ABSTRACT
Exercise is often used by individuals and prescribed by professionals for its beneficial effects on both physical and mental health. Given that placebo effects are associated with a broad range of health treatments, there is no reason why exercise treatments should not also be associated with placebo effects. Determining the degree to which the outcomes of exercise are modulated by expectation and/or conditioning and establishing the magnitude of effects associated with different contextual factors, especially in relation to psychological outcomes, would have both theoretical and applied implications. The former helps scientists better understand the factors that drive positive psychological effects, the latter helps practitioners and individuals tailor interventions to maximise outcomes. However, it is challenging to develop research designs that allow us to unambiguously quantify placebo effects associated with exercise, which in part explains the relative paucity of research findings. Given these limitations, it is possible to study placebo-related effects by measuring or manipulating the same psychological mechanisms that are involved in placebo effects (e.g., expectation and conditioning). These studies may not be helpful in distinguishing placebo effects from treatment effects, but they do provide insight into the degree to which psycho-social context influences the magnitude of the effect of exercise of psychological outcomes as well as the potential mechanisms that are involved.
