Placebos ...
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Cycling, as many other sporting endeavours are, is full of snake oil and myths, a lot of stuff is placebo ...
From a thread on a coaching/training mailing list :
[Mod: The late Dr Siff noted: Many of us who have worked in several fields including neuropsychology and psychoneuroimmunology have witnessed similar changes in response to various shamanic, psychological, NLP, placebo and touch therapeutic methods. In fact it is very rare to find ANY therapeutic systems which DO NOT enjoy a level of success at some time or another which is more than sufficient to ensure a regular clientele, whether the method is virtually witchcraft or not. Apparently a success rate of less than 40 percent is quite adequate to ensure that a given therapist maintains a successful practice. By all means state that certain methods may work in certain situations, but don't presume that they do so for scientific reasons which have never been proved.]