Recently, German scientists have proved that the "placebo effect" has a real effect on the body, which acts directly on the spine. This discovery can help in finding more effective methods of getting rid of pain and other disorders.
Using modern technologies, the researchers found that simply believing in the treatment of pain, our brain activates processes aimed at getting rid of it. This shows how powerful our biological organism is.
"The placebo effect has a very strong effect on our nervous system in the area of the spinal cord. These indicators speak of the strength of drugs based on the use of this phenomenon, "says Falk Aypert, a leading researcher at the Hamburg Research Medical Center.
Aypert and his colleagues used functional magnetic resonance imaging to study the processes taking place in the spinal cord. The experiment involved 15 women with hand pain. The study compared the results of MRI of patients when they were told that they were using just a cream and when - an anesthetic drug.
In fact, both creams did not contain active components, however, an MRI scan showed that the patients' nervous activity was significantly reduced when they thought they were receiving an anesthetic.
The ability of fictitious drugs without active components to have a therapeutic effect on the body has long puzzled doctors around the world.
As a rule, patients "dummy medicine" is given as an experimental medicine or as a control drug in clinical trials of new drugs. And the fact that the testimony of people who received the "placebo" does not differ much from the testimony of people taking the new drug under test, causing some difficulty in determining the effectiveness of the new drug.
Particularly strong "placebo effect" appears in the treatment of the central nervous system or in the treatment of depression, pain. Traditionally, experts view this effect as a psychological phenomenon, but recent studies have shown that there is a physiological background.
But still remains a mystery, what exactly causes such an effect in the spine? Aypert suspects that a number of chemicals that our body produces, in particular natural apioids, noradrenaline and serotonin, can be present in this process.
In an article in the journal Science, Aypert and his colleagues said that their work opens up new opportunities for developing medicines against various types of pain, including chronic pain and periodic pain in women.
Igor Mukha , especially for the site