythm is shown in
As a student of the history of the ovulation cycle. Others attempted Figure 5.
medicine, Burr was well aware that to repeat Burr's work, but their results Another controversial area of
work published ahead of its time were not consistent. Burr continued to investigation concerned the detection
remains in the libraries and is refine his approach, and reported in of cancer. Burr was convinced that
available to future generations when 1936 and 1938 that the timing of disease would show up in the energy
its moment arrives. Such a period is ovulation in women could be field before symptoms of pathology,
upon us, and Burr's articles are highly determined by daily measurements of such as tumours. His theory was that if
recommended, both for the serious the electric field measured between the disturbed energy field could be
student of bodywork and/or movement the fingers of the right and left hand. detected and restored to normal, the
therapy, and for biomedical This was confirmed by another pathology could be prevented.
researchers exploring the role of scientist in 1939, but others continued In 1936, Burr and his colleagues
energy fields in health and disease. A to have inconsistent results. Burr began a series of studies on the relation
complete listing of Burr's articles can continued to investigate the problem, between electrical fields and cancer,
be found in the Yale Journal of publishing his last paper on the subject beginning with spontaneous mammary
Biology and Medicine (1957) and at in 1953. tumours in mice. Large voltage
the end of Burr's book (1972). By 1974 the causes of variation in changes were detected with electrodes
In retrospect, Burr's conclusions the ovulation potentials had been attached to the chest from 10 days to 2
match many of the discoveries that are determined, and a fertility control weeks before the tumours appeared. In
being made around the world at the system based on Burr's work was 1945, British researchers attempted to
present time. His work, and that of awarded a United States Patent repeat Burr's experiments, but without
Robert O. Becker (1985, 1990) are (Friedenberg et al 1974). The patent success. Burr continued to work on the
excellent introductions to the subject. makes interesting reading because it problem, and published his last cancer
For a modern perspective on the 'life documents the reason for the paper in 1949. Critiques of Burr's work
force' and 'healing energy,' see inconsistency of previous studies. The were summarized by Crane (1950).
'Acupuncture and related methods' ovulation cycle is but one of many While Burr's methods did not
following this article. bodily rhythms that have an oscillating become part of accepted clinical
In the 1950s, a visitor to Burr's electric field associated with them. practice, his reasoning was sound. For
ancestral home, 'Mansewood', in Detection of the ovulation cycle Burr, the link between biology and
Lyme, Connecticut, would discover requires careful filtering, to eliminate physics was not mysterious or
various kinds of trees connected to electrical rhythms generated by the unfathomable. The energies so
recording voltmeters. Burr was other organs in the body, such as the thoroughly studied by physicists

JOURNAL OF B O D Y W O R K A N D M O V E M E N T T H E R A P I E S O C T O B E R 1996
 Healing energy Part 1A

surround and penetrate and are 'Electromagnetic medicine' is Beard G M, Rockwell A D 1891 On the medical
produced by all living things. becoming a reality, with more and and surgical uses of electricity, 8th edn. W.
Wood, New York
Biological electricity, for example, is more electronic healing devices
Becker R O, Marino A A 1982
not different from any other kind of entering conventional clinical practice. Electromagnetism and Life. State University
electricity, nor does it obey different As an example of modern work of New York Press, Albany
laws. Also, the fields within the body confirming Burr's concepts, a study Becker R O, Selden G 1985 The body electric.
are inevitably affected by the larger undertaken in Rome explored the Electromagnetism and the foundation of life.
William Morrow, New York
fields of the planet and other celestial biomagnetic fields produced near the
Becker R O 1990 Cross currents. The perils of
bodies. The mechanisms by which head during epileptic seizures. In electropollution. The promise of eleclromedicine.
these influences are exerted are not some cases the epilepsy was caused by Jeremy P. Tareher, Los Angeles
mystical or obscure - they involve well tumours that did not show up in EEGs Burr H S 1957 Yale Journal of Biology and
documented pathways of interaction. or CAT scans, but that could be Medicine 30(3): 161-167
Burr H S 1972 Blueprint for Immortality. C W
For example, sunspots and the cycles detected by biomagnetic recordings Daniel, Saffron Walden
of the moon cause changes in (Modena et al 1982). Crane E E 1950 Bioelectric potentials, their
geophysical fields which in turn While the old emotional and maintenance and function. Progress in
influence the fields within us. Life on dogmatic biases persist, the trend of Biophysics and Biophysical Chemistry 1:
Earth is not isolated from the rest of the current research is toward explaining 85-136
FIiedenberg R, Reese W, Reading W H 1974
universe, but is susceptible to forces and validating the experiences of both
Detector device and process for detecting
extending across vast distances of practitioners and recipients of energy ovulation. United States Patent 3,924,609,
space. therapies. Moreover, current research December 9, 1975
In future articles, I shall discuss how in laboratories around the world is Geddes L A 1984 A short history of the
many of Burr's conclusions about leading us toward a deeper electrical stimulation of excitable tissue
including eIectrotherapeutic applications. The
energy fields have been confirmed. Part understanding of our potentials and
Physiologist Supplement 27(1 ): S 1-$47
2 of this series will describe modem possibilities as human beings, as well Kellaway P 1946 The part played by electric
methods for studying the magnetic as of the nature of consciousness. fish in the early history of bioelectricity and
fields surrounding the body, which are While vitalism, in terms of an electrotherapy. Bulletin of the History of
called biomagnetic fields, and will undiscovered 'life force' has not been Medicine 20:112-132
Mesmer A 1948 Mesmerism [with an
explore how these fields can be ruled out, much is being discovered
introduction by Gilbert Frankau]. Macdonald,
manipulated by methods such as about how electricity, magnetism, and London (this is Mesmer's Memoir of 1779)
polarity therapy, aura balancing and other energy fields are created and Mitchell P 1976 Vectorial chemistry and the
therapeutic touch. utilized by living organisms. molecular mechanics of chemiosmotic
As a phenomenon, bioenergy fields The information that is emerging coupling: power transmission by proticity.
Biochemical Society Transactions 4:
have gone from scientific 'nonsense' to has direct relevance to all clinical
399430.
an important and expanding subject of methods, including bodywork and Modena I, Ricci G B, Barbanera S, Leoni R,
biomedical research. Not only can movement therapies. Documenting the Romani G L. Carelli P 1982 Biomagnetic
fields be detected a distance from the fascinating tale of how our outlook is measurements of spontaneous brain activity
body, but scientists are explaining how changing is the goal of this series of in epileptic patients. Electroencephalography
and Clinical Neurophysiology 54:622-628
these fields are generated, why they essays on 'healing energy.'
Payne B 1990 The body magnetic. Privately
become distorted when pathology is published manuscript, Santa Cruz, CA
present, why living systems are so REFERENCES Ziemssen H 1864 Die Electricitat in der
extraordinarily sensitive to fields, and d'Arsonval 1894 Action de l'electricite sur les
Medicin, 2nd edn. Von August Hirschwald,
how fields can be used in healing. 'etres vivants. Cours d'Appel, Paris Berlin

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JOURNAL OF B O D Y W O R K A N D M O V E M E N T THERAPIES O C T O B E R 1996