How your Mind can Save your Knees

The mind is a good place to start, although I'm guessing if you hear someone tell you one more time about how the mind is 'powerful' you're going to harm yourself. 

So, let's flip it, let's look at something we can relate to better. Is there a way to measure the effects of the mind on something physical, something we can actually grasp and doesn't sound so dreamy?

Let's take a look at a real life example by Moseley (2002;2016) and find out what the knees have to do with anything.

Basically a bunch of people had a type of arthritis in their knees, it's mega painful and reduces mobility, so they were all due for surgery. 

❌The catch: only half the people received a real surgical procedure, while the other half were given a sham surgery. A FAKE SURGERY. ( they were put under anaesthetic, their knees were cut open and stitched up- to make it look like they had surgery when literally nothing was done)

👉The findings: BOTH groups had reduced pain and disability, with no difference between them across a 2 year period! 

💡So, what does this mean?

• I love this study because it shows the power of the mind and how it can affect even physical things. Obviously, it can't magically cure everything, but it shows how the mind shapes experiences.
• Just believing you had surgery changes your entire experience of pain and improves your ability to move. And this has been found across other conditions too.
• But most importantly, this example shows the power of stories, and the stories we tell ourselves. 

We're going to dive into how our narratives shape our reality, but first, have a think, what stories are you telling yourself about you?

P.S. I really did try not to use the word power. But other words don't quite have the same ring to them.