"Researchers..placebos can rival prescription drugs..for chronic back pain sufferer..Patients knew they were receiving a placebo..still worked"
The Honest Placebo
Researchers have found that openly prescribed placebos can rival prescription drugs, steroid injections, and even surgery in providing relief for chronic back pain sufferers. The twist? Patients knew they were receiving a placebo—and it still worked.
While the concept of placebos providing pain relief is not entirely new, this study breaks ground by informing participants they were receiving a placebo—a departure from the common practice of concealing this information. The research team set out to uncover the mechanisms by which placebos alleviate back pain. Traditionally, the effectiveness of placebo treatments has been thought to rely on deceiving the patient by presenting a false narrative of an actual treatment.
The trial, published Wednesday in the Journal of American Medical Association Network Open, involved 101 adult participants with chronic back pain aged 21 to 70. The findings suggest that honest placebo treatments “can confer meaningful clinical benefits to patients with chronic back pain” by engaging brain pathways linked to pain regulation, the authors said. Read the full story here›
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