Touch is central to human social life and is the most developed sensory modality at birth, and it contributes to cognitive, brain and socio-emotional development in infancy and childhood. Several distinct emotions have been shown to be communicated through touch between humans, and it is thought that touch is central to health care, as therapists frequently touch their patients in their interactions with them. Research in the nursing field suggest that therapeutic touch and massage have been underutilised and understudied, although a number of studies suggest that appropriate use of touch by nurses has the potential to significantly improve the health status of older adults. In particular touch can be useful with the cognitively impaired, institutionalised or hospitalised older adults and likewise, touch can be useful for improving comfort among terminally ill adults and their loved ones. Massage research has shown positive beneficial effects on pain and mood among patients with advanced cancer.
Touch forms a fundamental part of osteopathic diagnosis and treatment and although there have been studies in other health sectors including nursing there is little research in osteopathic medicine. My masters research focused on spirituality and the role of touch in osteopathic medicine and found that touch formed the ideal vehicle and facilitator of non local anomalous information.