Key takeaways:

• A non-deceptive placebo injection reduced chronic back pain with effect size similar to typical treatments.
• Secondary outcome benefits and brain changes lasted up to 1 year.

A single saline injection, openly prescribed as a placebo, yielded approximately 1 month of chronic back pain improvement, along with longer-term benefits in depression and sleep, according to data published in JAMA Network Open.

“We have known that placebos can be powerful pain relievers, but it has been unclear how to use them ethically, without patient deception,” Yoni K. Ashar, PhD, assistant professor at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, told Healio. “This spurred the development of the ‘open label,’ non-deceptive placebo treatment, which we studied here.”

https://www.healio.com/news/rheumatology/20241022/openlabel-placebo-injection-demonstrates-modest-benefit-in-chronic-back-pain