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The Effects of Placebos and Nocebos on Physical Performance

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Placebo

Part of the book series: Handbook of Experimental Pharmacology ((HEP,volume 225))

Abstract

In this chapter we present and discuss recent studies on the mechanisms underlying placebo and nocebo effects in physical performance, showing how expectations and both pharmacological and nonpharmacological preconditioning procedures can be very effective in inducing placebo responses, with important implications for sport competitions. Furthermore, we place these findings within the biological model of central governor of fatigue, whose main goal is to protect our body from damage. A crucial aspect of this emerging field of placebo studies is related to the limit beyond which these procedures can be called doping in all respects.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Neuroscience Department and National Institute of Neuroscience Labs, University of Turin Medical School, Corso Raffaello 30, 10125, Torino, Italy

    Elisa Carlino, Alessandro Piedimonte & Elisa Frisaldi

Authors
  1. Elisa Carlino
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  2. Alessandro Piedimonte
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  3. Elisa Frisaldi
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Elisa Carlino .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Neuroscience Department and National Institute of Neuroscience Labs, University of Turin Medical School, Turin, Italy

    Fabrizio Benedetti

  2. Department of Psychosomatic Medicine, University Hospitals Tuebingen, Tuebingen, Germany

    Paul Enck

  3. Neuroscience Department and National Institute of Neuroscience Labs, University of Turin Medical School, Turin, Italy

    Elisa Frisaldi

  4. Institute of Medical Psychology and Behavioral Immunobiology, University Hospital Essen, Essen, Germany

    Manfred Schedlowski

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Carlino, E., Piedimonte, A., Frisaldi, E. (2014). The Effects of Placebos and Nocebos on Physical Performance. In: Benedetti, F., Enck, P., Frisaldi, E., Schedlowski, M. (eds) Placebo. Handbook of Experimental Pharmacology, vol 225. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-44519-8_9

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