Abstract
The aim of this study was to validate the possibility of using functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) to measure changes in cerebral blood flow in response to a hand being placed on a participant’s back, and to identify the areas of enhanced activity in the brain. Nineteen female adult volunteers participated in the study. An experienced school nurse touched the center of the participant’s back between the shoulder blades with the palm of her hand. Cerebral blood volume dynamics were measured with a 52-channel fNIRS system. Significantly higher oxygenated hemoglobin (oxy-Hb) concentration levels were recorded by channels 11, 14, 21, 22, 24, 32, 35, 45, 46, and 49 during the touching period than during the resting period. These channels indicated enhanced activity in the supramarginal gyrus, the middle frontal gyrus, the superior temporal gyrus, and the inferior frontal gyrus. The ability to detect changes in cerebral blood flow using this method indicates the possibility of measuring changes in cerebral blood flow using fNIRS when a person is touched on the back. fNIRS has been shown to be useful for studying the effects of touch.
Highlights
Health professionals in hospitals often use touch while caring for patients and clients
All of the participants were university students. They were acquainted with the experienced school nurse (NH, female) who performed the intervention in this study, as she was one of their lecturers
The oxyHb concentration was significantly higher during the touch period than the rest period at channel 11 (p
Summary
Health professionals in hospitals often use touch while caring for patients and clients. Touch has been shown to improve the subjective assessment of physical and psychological functions in adult patients [4,5,6,7]. School teachers in Japan are not allowed to touch students. School nurses in Japan, called yogo teachers, can use their hands to touch students when they visit the school health room, to support them and help to solve their physical and psychological problems. The school nurse’s touch is expected to have the same effect on students as a mother’s touch has on an infant and a health professional’s touch has on patients and clients. There is insufficient evidence of the effectiveness of school nurses’ touch. Enrichment of such evidence is needed to provide school nurses with guidelines for touching students
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