Placebo ... The Power of the Mind

The human mind is really amazing.

You must truly believe you can do something great in order to achieve it.

A research article by Hashish et al. (abstract at the bottom) demonstrates the power of the mind at the expense of ultrasound therapy which is commonly used in physical therapy clinics. This article is 20 years old and ultrasound therapy is still common place in  many physical therapy clinics.

What the researchers did was take a bunch of post-operative patients and give them ultrasound therapy to control pain and swelling.

With out the patients knowledge they did treatments with the machine on/off but also with/without massage. They also had patients self administer the ultrasound treatment.

24 hours later they did some tests to check which treatment option had the best outcome.

Do you know which one?

The treatment with the machine OFF, had the best outcome but it had to be administered by the therapist.

That is the power of the mind and really the power of your thoughts.

You can start to imagine how an athlete who may have everything going for them can really sabotage their own success by the wrong kind of thoughts.

Be Well,

Mike Reid

www.michaelreid.ca

www.WaterPoloTraining.net

Reduction of postoperative pain and swelling by ultrasound treatment: a placebo effect.

Hashish I, Hai HK, Harvey W, Feinmann C, Harris M., Pain. 1988 Jun;33(3):303-11. Department of Oral and Maxillo-Facial Surgery, Eastman Dental Hospital, London, U.K.

Ultrasound (US) therapy is used to reduce pain and inflammation and to accelerate healing after soft tissue injury. However, there is little objective evidence of its effectiveness and the mechanisms which may cause these effects are unknown. In a placebo-controlled double-blind clinical trial we examined the contribution of placebo and massage effects in ultrasound therapy following bilateral surgical extraction of lower third molars. Four to 6 h after surgery the patients (25 per group) received either no therapy, US (0.1 W/cm2), 'mock' US with massage, 'mock' US without massage, or 'self-massage' with a dummy applicator. Facial swelling, trismus, serum C-reactive protein, serum cortisol, pain and anxiety were measured 24 h postoperatively. The results showed that the beneficial analgesic and anti-inflammatory effects of US therapy were placebomediated, with maximum effect in the placebo ('mock' US) group without circular massaging with the applicator). Self-massage by the patient produced no significant effect. This placebo action was independent of changes in serum cortisol or patient anxiety state. US therapy can significantly reduce postoperative morbidity, but by placebo-mediated mechanisms which are
unrelated to the US itself.