Healing Touch

We are told that if something ails you to see a doctor, but is that really neccesary? As children all we needed was someone to kiss our boo-boos, wipe our tears and hold our hands. Touch can mean many things, whether it be the comforting embrace of a lover or the shock of a fist to the face; but can one's touch heal? In the Bible, Jesus is said to have cured leppors with a simple touch and many feel better after receiving a hug from a friend. Anyone who had ever gotten a massage knows that feeling afterwards is better than any doctor's check up can provide; so why then do we cower away from each other on buses, in waiting rooms and in elevators? Is there a connection between the growing fear of touching and getting germs to the growing number of sick days taken each year?