Associate
If they work as a placebo then the item is in fact and by definition not working in any way and the effect is purely psychological...
Power Balance Bracelet
- Thread starter dowie
- Start date
If they work as a placebo then the item is in fact and by definition not working in any way and the effect is purely psychological...
Associate
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- 6 Sep 2006
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It does sound like a load of rubbish. However, I know a few people that swear by those magnetic bracelets which apparently have no proven possitive effect on wrist injuries...
Since I'm suffering from wrist pains maybe I should try them out
Hmm...as long as we're going for solutions with no proven effects, how about just sacraficing a chicken and examining its entrails for a clue as to how to overcome the wrist injury
Associate
I dont get what these do but i know a few people that have them haha, yet they just use them for a little fashion accessory
What's wrong with that?
Associate
They are promoted for the use of balance or whatever, Im just stating thats what most people use them for not saying that there is anything wrong with it
Soldato
People who are saying that sea bands don't work are talking mince. And I'm not a quack that believes in homeopathy.
Apparently mince means something different on Urban dictionary than what you were implying.
The proof of any acupuncture working in a way other than the placebo effect is very limited, just because they appeared to work on you or others it does not mean anything other than the placebo effect.
Caporegime
- Joined
- 18 Oct 2002
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Don't forget that while the placebo effect positively effects how effective something is, the reverse is true aswell. Someone who put on a band who refused to accept it would work could also essentially ignore the benefit due to their strong belief it wouldn't work and in the opposite way to the placebo effect, essentially force it to fail.
Clinical testing is insanely difficult basically. What if the bands for instance really did give a actual 5% benefit, but the placebo effect meant someone was trying 5% harder than normal just because they believed it would work, giving an overall 10% benefit, while someone who thought it wouldn't work, tried less hard in testing either on purpose or subconciously, making it appear to even negatively effect performance.
Same can be true of pain med and pain med studies, if you're 100% sure a pain pill won't work you can essentially make your mind think you are still in pain even when the actual source of the pain is completely blocked by say morphine.
The mind is one of the most powerful things in determining how well we perform, if a £40 band makes you perform better our of sheer belief and self confidence, its worked. THe question is, if it was only £5, and everyone had one, would the psychological effect be as strong, most likely, not
our minds are a ridiculous mindfield of ridiculous behaviour that often flies in the face of logic and common sense and theres little we can do about it.
Clinical testing is insanely difficult basically. What if the bands for instance really did give a actual 5% benefit, but the placebo effect meant someone was trying 5% harder than normal just because they believed it would work, giving an overall 10% benefit, while someone who thought it wouldn't work, tried less hard in testing either on purpose or subconciously, making it appear to even negatively effect performance.
Same can be true of pain med and pain med studies, if you're 100% sure a pain pill won't work you can essentially make your mind think you are still in pain even when the actual source of the pain is completely blocked by say morphine.
The mind is one of the most powerful things in determining how well we perform, if a £40 band makes you perform better our of sheer belief and self confidence, its worked. THe question is, if it was only £5, and everyone had one, would the psychological effect be as strong, most likely, not
our minds are a ridiculous mindfield of ridiculous behaviour that often flies in the face of logic and common sense and theres little we can do about it.
Associate
You misunderstand my arguemnt. It's an either or thing.
The doctor can prescribe a post-it note to the forehead and make up some pseudo-science about how the glue helps cures headaches, and charge them £1. Or he can prescribe gold forehead paste and say the the characteristic of the gold helps cures headaches, and sell it for £140.
If the placebo effect is going to be effective, it will be effective regardless of which 'medicine' the doctor suggests as the effect is triggered through a conscious belief that you're being given something that will help you.
So if the doctor purposefully sells you something expensive that has the same effect as something much cheaper, it's immoral.
Caporegime
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- 18 Oct 2002
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As I tried to point out, this isn't strictly true, people are simply more willing to believe a post it note that costs £4 and on the packaging says "with secret ingredient infused into the paper" than if told to take a standard post it note, worth 0.05p.
If the cure or, remedy isn't "believable" it won't work, and frankly we've been taught as a people that nothing is free.
What would be more believable now, a medical company offering free AID's curing pills for 1p a piece, or if they said the cure was £800.
The question would be, would the placebo work at a lower cost, or would it make someone more skepticle and lessen or remove the chance of a placebo effect?
If a 1p post it note doesn't fix a headache, and a £4 one does, which is the better option for the headache?
Caporegime
Of course, whats the difference between berbatov on a hattrick day and berbatov on saturday? He hasnt physiocally morphed into something in a few months, his mind is just in a different state. Same with a lot of athletes, their bodies will be in a similar state for good periods of time, the difference is purely mental in terms of their actual performance.
But that being said, if something is marketed to work not as a luck charm, but scientifically make you 'do better' then it has to do that, otherewise it is falsely stating the benefits of the product. Afetrall you could find a shiny penny for 1p and have the same benefit as a £40 band...
Caporegime
Maybe your GP saw a mental weakness that he could get you to focus your attenton on the wonder band, instead of thinking about the journey and thus alleviating the onset of the nausean?
But then you have other tricks such as the sweets they give you on a plave before beginning the descent, its not just to take your mind off it, moving your jaw does help to release the pressure through your sinuses/ears (as i believe might not be 100% factual or accurate in my description). Theres nothing to say that wearing something that pressures a certain part of your skull to do the same thing.
But a bracelet, im dubious to say the least!
Permabanned
I've tried one and think it doesn't work. My brother in law uses my magnetic bracelet I got as a free gift with vitamins and swears it makes his back better.
Man of Honour
Except that it's much more complicated than that. We know that the placebo effect of blue pills is less than that of red ones. We know that a placebo injection is far more effective than a placebo pill, which in turn is more effective than a placebo massage or similar. Best yet: we know that the placebo effect works pretty much as well even if we know it's a placebo.
M