Once my younger sister was out of surgery, with a big pain in her limbs. A doctor came, took her hand and asked her to concentrate on the pain. Then he told her to move it along her body to the shoulder, move it down to her arm and finally to "give" him her pain. He asked her to push it through his hand then his arm. And she felt asleep, relieved from her pain.
May be it was hypnotising. I don't know, but it worked.