Pain relief - it is just an illusion

It was supposed to be a trick of the mind to entertain the crowds, but a visual illusion that gives the impression your hand is being massaged could actually turn out to be an effective treatment for arthritis. Researchers at the University of Nottingham demonstrating the trick at an open day were amazed when a number of pensioners told how it had miraculously reduced the pain in their joints. The computer simulation was later tested on a sample of sufferers and in 85 per cent of cases it reduced their pain by 50 per cent. The discovery was made by chance during a community open day at the university when visitors were invited to experience some of the body distortion illusions used in every day research. A person places their hand inside a box containing a camera, which then projects the image in real-time onto a screen in front of them. The subject then sees their fingers being apparently stretched and shrunk by someone gently pushing and pulling from the other side of the box. It is supposed to just trick the mind into thinking your hand is being massaged - but it had the added bonus of relieving the pain of arthritis. ...read more>>>...