The authors JWJ Bijlsma and PMJ Welsing of the editorial “The art of medicine in treating osteoarthritis: I will please” (Ann Rheum Dis 2008;67:1653–5) regret that a reference to an important work by Dr Franklin G Miller (Department of Bioethics, National Institute of Health) and co-workers was not included on p1654, first paragraph, right column. This part explains findings reported in reference 12 and also text extracted from the following reference: Miller FG, Kaptchuk TJ. The power of context: reconceptualizing the placebo effect. J R Soc Med 2008;101:222–5. This reference should have been included together with reference 12.