The Effects of Grounding (Earthing) on Bodyworkers' Pain and Overall Quality of Life: A Randomized Controlled Trial
Double-blind stepped-wedge RCT in sixteen massage therapists comparing conductive grounding during work and sleep with sham: significant improvements in physical function and energy and reductions in fatigue, depressed mood, tiredness, and pain while grounded; abstract cites prior trial-phase work on biomarkers and HRV.
Design
n = 16 massage therapists (mean age ~43 years); double-blind stepped-wedge RCT with conductive grounding versus sham during client sessions and sleep over ~6 weeks (1 week off, 4 weeks on, 1 week off).
Outcomes reported in this PubMed abstract
While grounded versus not grounded, authors report significant questionnaire improvements in physical function and energy and significant decreases in fatigue, depressed mood, tiredness, and pain.
HRV and physiology
The abstract’s conclusions reference earlier analyses from this trial describing inflammatory markers, blood viscosity, and heart rate variability—those numeric autonomic tables live in companion full-text figures, not always duplicated in the PubMed abstract alone.
How to read next to forum N=1
This is a small, single-site, occupational sample using research-grade grounding hardware—not direct proof that ad hoc outlet-ground consumer setups reproduce the same HRV deltas as self-reported in forums-phoenixrising-me-threads-i-have-confirmed-that-earthi.
Outcomes
- Effect Size (Cohen's d / SMD)Grounded vs not grounded (questionnaires): significant increases in physical function and energy; significant decreases in fatigue, depressed mood, tiredness, and pain (small occupational RCT; abstract-level summary)
- Heart Rate VariabilityAuthors cite prior trial-phase publications for HRV and inflammatory biomarker movement—verify device metrics in linked full text / companion papers