You're probably right about the massage helping your elbow more than the Arnica, Dalai.
I suppose it doesn't matter if the Arnica is cheap.
I have a lot of patients who ask me about alternative therapies. I usually am happy to say that there is no harm trying it. But where the alternative therapy is very expensive, I usually make a point of saying that it might be worth using a simple sorbolene cream, which costs a few dollars from the supermarket, rather than the fancy herbal supplement, 50 dollars from your local health food shop.
Spend the extra money on a visit to a physio or to Julian!
I would be wary of health practitioners who are keen to find various "deficiencies" which require expensive supplementation. Some of these "deficiencies" have doubtful significance in real life, and often the real cause of symptoms is much more straightforward, but less amenable to being fixed by a "magic pill"!
I am very uncomfortable prescribing placebos, as I know at some stage people will present with a serious illness that requires serious treatment, and they will need to trust that I can provide more than a placebo!
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