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Magnetic Therapy Works to Stop PainDoes magnetic therapy work? If you listen to the growing number of health care providers and researchers who are embracing it, the answer is yes. Perhaps, though, the most encouraging and loudest voice is from customers who return to buy yet another bracelet or necklace for a friend or family member.In an article written in 2001 for Research in Review and published on Florida State University's web site, Frank Stephenson notes what will likely happen if you mention magnetic therapy to your family doctor. He says that most doctors are "programmed," and "chances are excellent you'll hear sounds reminiscent of the days when doctors officially lost their esteem for the medicinal value of leeches." The skeptics are everywhere. According to Stephenson, the typical argument that skeptics make is that there is a "lack of evidence for a biological mechanism that could somehow be acted upon by magnetism to cause an effect." Your local doctor may not even be aware what magnetic therapies are available. Stephenson goes on to tell us that even though your local doctor may not approve of magnetic therapies, there is increased acceptance in the scientific community, and even from the FDA. "Progress in the clinical uses of magnet-based therapies is gaining momentum each year. Today, there are FDA-approved magnetic therapies available for use in a variety of treatments from healing broken bones to osteoarthritis." Unfortunately for the general population who might benefit from such therapies, that article indicates that progress has been somewhat slow... "But magnets as legitimate alternatives in therapy, though they've surely come a long way just in the past 20 years, have mountains of psychological baggage to climb before they'll be attractive to your average health-care provider, much less HMO."
But there are medical doctors and other health professionals who are embracing the idea that magnetic therapy has value. Dr. Daniel Man, a plasic surgeon in Boca Raton, FL, uses and studies the effects of magnets on his patients. A group of registered nurses and magnetic therapy practitioners has formed The Magnetic Therapy Council. Many books have been published, including some by M.D.'s, touting the health benefits of magnets,
especially for pain relief.
-Dr. Michael Breen commenting on magnetic therapy Ray Cralle, RPT, a registered physical therapist for over 20 years, is excited about using magnets for healing. He says he has "never been as impressed by a technology so simple and effective in helping arthritis, back pain and even fibromyalgia (chronic fatigue)." Cralle says that "Johns Hopkins, Baylor College of Medicine and Massachusetts Institute of Technology are studying magnetic therapy." Many studies done by medical doctors and research scientists are coming back with promising results to report. In the book, The Pain Relief Breakthrough, Julian Whitaker, M.D. and Brenda Adderly, M.H.A tell us "...magnets are slowly creeping into common use for one reason: they work... They work for patients with arthritis, reducing their pain... they allow migraine sufferers to end cycles of debilitating pain." In addition, many researchers would like to see more emphasis on the use of magnetic therapy. Mr. Stephenson says "One such scientist is Prof. Betty Sisken, a researcher at the University of Kentucky. Sisken has spent 25 years investigating the links between nerve regeneration and magnetic fields. She's demonstrated that the recovery of damaged nerves can be speeded up dramatically by exposure to pulsed, low-power magnetic fields." Part of the problem with acceptance by the medical community for magnetic therapy is that no one seems to agree on what the mechanism actually is that makes it work. We've heard everything from increased blood flow, to increased oxygenation, to a magnetic effect on the hemoglobin in the blood, to an actual effect on the body's own magnetic field. From the NIH website... "Scientific research so far does not firmly support a conclusion that magnets of any type can relieve pain. However, some people do experience some relief." The key statement there, is... "some People do experience some relief." According to the book, Healing Magnets : a guide for pain relief, speeding recovery, and restoring balance, by Sherry Kahn, magnets can and do help with pain relief... "Boasting an impressive 80 percent success rate in reducing pain, magnets have been used as powerful healing tools for decades in Europe and Asia." Here's an excerpt from page 47 of that same book... "In a Japanese study, 121 patients with severe chronic shoulder pain were treated with static magnets at the Hospital of Kinki University and the Hospital of Tokyo Medical College. Of those treated with higher strength magnets, 82 percent reported a significant improvement in pain... Dr. Kyoichi Nakagawa... has treated more than 11,000 patients with static magnets, has reported a 90 percent success rate..." We encounter people all the time with the folowing scenario. Let's say that I'm in pain. I'm getting competent medical help with my condition, but I'm still in pain. Sound familiar? This is all too common. The bottom line is, if my doctor allows it, then what is wrong with supplementing with magnets to see if they help? Most medical doctors will tell you that chiropractors have no value, yet I know a number of personal success stories where people owe their ability to function properly to a chiropractor. We hear similar stories from people who wear magnetic jewelry. These are not just our own customers, many are passers by who bought from someone else but had to stop at our booth to tell us it worked for them. Years ago, pro Golfer Jim Colbert was about to give up due to debilitating pain. He owes his record earning comeback to the world of golf in the mid-90's to magnet therapy. Prof. Sisken told Research in Review, "Biologists say they don't have a good explanation for a mechanism of action... Frankly, if pharmacologists had waited to find out exactly what the mechanism of action is for all the drugs they make, we wouldn't even have aspirin." As more progress is made in research, however, magnetic therapy studies are receiving federal research grants. Much of the money comes from NIH Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine. They've made substantial research awards to the University of Virginia and Emory University.
In the words of Mr. Stephenson, "perhaps mainstream science will then begin to better appreciate things it may never fully understand."
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