title: Placebo analgesia, acupuncture and sham surgery.
abstract: Invasive procedures, such as surgery and acupuncture, are likely better than the others in terms of eliciting placebo analgesia. Understanding how invasive procedures can elicit enhanced placebo responses may provide new insights into mechanisms underlying placebo analgesia. In this essay, it is argued that sensory, cognitive and emotional factors are major determinants of the magnitude of placebo analgesia. Sham surgery and acupuncture are good examples of placebo interventions, which generate robust placebo responses through simultaneously manipulating such three factors.
authors.affiliation: Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine, 2nd Teaching Hospital, Norman Bethune Medical School, University of Jilin, 218 Ziqiang Street, Changchun 130041, Jilin Province, China.
authors.forename: Tao
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Cui-Ping
authors.initials: CP
authors.lastname: Yu