There was a time when people suffering from delusions talked about being abducted by aliens.  Maybe they still do. Anyway, the gist of what happened in these forced encounters was that the aliens did a lot of poking and prodding of their earthling abductees’ bodies. I can relate to their situations, now that I’ve added another alternative therapy to acupuncture and Chinese medicine, which I recently wrote about. (The condition I want to get rid of is chronic shoulder pain.)

The new therapy is “Network Care” and is a form of chiropractic medicine. The doctor did an assessment that told me what I already knew about my posture and spine: the first is poor and the second twisted. The treatment involves her gently touching parts of my spine, poking my tailbone, pulling on my legs. That’s about it. The idea is that my muscles have accumulated tension for many years and that the chiropractor is “releasing the underlying tension that keeps the spine misaligned.”

Since I lie down for both acupuncture and this treatment, I’m guaranteed 20-40 minutes of rest during the middle of the day,  three or four times each week. Both treatments are very calming, which is not what I imagined when I first pictured someone putting pins in my arms, legs, belly and neck. Nor what I remember when I was about 10 and my mom took me to a chiropractor after I had a trampoline accident. He twisted my back so vigorously that I cried out in pain.  I experience no stress from either of my current therapies and I look forward to going to both.

So are these relaxation periods working to solve my problem? Could I get the same benefit from napping? I’m not sure, except that I know my shoulder pain is less than when I started.  Both doctors remind me that I told them the pain began 35 years ago and that perhaps I’m asking a lot to have it go away in few weeks.

One piece of research on Network Care done by the University of California Irvine, found that, among other positive outcomes, “76% of the patients reported improvements in physical well being, less stress and improved quality of life.” The older I get, the more a good quality of life rises to the top of my list of important conditions.

For now, I plan to keep up the treatments. I understand why people with cancer are willing to try anything, including traveling to Mexico to be treated with medicine made from with peach or apricot pits.  When nothing else works, you become more open to trying something different. For readers who know me, don’t worry.  My capacity to suspend disbelieve is at its limit with the therapies I’m in now.  No cryogenic chambers or leeches for me, or the ten other practices I found in the “12 Most Bizarre Modern Alternative Medical Treatments.

Looking on the bright side, if these treatments don’t work, I’ll know what to expect if kidnapped by aliens.