I think we all intuitively know something about the power of laying on hands on a day-to-day basis. but at the evicdence level almost all guns point to the benefits of active exercise and physical activity. Knowing more about the beliefs about our patients have about constitutes effective therapy is a key area that needs to be properly investigated. Yet it is a key area in health psychologybwhen it comes to medications, surgery, and lifestyle interventions as it is a principle factor in whether patients adhere to treatment and attend followups. And simply providing education that it is "better to keep hands off" has a poor track record for persuading our patients. I think we have a lot to learn about 1) the psychological and physiological benefits of touch - did we make a mistake when we chucked out the massage as a core modality? 2) patients perceptions about what makes a an effective therapeutic experience. Finding this out doesn't negate or stop us from using the most effective hands off approaches we have available. But it does mean that we could use our hands more discerningly rather than in the service of false claims.