Science. 16 October 2009: Vol. 326. no. 5951, p. 404

Direct Evidence for Spinal Cord Involvement in Placebo Analgesia

Falk Eippert,1,* Jürgen Finsterbusch,1 Ulrike Bingel,2 Christian Büchel1
1 Department of Systems Neuroscience, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, 20246 Hamburg, Germany.
2 Department of Neurology, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, 20246 Hamburg, Germany. © 2009 American Association for the Advancement of Science. All Rights Reserved.

Placebo analgesia is a prime example of the impact that psychological factors have on pain perception. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging of the human spinal cord to test the hypothesis that placebo analgesia results in a reduction of nociceptive processing in the spinal cord. In line with behavioral data that show decreased pain responses under placebo, pain-related activity in the spinal cord is strongly reduced under placebo. These results provide direct evidence for spinal inhibition as one mechanism of placebo analgesia and highlight that psychological factors can act on the earliest stages of pain processing in the central nervous system.

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Placebo effect caught in the act in spinal nerves
14:41 16 October 2009 by Ewen Callaway

The placebo effect is not only real; its ability to deaden pain has been pinpointed to cells in the spinal cord. That raises hopes for new ways of treating conditions such as chronic pain...

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Placebo Effect Is in the Spine as Well as the Mind
By Ben Hirschler
Reuters, LONDON

It's not all in the mind -- the so-called placebo effect is real and reaches right down to the spine, German scientists said on Thursday. The finding may help in the hunt for better ways to tackle pain and other disorders...