Direct Evidence for Spinal Cord Involvement in Placebo Analgesia

SPINAL CHORD | PAIN RELIEF

Falk Eippert
Post-doctoral researcher, Oxford University

Jürgen Finsterbusch
University of Hamburg, Department of Systems Neuroscience

Ulrike Bingel
Professor at the Clinic for Neurology at the Medical Faculty, University of Duisburg-Essen

Christian Büchel
Head of Junior Research Group (Cognitive Neuroscience) at the Dept. of Neurology, Hamburg University; Full professor for Cognitive Neuroscience; Director Institute for Systems Neuroscience, University Medical Center, Hamburg-Eppendorf

---

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.

The Research | Click HERE