More Placebo, less con

In the old days, drug companies used to test their new fanged expensive products against  a PLACEBO.

According to wikipedia  placebo  “is a simulated or otherwise medically ineffectual treatment for a disease or other medical condition intended to deceive the recipient. Sometimes patients given a placebo treatment will have a perceived or actual improvement in a medical condition, a phenomenon commonly called the placebo effect or placebo response. The placebo effect consists of several different effects woven together, and the methods of placebo administration may be as important as the administration itself”.

These days its often not. I think the drug companies got miffed that their new fangled ( very expensive drug) only got 1 or 2 % better results than a sugar pill.

Very annoying if your corporate mission is to screw cash out of our NHS.

The reality is that getting our body to believe it can be cured has remarkable effects. Let’s face it, often the body cures itself, with no outside help from the drug companies what so ever.

Often “cures” like Reiki, magnets,  supplements  are raved about on social media.

Clearly, these things  have no physical effect (as yet, discoverable). Adding less than .001%  extra  glucosamine to the bodies natural store of  glucosamine really wont cure your shoulder issues.  A deluded fanatic holding their hands 2 inches from your shoulder thinking happy thoughts  wont apply any physical effect to fix your shoulder

But clearly, things like this actually work. Amulets don’t stop bullets, but give one to a boy  soldier  (add  a few tokes of a good spliff  and  a motivational speech:obviously) and they will charge  people firing machine guns at them.

People believe the weirdest things.

That placeboes work is beyond doubt. They often work well as pain relief, because often , after 2 or 3 weeks, pain is no longer an indication of the state of the tissue. Its simply an alarm bell that continues to ring because we don’t know how to switch it off. Ever heard of the guy whose amputated leg still hurts????

People in pain, often feel no pain after placebo  “treatment”

Anything that rallies your subconscious into believing that a wrist band, or blue socks, or vitamin C, or an evangelical prayer will cure cancer, or improve performance ,is probably worth trying out as long as  its only  £10 (ish) or less.

I guarantee you that somewhere, someone, has been cured by a wrist band, or blue socks, or vitamin C, or an evangelical prayer. Ive  cured people like this myself !

I have one plea.

If you respond to placeboes, try and find a cheap one to respond to.

Believe that drinking a glass of tap water  cures pain, or that  touching  trees gives you healing powers. Believe that by simply adding your ailment to the comments below, our online community will send out universal love and fix it .

Try not to believe that a racoon paw improves  virility , or that a Panda’s big toe cures aids.  The animals concerned are rather fond  of the bit remaining on their body just as it is. Thank you

That said, sometimes the most effective  placebo is you spending lots of money and getting lots of attention!

Ce la vie

Ofcourse this is nothing but a shoddy advertorial for me as a personal trainer …………..but dont you feel better already

Email me for your session in Bethnal Green or Blackfriars andrew@andrewstemler.com

Is an MRI for you

Clients with bad backs clutch onto their MRI scans . Often they are of no value. There is little correlation with  disc degeneration and pain. Most people have  a bit of disc degeneration.
MRI’s are often ordered by doctors for patients as placebo’s
But for those who  want a bit more insight into  MRI magic, here is the best lay persons description I can find. Focus on slides  61-63.
As this slide show says, “ask specific questions”