MSD

I tried it at the insistence of someone who refused to listen to the fact that no controlled and blinded study has shown it to do anything. I lay down on a table and relaxed while a woman held her hands over the injured part of my back for about ten minutes. She then informed me that the session was complete and that I should feel some immediate relief followed by improvement over the course of the day. It felt a little bit better, as it always does if I lay down on my stomach and relax my back muscles, and returned to the typical level of pain over the next 15 minutes once I stood up.

I have been given no plausible mechanism of action for the practice, a review of randomized trials last year shows no evidence of effectiveness, and it did nothing for me.

The logical conclusion I arrive at is that I was laying down relaxing my back muscles while a woman stood over me doing nothing to address the problem while sincerely and honestly believing that she was directing healing energy toward me. Fortunately, it was a demonstration and I didn't have to pay anything.

I had a very similar experience with crystal-based healing, the difference being that rather than holding her hands over me for ten minutes, the practitioner lifted the back of my shirt and placed some pretty rocks on my spine while giving me an explanation of chakras, and I assume spectators and passers-by were quietly making fun of me for being fat.