Background

For thousands of years Chinese, Egyptians, Chaldeans, Arabs, Greeks, Romans and Indians have used magnets to heal. According to legend, about 2500 years ago, a shepherd named Magnes found mineral stones sticking to the metal nails in his sandals. That mineral received the name magnetite. In 2000 B.C., magnetic stones are mentioned in the oldest medical textbook ever discovered, the Yellow Emperor's Classic of Internal Medicine. In the 4th century B.C., the philosopher Aristotle was fascinated by magnets. And near the turn of the millennium Cleopatra, the beautiful Egyptian queen, is reported to have worn a magnet on her forehead. In the 4th century, Martel, a French doctor, used magnets to heal hand and feet's pain. In the 6th century, Alexandre de Tralles cured joint's pain with magnets. Hall Abbas, Arab doctor, used it to treat spasms and feet's pain. In the 16th century, Paracelsus the European doctor, used magnets for inflammation. He was a brilliant thinker and a pioneer for many future magnet healers. In the 17th century, the court physician to Elizabeth I, William Gilbert, published De Magnete.

It was the first comprehensive book on magnetism. He used "lodestones"

(magnets) to heal bleeding and for its astringent's properties. Maxwell, King Charles II's doctor wrote a book about magnet's healing powers. In the 18th century, the French Royal Society of Medicine concluded that magnets are antispasmodic, relieve strong pains and "cannot be ignored nor contested".

The German doctor Mesmer was a famous, but controversial magnet healer. It's questionable whether he did more to advance or hinder magnet therapy. He was a flamboyant showman and public relations self-promoter. Patients flocked to him and this gave magnet therapy much publicity, for better or for worse. In the 19th century, Doctor Magiorani and Charcot used it successfully too. In 1925, a French doctor, Durville, wrote a book about magnetotherapy, giving instructions to cure dozen of ailments with magnets. In 1976, in Boston (U.S.A.), the first International Conference on Biomagnetism was held. In 1991, in Munster, Germany, the eighth International Conference on Biomagnetism featured 240 presentations and attracted 400 participants. Magnetic therapy has arrived. In 1983, one of the greatest discoveries ever in magnetics was announced. Rare earth neodymium biomagnets were invented which are 700 reported improvement, which suggests that the magnetic foil conveyed no benefit.

· More recently, researchers at the VA Medical Centre in Prescott, Arizona conducted a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover study involving 20 patients with chronic back pain. Each patient was exposed to real and sham bipolar permanent magnets during alternate weeks, for 6 hours per day, 3 days per week for a week, with a 1-week period between the treatment weeks. No difference in pain or mobility was found between the treatment and sham-treatment periods.

Magnets have also been claimed to increase circulation. This claim is false. If it were true, placing a magnet on the skin would make the area under the magnet become red, which it does not. Moreover, a well-designed study that actually measured blood flow has found no increase. The study involved 12 healthy volunteers who were exposed to either a 1000-gauss magnetic disk or an identically appearing disk that was not magnetic. No change in the amount or speed of blood flow was observed when either disk was applied to their arm. Magnetherapy, Inc, of Riviera Beach, Florida Beach, a company that has been subjected to two regulatory actions, manufactured the magnets.

Conclusion

The facts are there is no scientific basis to conclude that small, static magnets can relieve pain or influence the course of any disease. In fact, many of today's products produce no significant magnetic field at or beneath the skin's surface.

References:

Mayrovitz HN and others. Assessment of the short-term effects of a permanent magnet on normal skin blood circulation via laser-Doppler flowmetry. Scientific Review of Alternative Medicine 6(1):9-12, 2002. Morales halts unproven claims for magnet therapy. News release, April 9, 1998.

Vallbona C, Hazelwood CF, Jurida G. Archives of Physical and Rehabilitative Medicine 78:1200-1203, 1997.