EFT Tapping 'reduced my chronic pain'

BARNSTAPLE, U.K. - April 26, 2021 - PRLog -- People suffering with chronic pain conditions, such as fibromyalgia, are sharing their experience of using 'tapping' to reduce their pain. Tapping is a complementary health treatment, (officially called Emotional Freedom Techniques or EFT), which involves tapping with the fingertips on acupuncture points on the body. This sends messages to the part of the brain that controls stress.

These EFT testimonies come as new guidance is issued for doctors treating patients with primary pain. ('Primary' pain is defined as having an unknown cause. 'Secondary' pain has a specific cause, such as arthritis or osteoporosis.) The new guidelines, from the medicines watchdog NICE (National Institute for Health and Care Excellence), suggest patients with primary pain should avoid painkillers, as these often do not help and can be addictive. NICE advises the use of exercise programmes, acupuncture or psychological therapies such as Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT). However there are other psychological therapies too, such as EFT, and practitioners of EFT believe there is growing evidence that tapping can also reduce chronic pain.

Alison Heaslewood, from Berkshire, is among those who have found EFT helpful. She developed severe pain around a decade ago, during her twenties. She spent around five years on painkillers, and saw numerous specialists, but nothing helped. "I was at rock bottom, in a pain cloud all the time, and in a very dark place mentally. I was diagnosed with Central Sensitisation Syndrome and Fibromyalgia. A friend recommended I see an EFT therapist. I was sceptical at first, but within just a few sessions I was making huge progress. I went from not being able to exercise at all to feeling like I could walk a half marathon.  Within 6 months I was off all painkillers. It was life changing for me. My therapist helped to unpeel the emotional layers that I think were connected to my pain. I now use EFT as a management tool and I tap regularly.'

An increasing body of academic research is now showing that EFT can help patients with chronic pain.  A study in Sweden in 2008, led by Gunilla Brattberg, found significant improvement in pain levels in a group of 86 women with fibromyalgia who received EFT treatments.  More recent research on using EFT to help chronic pain was carried out in 2016  at Bond University in Gold Coast, Australia. This research also reported a significant reduction in pain and psychological stress due to tapping.

Editors' notes

More information from www.eftinternational.org. Or  EFTi Chair Jacqui Footman on 07933 998118