Can some people be more susceptible to placebos?

I think the actual rubbing/massage has some effect, irrespective of what is actually rubbed in!

I'll give that a try Shysal but in the long-term I need to get some flexibility back in my arms and shoulders do I can reach all parts. I've started some yoga exercises for stiff shoulders.

Could it be the rubbing action that works and the gel/cream just provides lubricant.

I think you are technically correct jaineainsworth - but you can also get a conditioned response. e.g. the original "discovery" of placebo (first academic paper I think) was based on WW1 field hospitals. The soldiers were used to having morphine injections for pain. The staff ran out of morphine and gave the soldiers inert injections and they still got the same benefit. The soldiers had a conditioned response to injections that they believed to be morphine. So not technically a placebo effect according to your definition. This could happen with a cream.
Placebo is similar to hypnotic suggestion. Some people more susceptible to suggestion than others.
Thing to remember is that: placebo only works on some of the people some of the time and then only on symptoms. It never ever cures a disease and don't ever believe anyone who says it does.

Voltarol works slightly differently to some creams in that is sets off a series of small shocks to the skin which overrides the pain [at least, that's what I was once told]. And any warmth overrides pain because of the brain reacting to heat before pain so that we protect ourselves from burning before we actually burn.

Yes Jess. Agree Anya's was probably a conditioned response

Nobody ever suggested a hand cream could cure a disease did they?

I'm starting to salivate!

Hush Anya. Your case is being discussed by the eminent brains of GN.

I think it was coincidence. The pain would have gone off anyway. The rubbing of the fingers would have helped. A bit.

No rubbed on ointment can help pain. You need to swallow the drug itself.

Not whatever was in that cream though!!!

I think the thing with soldiers was placebo. Some of them got the real deal, and some of them had the pretending stuff. The pretending stuff worked because of the placebo effect.

Voltarol emugel DOES WORK! The active ingredient is actually absorbed through the skin so it's the same as swallowing it, but minus the gastric side effects that NISAIDS give.
I swear by the stuff!
Incidentally thanks to whoever it was that reccommeded magnesium spray for cramp. I've only had one attack since I started using it, and that was when I forgot for a few nights.

You sound very authoritative on the subject of pain, jingl.
I believe capsaicin can be rubbed in for pain, and eating chilli peppers can also reduce pain. Capsaicin is the active ingredient in chilli peppers.
If I have a headache, I just rub neat lavender oil into my temple and it goes away. I only rub it on for a short time, so it's not the action of rubbing that works.
Both Jane and Anya mention rosemary in their handcreams. Nothing wrong with eating rosemary. I believe that basil also helps with pain relief.
Lots of vegetables contain salicylin, which is aspirin.
(There are six different ways of spelling salicylin, none of which are accepted by spellcheck.)

To be honest, I've never tried Voltarol Emugel because it's got diclofenac as the active ingredient, and I'm scared of that stuff. I know you don't get much when you take it through your skin, but still...

Well, we all get it don't we durhamjen?!

I agree about Voltarol Galen. Unfortunately it's quite expensive so Gp's don't prescribe it as much as they used to but I swear by it. It's better than everything else. We had one Dr that used to say that rubbing talc onto your skin had the same effect as most creams as it was the warmth that helped but he didn't suffer from arthritic pain himself and wasn't the most sympathetic of people.

Volarol or Ibuprofen gel have absolutely no effect on me, although so many swear by it- perhaps I'm too thick-skinned!
I'm interested in your ideas durhamjen, especially as I grow most of them, and even if it's the rubbing in that relieves pain at least it reduces pill popping.

It's prescribable, and no good reason why you shouldn't get it on prescription if it works for you!
Bully him! It works!

My GP agrees with me that ibuprofen is less effective for many people (including me) than aspirin. Years ago I read about a study which suggested that ibuprofen was more effective for men than for women. It seemed reasonable at the time but I can't remember what the different effect was ascribed to. Hormones?

I remember that report that ibuprofen was more effective for men than for the women, and the reason that it had not been picked up on first testing it - the early testing was on medical student volunteers, who were mostly men.

That's interesting bags. I remember reading about trials of new medications always being performed on men, including those for pain relief during labour. The article was suggesting that this would explain why some treatments were less effective for women who responded differently but on whom no tests had been done.

Researchers found that pretend meds don’t do much for people who tend toward hostility. They work best for those who are naturally resilient, and altruistic.

I can't take aspirin, people with asthma should not take NISAIDS of which aspirin is one. They can trigger asthma

jingl what eminent brains?