Any thoughts about magnets therapy?

[vlacod]

A friend of mine send me this link with magnetic therapy.
This guy seems to exagerate a little bit, but the testimonials are great:

www.alexchiu.com/affiliat...ermojetics

Did anybody tried magnetic therapy? I would be interested to us it for my arthritis...

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[sanagupta]

Hello!
I have come across this magneto therapy many times here in India. as far as results are concerned i have seen people Beniffited by it. It has good theory behind it, treatment is according to the polarity of the magnates

These magnets are available in different shapes meant for different purposes and pains. when I tried to find its efficacy..in many of them it was just acting as immobiliser esp. in backahe and helping to relieve the pain.So,its efficacy is stil skeptical.
Regards
Sana

[sdkashif]

Well! It is a good topic to have a useful debate on it. Perhaps magnetotherapy is still in its evolutionary phase in the physiotherapy as much scientific work is required to prove its clinical and therapeutic efficacy. I have heard about the research work going on somewhere in Canada in the field of physiotherapy. But their use was limited to the electromagnets. Some claimed to have its use in facial palsy in an attempt to reduce the swelling of nerve within facial canal where other therapeutic agents are encountered with limitation. There has been some use of the belts having magnets to treat the problems of musculoskeletal origin in the lumosacral region having obsevered some efficacy of them. Other claimed clinical uses were for tissue healing and pain management & magnetically induced skeletal muscle contraction.

Perhaps some account of information can be gain from the textbook of electrotherapy.

Clinical Electrotherapy Second edition by Roger M. Nelson & Dean P. Currier

It will be of help to you.

[sdkashif]

Here is the information about magnetotherapy collected from different sources.

What is Modern Magnetotherapy?

Magnetotherapy termed "modern" means the Low-frequency Pulsed Electromagnetic Field therapy, shortly also EMF or frequently PMF therapy.
Magnetotherapy is a gentle and natural treatment for the human body. The action of a pulsative magnetic field (PMF) favourably affects tissues of the body. It is known that PMF works at the cellular level. PMF causes activation of enzymatic processes, metabolic transfers and cellular membrane functions. Cellular respiration is enhanced in the exposed area. PMF produces positive changes in the immunological condition of the patient, vasodilatation of the arterial capillaries and decreases blood coagulation.

This treatment may lead to the suppression or complete elimination of some health problems. This safe, non-invasive therapy can be successfully applied for treatment of different diseases, both acute, and chronic, and often provides fast removal of pain and edemas, which arise from physical trauma.

PMF improves cerebral blood circulation, increases inflow of oxygen in the cerebral cells, increases flexibility of blood vessels, and dissolves cholesterol. It is often applied to treat insomnia, migraines, atherosclerosis, poor memory, vertigo, after cerebral thrombosis and trauma of the head. Magnets have been shown to be helpful in the treatment of a number of conditions including arthritis, back pain, pain in joints, sporting injuries, poor circulation, lack of energy and stamina, etc. It's beneficial for anyone after the age of 50.

The therapy consists of introducing areas of the body into a magnetic field to accelerate the recovery of pain, inflammation, de-calcification, or other ailments of the locomotive system.

Magnetotherapy is a safe physiotherapy method in treatment of many diseases. Unfortunately, many people know about the use of permanent magnets only, i.e. static magnetic field.
There is a significiant difference in the way how static and pulsed magnetic fields are used. Long-range experience and many clinical studies confirm, PMF gives more better results.
Pulsed magnetotherapy has had a long history in Europe, namely in the East and Middle Europe, whereas therapy effects of static magnetic fields were researched in the West. In the Czech Republic, for example, the pulsed magnetotherapy is a very popular physiotherapy method and has become the standard part of therapeutical procedures in the spas, rehabilitation centers, etc.
Modern PMF devices allow to generate various frequencies, modulations, shape of impulses, exposure duration etc. Frequencies used are between 1 and 100 Hz, magnetic flux density being up to 100 mT supremely.


How Magnetotherapy Acts?

There are three established physical mechanisms through which pulsed magnetic fields interact with living matter.
1) Magnetic induction
2) Magnetomechanical effects
3) Electronic interactions

Physiological and Pathophysiological response to magnetic field

It can postulate that magnetic field exhibits the following activities:
1) vasodilatation
2) analgesic action
3) anti-inflammatory action
4) spasmolytical activity
5) healing acceleration
6) anti-oedematous activity

It is known that PMF affects cellular level. PMF causes activation of enzymatic processes, activation of the metabolic transfers and functions of cellular membrane. Cellular respiration is activated in the exposed area. PMF produces positive changes in immunological condition of the patient, vasodilatation of the arterial part of capillaries, decreases blood coagulation.

Magnetotherapy helps alleviate symptoms of epilepsy, Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, migraine, severe PMS, ADD / ADHD, and depression. Pulsed electromagnetic field therapy apparently reduce errant brain wave activity, revive (decalcify) the pineal gland thereby beneficially affecting melatonin synthesis, as well as benefiting other endocrine system functions such as enhancing the release or reception of dopamine.

Enhance blood's ability to carry oxygen.
Improve blood microcirculation.
Enhance neurological processes.
Improve psychological well-being.
Reducing anxiety.

Indications

The following list of PMF applications has been worked out on the basis of published works as well as on experience of professional UNIMAG and THERAMAG users.
Rehabilitation - osteoarthritides of the load bearing joints, spondylitides, osteochondritides, “tennis elbows”, “frozen shoulders“, conditions after distortions, algoneurodystrophic (Sudeck) syndrome, aseptic necroses (e.g. m.Perthes, m.Osgood-Schlatter), ankylosing spondylitis.
Paediatrics - myopathiae, rheumatoid arthritis, spinal amyotrophy, palsies after delivery, sinusitides.
Neurology - pareses of peripheral nerves, postherpetic pains
Dermatology - skin ulcerations of arterial and/or venous origin
Orthopaedics - chronic osteomyelitides, fresh fractures, pseudoarthroses, prolonged fracture healing.
Urology - chronic prostatitis, sexual dysfuntions and dysuric complaints


Counter-indications for magnetotherapy

Absolute - pregnancy, pacemaker, hyperthyreoidosis, suprarenal gland dysfunction, myasthenia gravis, conditions connected with bleeding (mainly bleeding into the GIT), hypothalamic and hypophyseal dysfunctions, active tuberculosis, acute viral diseases, malignancies (even in anamnesis), psychoses.

Relative - neurological diseases with seizures (with regard to applicator's localization), severe mycotic diseases, severe atherosclerosis, menstruation if small pelvis is exposed.
Special attention must be given to patients with hypotension or inclined to hypotension as well as to patients with hypertension. A sudden blood pressure decrease may occur, i.e. vertigo, swoon, etc. This reaction usually disappears within 30 minutes of the exposure and after 5 exposures adaptation sets in.

IMPORTANT !
Magnetotherapy must be understood as a part of complex therapeutic strategy. It is not reasonable to apply it separately, although it separately works. The best results have been achieved if magnetotherapy was incorporated into the complex balneological or rehabilitation care, etc.
There is the only one known incompatibility with other types of therapy, with simultaneous steroid therapy in patients suffering from the multiple sclerosis. On the other hand, due to the mechanism of the action, combination with antibiotics is very suitable as well as with the vasodilatating drugs.

Some useful links to web sites about magnetotherapy are as under:

www.magnetotherapy.com

www.earthpulse.net

www.relaxace.com/magnetotherapy.html

www.magnetcure.com

www.ibc.com.au/natural/magnetotherapy.htm

www.elisirproductor.com/magnetotherapy.htm

www.magnetictherapy.co.uk

www.magnetic.uk.com

www.unexplainable.net/artman/publish/article_538.shtml

[Husny]

Hey this is very comprehensive short note on this and it is very educative.

[jerryhesch]

:rolleyes
Tried em and found a great use for them, they are on my refrigerator holding up a paper on the scientific method.
jerry Hesch, mhs, pt

[friendlypain]

Trust me.... do you know how hard it is to bandage your own head after bashing it on your desk because you saw something that just blew you away because of complete ignorance and our insane ability to swallow new treatment methods because someone wrote a very poor paper or completely inaccurate research paper??? Is it greed that we stop looking objectively at new products that people come to us with only faith to back it up?

I had a NIKKA sales rep approach me and tried to sell me magnetic therapy gizmos to sell to my patients. I have an open mind so I gave her 5 minutes of my time... when I asked what evidence she had that this would help my patients, she became frustrated and blurted out "Why do people always ask for research studies?!" I then thanked her for her time.

Ok... so again, I will now ask those who saw the benefits of this treatment to tell me why it worked? What is it about the very nature of our bodies that allow healing by the use of magnetic fields. Does this mean we are made of elemental metals that our bodies congregate healing functions/properties to areas where there is a magnet?

If you are going to speak about the iron located in our blood cells.... well.... I will have to recover from a concussion before I can reply to you. (and I might have to get a new desk too)

Re-reading my reply I have to admit that I sort of sound harsh... Please know that I am not insulting anyone's intelligence. It all comes down to how we use the knowledge that we have and to QUESTION everything that we were taught and everything that is presented to us. Even things I learned in university are being rewritten as we speak.

For instance, the little info-mercial on magnetic therapy located above does not EXPLAIN why it works. It just says it does work and uses big words to say nothing. If info-mercials are becoming more popular in order to sell products, how do we distinguish between the commercial and the information? This is one of the challenges our profession seriously needs to tackle.

Know that I will now run off to research this again just in case they have proven that we are creatures of magnetic fields as opposed to being electical-chemical-hormonal creatures.

(wondering if I took my meds today)
Adamo

[alophysio]

Hi,

Personally, I don't tend to read posts that go on for more than a page or two - especially if it is textbook quotes... It is handy to know that it is there if i ever do want to research it.

My position on the magnets is this...

For some people, I have seen it work really well for their pain. These people aren't your run of the mill gullible sap. I am talking about medical doctors and patients of mine that i do not consider to have such tendencies - they are the tough suspcious kinds. There is no provable explanation why it works. They understand that it doesn't solve their problems, it is more like a painkiller. They know about placebo effects. It just works for them.

Then there are those who have wasted their money on them (more of these than the former i suspect...).

I use dry needling/acupuncture. I approach it the same way as the magents - for some people, it works spectacularly...

[tattoomd]

It seems that we really don't know how or if magnetotherapy works. There's no clear mechanism. And when you hear more than a dozen diverse ways that it helps, you have to be skeptical. Most drugs or chemical that have proven to be helpful have only a handful of proven uses (take vitamin D or vitamin C). Anyway, it needs more research.

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