It is probably fair to say that most people have noticed that there are numerous magnetic therapy products on the market. You often see jewelry that has magnets on it at drugstore checkouts. However, for many skeptical people, the question is: does it really work?
There are a number of companies that make a living promoting the healing abilities of magnets. According to Dr. Mercola of Mercola.com in a 2008 article titled “The Healing Power of Magnets,” magnetic therapy is a $5 billion annual market worldwide. Still, as a science major, I like to see studies done following clinical trial methodology before I spend my hard-earned money on what would otherwise be “snake oil.”
About 2 years ago, I spent a short consultancy period with a company in Bristol, England called Magnopulse, a family business that was interested in expanding their markets outside of the UK. Magnopulse designs, manufactures and sells a complete line of magnetic therapy products. Two aspects of the company initially caught my attention. The first was that the company was created about 12 years ago when founder and president Derek Price was looking for a way to help his dog who suffered from arthritis that multiple vets couldn’t cure. After designing a collar with a magnet, the dog’s health improved dramatically, and Derek began a quest that continues to this day to find ways to help people (and yes, their pets, too) through magnetic therapy. Second, Derek was more interested in finding new ways to help people manage their pain and ailments than his interest in increasing sales.
Is it all rumours?
Okay, I see how all that works for marketing, but while I was still skeptical, what struck me next was that Magnopulse had spent a great deal of time, energy, and money conducting consumer and clinical trials. One of those trials was a double-blind, placebo-controlled trial supervised by a qualified physician and ultimately published in the respected Journal of Wound Care. It tested the ability of a product called 4Ulcercare to help heal open sores (ulcers) on the legs of people with very poor circulation as a result of age, high blood pressure, diabetes, etc. I relate to this problem, because my own father, after surgery in Florida to put a pin in a severely broken ankle, had a surgical incision that he never healed and remained an open wound for the 4 years he lived afterward.
The published results of the trial indicated that, although the trial group was small, there was a significant improvement in the group using the actual 4Ulcercare wrap relative to the placebo group. Speaking from experience, there is little else available to help heal leg ulcers beyond compression bandages and antibiotic creams, and no one doubts the value of these results, as a direct result of trials, the NHS UK Health added product. at its drug rate, which means that a doctor or nurse can prescribe the product to a patient and the state buys it from them. In my opinion, this gives not only this product, but all Magnopulse products, a credibility advantage that I did not expect to see in the industry.
my eureka moment
When I left England, Derek gave me a magnetic bracelet for my mother. She suffered a stroke in 2002 that left her paralyzed on her left side. During the time that followed, her mostly limp left hand had turned into a claw. This was despite years of therapy at least twice a week that included painful alternating hot and cold baths and massages. Hopelessly, since her hand seemed beyond help, I put the band on her wrist and thought about it some more. Wasn’t I surprised when he called me the next day and told me that her hand was “almost completely loose.” She went from being so fragile that you thought you would break her fingers just by touching them, to being like anyone else’s hand in less than a day! This is not to say that he suddenly had use of his hand again. Far from it, but his fingers loosened, the pain disappeared and he did not require more painful treatment. All for a wristband that costs around $50 and lasts a lifetime.
To say the least, I was no longer a skeptic and in fact have used many Magnopulse products myself, for chronic back, neck and shoulder pain, knee pain from hockey, and my wife has used the product for period pain and PMS – all with excellent results and all thanks to a simple but remarkable technology in my mind.
Cure or Placebo?
This question can only be answered with expensive clinical trials on each and every product for any and all purposes. The 4Ulcercare test has given proven results for one company’s product, for the rest we may have to look at the myriad of testimonials, including my own experience. In the end, I can’t help but think that it doesn’t matter much either way. If my mom is really gullible and she believed in these magnets so much that her hand got better, so be it. If I just think my back pain goes down when I use the general pain products, again, I can live with that. After all, there is a neck product for migraines that doesn’t work for me (which kind of negates the whole placebo question, at least for me personally), but my mother-in-law puts it on every time she starts experiencing the aura for a migraine and takes it away. If it’s a placebo effect, pretty good; one less migraine is a welcome improvement no matter the reason.
I can’t answer that question for anyone else, but this author is personally convinced by magnetic therapy. Part of the reason these particular products are successful, in my opinion, is that Derek is very committed to the science behind them. It has constantly improved the technology, while insisting that the negative pole must be against the skin (unlike some companies that don’t think it matters or intentionally alternate the positive and negative poles) and has developed a patented technology in the US. A so-called “directional plate” that apparently increases the penetrating power of the magnetic field in the body.
Can you give us a general answer about magnetic products for all the claims they make? No, definitely not. But all products related to complementary and alternative medicine vary greatly. Prescribed levels of various supplements are everywhere, the sources of those same supplements vary widely, making them more or less potent, and the evidence to support specific benefits is sometimes outweighed by possible other effects or side effects.
Staff Research
The best thing to do when evaluating the claims of alternative medicine in general, and magnetic therapy in particular, is to research all possible benefits and side effects and make a short-term or financial commitment to see what works for you individually. In the end, magnetic therapy can save you from all kinds of suffering or it can leave you wondering what all the fuss is about, but if you only bought a $50 item, you won’t be too far out of pocket. If the first one works, well, who knows, maybe you’ll be one of the lucky ones who will be able to avoid using pills for every pain for the rest of your life!
Find more information on how magnetic therapy manages pain and illness here.