ArticleFrontiers in behavioral neuroscience2022
Therapeutic Alliance as Active Inference: The Role of Therapeutic Touch and Biobehavioural Synchrony in Musculoskeletal Care.
Article in Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
15 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 32 citations in OpenAlex.
- Pooled it
- Prediction, pain, and the power of context: toward a contemporary identity for the chiropractic profession.Chiropractic & manual therapies · 2026Review
- MASSAG model: Towards an integrative neuroscience framework linking emotional trauma, pain, and mechanisms of force-based manipulations.Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews · 2026Review
- Homeostasis after injury: How intertwined inference and control underpin post-injury pain and behaviour.PLoS computational biology · 2026Article
- Touch, temperature, and relief: a multilevel integrative model of hedonic regulation in massage and thermal therapies.Frontiers in physiology · 2026Article
- Manual therapy considerations for adhesive capsulitis in the breast cancer population: a clinical perspective.The Journal of manual & manipulative therapy · 2025Article
- Defining Skill in Manual and Manipulative Therapy: Perspectives from Physical Therapists.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- The impact of touching-communication-relief therapy on Parkinson's disease patients: a spiritual care perspective study.BMC neurology · 2025Article
- Patient-Practitioner-Environment Synchronization: Four-Step Process for Integrating Interprofessional and Distinctive Competencies in Osteopathic Practice-A Scoping Review with Integrative Hypothesis.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Insights into how manual therapists incorporate the biopsychosocial-enactive model in the care of individuals with CLBP: a qualitative study.Chiropractic & manual therapies · 2025Article
- A critical review of the role of manual therapy in the treatment of individuals with low back pain.The Journal of manual & manipulative therapy · 2024Review
- The Effects of Osteopathic Manipulative Treatment on Brain Activity: A Scoping Review of MRI and EEG Studies.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- A modern way to teach and practice manual therapy.Chiropractic & manual therapies · 2024Review
- Historical Osteopathic Principles and Practices in Contemporary Care: An Anthropological Perspective to Foster Evidence-Informed and Culturally Sensitive Patient-Centered Care: A Commentary.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
- Back to the Future: An Appraisal of the Role of Osteopathic Manipulative Treatment in Patients with Neurological Diseases.Innovations in clinical neuroscienceArticle
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Touch is recognised as crucial for survival, fostering cooperative communication, accelerating recovery, reducing hospital stays, and promoting overall wellness and the therapeutic alliance. In this hypothesis and theory paper, we present an entwined model that combines touch for alignment and active inference to explain how the brain develops "priors" necessary for the health care provider to engage with the patient effectively. We appeal to active inference to explain the empirically integrative neurophysiological and behavioural mechanisms that underwrite synchronous relationships through touch. Specifically, we offer a formal framework for understanding - and explaining - the role of therapeutic touch and hands-on care in developing a therapeutic alliance and synchrony between health care providers and their patients in musculoskeletal care. We first review the crucial importance of therapeutic touch and its clinical role in facilitating the formation of a solid therapeutic alliance and in regulating allostasis. We then consider how touch is used clinically - to promote cooperative communication, demonstrate empathy, overcome uncertainty, and infer the mental states of others - through the lens of active inference. We conclude that touch plays a crucial role in achieving successful clinical outcomes and adapting previous priors to create intertwined beliefs. The ensuing framework may help healthcare providers in the field of musculoskeletal care to use hands-on care to strengthen the therapeutic alliance, minimise prediction errors (a.k.a., free energy), and thereby promote recovery from physical and psychological impairments.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.