When it comes to using treatments which have effects that may be nothing more than placebo, the question that is often asked is "What's the harm?" Well, according to these authors, it could be more than you realize. If it works, who cares? Does it matter that you are accidentally treating a psychosocial issue with something claiming to be treating something else? THIS ARTICLE IS CURRENTLY OPEN ACCESS SO FOLLOW THE LINK TO READ IT!
'Caution, this treatment is a placebo. It might work, but it might not': why emerging mechanistic evidence for placebo effects does not legitimise complementary and alternative medicines in sport. Rohrer JM. Br J Sports Med. 2017 Jul 19. pii: bjsports-2017-097747. doi: 10.1136/bjsports-2017-097747. [Epub ahead of print]
The two blog posts Erik refers to in the episode can be found here: Placebo-Fu Elite Level Placebos
Due to copyright laws, unless the article is open source we cannot legally post the PDF on the website for the world to download at will. That said, if you are having difficulty obtaining an article, contact us.
Music for PT Inquest: "The Science of Selling Yourself Short" by Less Than Jake Used by Permission