PORTLAND, Ore. (Ivanhoe Newswire) -- When it comes to massage, acupuncture or touch therapy, James Oschman, Ph.D., says less is more. A traditionally trained biologist who now studies complimentary and alternative therapies, Oschman says practitioners don’t have to use a lot of force or pressure to elicit the body’s own healing response.

Speaking at a conference in Portland, Ore., this weekend, Oschman said the body has its own energy or "biomagnetic field" produced by the heart and circulatory system. That field can be altered by acupuncture needles, light and touch therapies, homeopathy, massage, and even by the therapists' own positive thoughts.

Oschmann says there’s scientific evidence showing that this type of energy medicine works. He cites the example of orthopedic surgeons using small amounts of electrical current to stimulate the healing of bone fractures or doctors using electrical nerve stimulation to help ease pain.In much the same way, Oschman says, alternative therapy practitioners who are sensitive to their patients can use their own energy field to help stimulate the healing response.

"Tiny fields [of energy] have big effects on cells," says Oschman. "So, therapy can be done with less energy and more effectiveness." If someone has a shoulder injury, for example, it’s a matter of getting the right amount of energy in the right place. Oschman says practitioners should use their intuition to help them figure out how much is the right amount of energy for each patient.

SOURCE: Presented at the "Paradigm Shift" conference in Portland, Ore., Feb. 26-27, 2005