Reiki for Chronic Pain and Fibromyalgia

Reiki does not treat chronic pain or fibromyalgia, does not cure them, and does not replace your medical pain care. What it can offer is an hour of rest, gentle touch and quiet company. On pain there is somewhat more research than on other topics — a positive signal with acknowledged methodological limits. I will give it to you whole, without inflating it.

What chronic pain actually is

Chronic pain is pain that persists beyond the expected healing time of an injury, usually more than three months. By then it is no longer a useful alarm.

Here is what matters: pain is not measured in the tissue. It is produced in the nervous system. That is why some people with a clean scan suffer enormously, and others with dramatic imaging findings barely notice anything. Not showing up on a test does not mean it is invented.

Over time the nervous system can become more sensitive: the signal amplifies, things that never hurt begin to hurt, the threshold drops. That phenomenon is called sensitisation, and it explains much of what people with years of pain live through.

Chronic pain rarely comes alone. It brings poor sleep, fatigue, irritability, a shrinking social life, fear of movement and, often, anxiety or depressive symptoms. And it brings something people mention constantly: the exhaustion of having to prove, over and over, that it hurts.

Fibromyalgia

Fibromyalgia is a picture of widespread, persistent pain accompanied by fatigue, unrefreshing sleep, stiffness and difficulties with concentration and memory that many people call "fibro fog".

It is a recognised clinical diagnosis, and it is not made up, nor a psychological problem in disguise. Its management usually combines pain education, adapted and progressive exercise, attention to sleep, psychological support and, in some cases, medication prescribed by the treating doctor.

Almost everyone with fibromyalgia who comes to me arrives with years of medical pilgrimage behind them, and the experience of not having been believed. That hurts too.

What Reiki cannot do about your pain

It does not remove it. There is no basis for promising that.

It does not treat the cause. A disc problem, arthritis, a neuropathy or fibromyalgia are managed by the medical team looking after you.

It does not replace your treatment or your rehabilitation. If you have physiotherapy, prescribed exercise or follow-up in a pain clinic, that remains the main thing.

It does not replace or adjust painkillers. Never reduce or stop a medication because of a Reiki session, or because you felt better one day. That decision belongs to your doctor. More in Reiki and medication.

It does not diagnose. I cannot tell you where your pain comes from or identify it with my hands. If anyone claims to sense "where the blockage is" and hands you a diagnosis, walk away.

It guarantees nothing. Some people describe relief lasting hours or days; some notice no change. Both happen, and neither says anything about you.

What it can offer

An hour with nothing to endure. You will be lying down, covered, with nobody asking you to move, explain yourself or prove anything.

Gentle touch for a body that usually receives painful touch. Many people with chronic pain are only touched when someone is examining or mobilising them. Here the contact is not after anything: it simply rests. And if touch bothers you, I work a few centimetres away, with no contact at all.

Rest. Pain and poor sleep feed each other. A stretch of deep rest does not break that loop, but it is a breath inside it.

Being believed. Nobody here will question your pain or suggest it is "just nerves".

Company in a long process. Chronic pain is isolating. Feeling held for an hour has value in itself.

What the evidence says about Reiki and pain

There is more here than on other topics, and I want to quote it precisely.

Demir Doğan (2018), in Complementary Therapies in Clinical Practice, published a meta-analysis on the effect of Reiki on pain. The signal was positive, with methodological limitations acknowledged by the author herself. That is an encouraging result, not a firm conclusion: the included studies were small and heterogeneous, and blinding in this field is very hard to achieve.

Liu and colleagues (2025), in Systematic Reviews, pooled 11 trials and 661 participants and found a small but statistically significant improvement in quality of life: SMD 0.28 (95% CI 0.01–0.56), with high heterogeneity (I² = 65.1%). The best-performing subgroups received eight or more sessions of sixty minutes or longer.

The NCCIH holds the general position: Reiki has not been clearly shown to be effective for any health purpose, and there is no scientific evidence for the energy field the practice proposes. It also notes that Reiki has not been shown to have harmful effects: nccih.nih.gov/health/reiki.

The honest reading: there is a positive signal on pain, of limited quality, which does not license presenting Reiki as an analgesic treatment. Anyone showing you these studies as proof of efficacy is overstating them. Anyone ignoring them entirely is bending it the other way. The full treatment is in Does Reiki work?

What you need	Who covers it	Reiki's role
A diagnosis of where the pain comes from	Doctor, specialist, pain clinic	None
Treatment and analgesia adjustment	Your treating doctor only	None
Adapted exercise and rehabilitation	Physiotherapist or movement professional	No substitute
Psychological support for living with pain	Psychologist	No substitute
Rest, gentle touch, company	Self-care and complementary therapies	Here it can accompany

When to see a doctor

See a doctor before looking for any complementary therapy if the pain is new or has changed in character; if it follows a blow or a fall; if it wakes you at night consistently; if it comes with fever, unexplained weight loss or night sweats; if there is loss of strength, persistent tingling, difficulty walking or changes in bladder or bowel control; if the pain is in the chest or radiates to the arm or jaw, which is an emergency.

See a doctor too if pain is pushing you towards increasing painkiller or alcohol use, or if persistent sadness appears. Chronic pain and depression often travel together, and that deserves professional attention.

And if thoughts of harming yourself or of not wanting to go on appear, do not face it alone: talk to your doctor today, go to an emergency service, call 123 in Colombia, or ask someone you trust to go with you.

If you are under a pain clinic or facing a procedure, say so: I wrote about that in Reiki around medical procedures. And situations where a session should wait or be adapted are in Reiki contraindications.

What a session focused on pain is like

I work in Medellín, in Santa Elena — the cloud-forest village above the city — and at a distance, which for many people with pain is the easiest option because it removes the journey. Sessions are available in English.

Before we start we talk about the practical things: which positions you tolerate, how long you can lie on your back, whether there are areas that cannot be touched, whether you need cushions under the knees or to lie on your side. This is not a formality. With chronic pain, position decides how the whole session goes.

You do not undress. I work with the laying on of hands, resting them very lightly or holding them a few centimetres away. Over areas of acute pain I almost never rest them at all: I work without contact. I begin at the head, move through the trunk and finish at the legs and feet, slowly.

What I see most often is not that pain disappears. It is that the relationship with it changes. People stop monitoring it. Shoulders drop, breathing slows, and that background contraction — the one that comes from years of defending yourself — eases a little.

I also see the effect of being treated calmly by someone who is not there to examine you. A woman who came after years of doctors told me at the end of a session that it was the first time in a long while anyone had touched her without looking for something. That sentence stayed with me.

In Santa Elena, with the cloud-forest cold, some people with pain are more comfortable and others need more blankets: the cold does not suit everyone, and we talk about it beforehand. In Medellín, with the heat of the valley, the difficulty is usually the journey and the traffic rather than the session.

At the end, a few minutes sitting up, water, and no hurry. I do not tell you how many sessions you need and I do not sell packages. And if you sleep badly, which is usual alongside pain, Reiki for insomnia may help.

Frequently asked questions

Does Reiki take pain away? No. It is not an analgesic and it does not act on the cause. What exists is Demir Doğan's 2018 meta-analysis, with a positive signal on pain and acknowledged methodological limitations, plus a small quality-of-life improvement in Liu and colleagues' 2025 meta-analysis. Many people describe relief during and after a session, and that is a report, not a demonstration.

Does it help fibromyalgia? There is no evidence supporting Reiki as a treatment for fibromyalgia, and its management remains medical and multidisciplinary: pain education, progressive exercise, sleep, psychological support and, where appropriate, medication. As a complement, many people with fibromyalgia value the session for the rest and for gentle touch, which is one of the few kinds that does not feel aggressive to them.

Could I hurt more afterwards? No harmful effects of Reiki have been described. What can happen is that as tension eases you feel more tired that day, or notice sensations the contraction was masking. It is usually brief. If something clearly increases or persists, take it to your doctor rather than attributing it to the session.

Can I reduce my painkillers if I feel better? Never on your own. Feeling better one day does not mean the underlying process has changed, and some drugs cannot be stopped abruptly. That conversation belongs with your treating doctor. No Reiki practitioner, myself included, is qualified to recommend a dose change.

In person or at a distance if moving is hard? For many people with pain, distance sessions are easier: you receive at home, in whatever position you tolerate best, with no journey. If you prefer physical contact and can travel, an in-person session allows supports and positions to be adjusted. Neither is superior; it depends on your body that day.

I have had pain for years and tried everything. Is it worth it? It depends what you expect. If you are looking for the solution, you will not find it here, and I would rather say so first. If you are looking for an hour of rest where nobody examines you or asks for explanations, many people in your situation have found it valuable. And if money is tight, always put the medical care first.

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Disclaimer

This article is for educational purposes and does not replace diagnosis, treatment or follow-up by a healthcare professional. Reiki is a complementary practice: it accompanies, it does not substitute. If you are under medical or psychological care, continue it and talk to your treating professional before adding any complementary therapy.

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If you would like an hour of rest alongside your treatment, write to me on WhatsApp at +57 314 811 7561. In Medellín, in Santa Elena or at a distance, in whatever position your body allows.

Namasté.