Research Library
Published studies on Reiki, described plainly, with the promising findings and the null results in the same place. If you are evaluating this for your organization or for yourself, you should be able to read the evidence yourself and reach your own conclusion.
Read This First
Evidence
The largest pooled analyses to date look at anxiety, alongside placebo controlled work measuring the physiological stress response.
2024 / Meta-analysis of controlled studies
Zhang Y · BMC Palliative Care 23:147
What it studied. Pooled results across controlled trials measuring anxiety before and after Reiki sessions.
What it found. Reports a favorable pooled effect of Reiki on anxiety. As with most Reiki literature, the included trials are small and vary in design, so the authors call for larger and more rigorous trials.
2004 / Blinded randomized three arm trial, n = 45
Mackay N, Hansen S, McFarlane O · Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine 10(6)
What it studied. Reiki compared against both rest only and a placebo condition, measuring heart rate, blood pressure and breathing rate.
What it found. Systolic blood pressure fell significantly in the Reiki group relative to both control groups. Other measures did not differ significantly, so the effect is real but modest.
2021 / Pilot randomized, double blinded, placebo controlled trial
Bat N · Complementary Therapies in Clinical Practice 43:101328
What it studied. Physiological measures and self reported stress in participants receiving Reiki, sham Reiki, or no intervention.
What it found. Reports reductions in stress measures following Reiki. It is a pilot study, so it is best read as a signal worth testing at scale rather than a settled result.
Evidence
The most directly relevant research for organizations comes from nursing and healthcare, where burnout has been studied closely.
2011 / Controlled experimental study
Diaz-Rodriguez L, Arroyo-Morales M, et al. · Revista Latino-Americana de Enfermagem 19(5)
What it studied. Nurses formally diagnosed with burnout syndrome, measuring salivary IgA, alpha amylase and blood pressure after a single session.
What it found. A single Reiki session produced measurable immediate changes in immune and blood pressure markers compared with a sham control. A companion paper by the same team reported changes in heart rate variability, cortisol and body temperature.
2011 / Controlled experimental study
Diaz-Rodriguez L, Arroyo-Morales M, et al. · Biological Research for Nursing 13(4)
What it studied. Healthcare professionals with burnout, measuring autonomic and endocrine markers immediately after a session.
What it found. Reiki was associated with changes in heart rate variability and cortisol relative to a placebo session, suggesting a shift toward parasympathetic activity.
2022 / Randomised controlled single blind trial
Holistic Nursing Practice · Holistic Nursing Practice
What it studied. Nurses working in COVID-19 clinics receiving twenty minutes of distant Reiki daily for four days, compared with no intervention.
What it found. Stress and fatigue scores decreased in the Reiki group. The trial is small and studied distant rather than in person sessions.
2023 / Pragmatic within subject pilot trial, no control group
Dyer NL, Baldwin AL, Pharo R, Gray F · Global Advances in Integrative Medicine and Health 12
What it studied. Frontline healthcare workers enrolled in a distance Reiki program, measuring self reported quality of life and wellbeing.
What it found. Participants reported improvements in wellbeing measures. Without a control group these results cannot be separated from expectation and time effects.
2024 / Mixed methods pilot study, n = 21, no control group
Journal of Holistic Nursing · Journal of Holistic Nursing
What it studied. Pulse, respiration, blood pressure and salivary measures alongside nurses' own accounts of stress before and after sessions.
What it found. Both physiological measures and nurses' qualitative reports moved in a restorative direction. Small, uncontrolled, and exploratory.
Evidence
The most recent pooled analysis looks specifically at randomized trials measuring quality of life.
2025 / Meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials
Liu K, Qin Z, Qin Y, Li Y, Liu Q, Gao F, Zhang P, Wang W · Systematic Reviews
What it studied. Pooled quality of life outcomes across randomized trials of Reiki therapy.
What it found. Reports a positive pooled effect of Reiki on quality of life measures. Read the paper directly for effect sizes and the authors' stated limitations.
2007 / Pilot randomized crossover trial
Tsang KL, Carlson LE, Olson K · Integrative Cancer Therapies 6(1)
What it studied. Reiki compared with rest for cancer related fatigue and mood.
What it found. Fatigue and mood improved during the Reiki arm, though improvements also appeared with rest alone, which the authors flag directly.
Evidence
Pain research includes some of the strongest designs in the field, and some of the clearest null results.
2011 / Double blinded randomized controlled trial
vanderVaart S, Berger H, Tam C, et al. · BMJ Open 1(1):e000021
What it studied. Distant Reiki versus sham for post operative pain and opioid use.
What it found. No significant difference between Reiki and sham on pain scores or pain medication use. A clear null result, included here because honest evidence includes what did not work.
2014 / Literature review of randomized trials with effect size calculations
Cohen SM · Pain Management Nursing 15(4)
What it studied. Randomised trials of Reiki for pain and anxiety in adults.
What it found. Finds evidence of benefit in a portion of trials, with wide variation in quality and effect size across the literature.
2017 / Systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized trials
Ferraz GAR, Rodrigues MRK, Lima SAM, et al. · Sao Paulo Medical Journal 135(2)
What it studied. Reiki and prayer as adjuncts for pain during hospitalisation for caesarean.
What it found. Concludes the available trials are too few and too heterogeneous to support firm claims.
Limitations and Criticism
These reviews and assessments are the most rigorous work in the field, and they are cautious to skeptical. They belong on this page as much as the encouraging findings do.
2015 / Cochrane systematic review
Joyce J, Herbison GP · Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews CD006833
What it studied. Whether Reiki is effective for depression or anxiety.
What it found. Only three small trials met the inclusion criteria and the evidence was rated very low quality. The review concludes there is insufficient evidence to say whether Reiki is effective for depression or anxiety, and calls for more rigorous trials.
Current / Official federal evidence summary
National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health · NCCIH, US National Institutes of Health
What it studied. The overall state of the evidence for Reiki.
What it found. States plainly that "Reiki hasn’t been clearly shown to be effective for any health-related purpose," and notes that most studies are small, poorly designed, or carry a high risk of bias.
2022 / Systematic review
Zadro S, Stapleton P · Frontiers in Psychology 13:897312
What it studied. Whether Reiki outperforms placebo or sham conditions for depression, anxiety and related symptoms.
What it found. Examines the placebo question directly, which is the central methodological challenge in this field. Worth reading in full before drawing conclusions in either direction.
2008 / Cochrane systematic review
So PS, Jiang Y, Qin Y · Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews CD006535
What it studied. Healing Touch, Therapeutic Touch and Reiki for pain relief in adults.
What it found. Found only limited and mixed evidence across small, heterogeneous trials, and the conclusions are not specific to Reiki.
2017 / Narrative review
McManus DE · Journal of Evidence-Based Complementary & Alternative Medicine 22(4)
What it studied. Clinical studies with more than twenty participants in the Reiki arm that controlled for placebo.
What it found. Argues that Reiki outperforms placebo across several conditions. Noted here with a disclosure: the author is affiliated with a Reiki association, which is a conflict of interest worth weighing when reading it.
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