Chapter 6: The Milkshake Story

THE TAKEAWAY

1.       I firmly believe that 80% of the benefit of any of my treatments is due to the placebo or self-belief effect. The procedure and what patients think of the therapist have more effect on the outcomes than the actual physiological benefits of the treatments.

2.       The stroke survivor must genuinely believe and accept that placebo effects are true effects. If not, it will not matter how many repetitions are completed because the brain and body will not release the same hormones in response to the treatments as they do when they genuinely believe.

3.       Our bodies respond physiologically to what we believe. When students believed they were drinking a low-calorie milkshake, their bodies responded by producing more hunger hormones than students who believed they were drinking a high-calorie milkshake. Nothing other than belief could be responsible for this result, and it has extraordinary implications for rehabilitation after stroke.

4.       Unless you have a method to regularly measure a stroke survivor’s progress, you—and, more importantly, they—will not notice the improvements, and it will be devastating to their overall motivation to continue.

5.       I know from all the years that I’ve worked as a physical therapist that the most important and enjoyable feature of my therapy for any patient is when I can confirm to them that they have made progress. It doesn’t matter if this is small or large, because progress means one thing: you are getting better.