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Magnetic Therapy Articles

Magnetic Therapy’s Quality Scientific Evidence Ignored by Conservative Medical Researchers

A January 2006 medical journal article generated a rash of negative press against magnetic therapy. Yet quality medical studies and reviews contradict the authors’ stance. These authors also neglect to mention that many common conventional medical procedures and surgeries have not been studied to the degree to which they expect magnetic therapy to submit.

San Diego, CA (PRWEB) January 22, 2006 -- The recent January 2006 issue of the British Medical Journal suggested patients be advised that magnetic therapy has no proved benefits. They argued that only blinded randomized controlled trials can prove medical benefit, and that it is difficult to study magnets in a blinded fashion.

"The article obscures an important truth about research and real world healing," says Brian B. Carter, MS, LAc, an acupuncturist and professor at the Pacific College of Oriental Medicine in San Diego. "If we were to apply this standard to all medicines, we'd also have to point out that many common surgeries and medical procedures also have no proved health benefit. Few of them have been studied in randomized controlled trials, and they cost at least as much as magnetic healing does. But no one complains about that. This exemplifies the double standard the medical establishment applies to alternative medicine."

A randomized controlled trial of arthroscopic knee surgery for osteoarthritis found it to be no more efficacious than placebo, yet this surgery is performed on more than 600,000 people per year. This study appeared in the New England Journal of Medicine in July 2002.

The British Medical Journal article is at odds with the results of more than 300 favorable studies of powerful magnetic therapy for diseases including arthritis, fibromyalgia, migraine, multiple sclerosis, pain, sinusitis, and insomnia. Abstracts of these studies are available for free. (see Therion's research database). What’s more, an expert review of 18 high quality randomized controlled trials of magnetic therapy for pain concluded that the weight of the evidence favors magnetic pain relief. This review was published in June 2005 in the Journal of Alternative & Complementary Medicine.

"The authors of the BMJ study forget that consumers are shrewd," says Carter. "If magnets don't work, they'll demand a refund or spread negative word of mouth. Plus, recent research continues to explain close relationship between nerves, the brain, and the immune system. The same neurovasculoimmune mechanisms that make acupuncture work explain how magnets heal the body. Nerves work via electricity and magnetic fields affect the flow of electricity."

About Brian Carter, MS, LAc:
Brian Carter is a California licensed acupuncturist and herbalist. He teaches in the Pacific College of Oriental Medicine's masters program and is the author of Powerful Body, Peaceful Mind.

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Doctors, Psychiatrists Turning to Magnets

Dr. Jane Murray isn't ready to prescribe magnet therapy for any of her patients just yet. But that day could be coming.

"I hear testimonials from people right and left," said Murray, a family physician who employs both traditional and complementary therapies at the Sastun Center, a clinic in Mission, KS. "I don't disbelieve them at all. But I don't know yet how to prescribe magnet therapy."

Magnets have a long history as medical devices. Cleopatra is reported to have worn a magnetic lodestone on her forehead in an attempt to forestall the aging process. For decades, magnets have occupied a place among alternative treatments, alongside herbs and acupuncture. Along the way, they also have become big business. Billions of dollars worth of medical magnets are sold each year, over the Web and in Tupperware-style home parties.

Yet as they've gained adherents, medical magnets also have fallen into disrepute among many medical professionals.

"A lot of fly-by-nighters started promoting magnetics for all sorts of ailments," said Abraham Blechman, an associate professor in orthodontics at Columbia University's School of Dental and Oral Surgery. He has experimented with magnets and uses them regularly in his New York practice.

A couple of years ago, the Federal Trade Commission disciplined some companies for making unsubstantiated claims on Web sites about magnets' power to cure AIDS, cancer, liver disease and other conditions.

"Magnetics in general got a bad reputation," Blechman said. "There are many medical people who don't believe any of the claims being made."

However, he noted, that is slowly changing.

"There are more and more uses of it being promoted with good scientific background," he said. "It's gradually being accepted."

Several controlled clinical studies conducted in the past few years suggest that magnets may effectively treat some disorders. And a few health-care providers are routinely using magnets for a host of conditions.

Blechman, for example, has used magnets for years with orthodontic patients to move teeth and to accelerate new bone growth. Some of his faculty colleagues at Columbia's medical school are using magnets experimentally to reduce pain among people who've had coronary artery bypass procedures, he said.

A small number of studies have found magnets, either "permanent" magnets or electromagnets, to be effective in relieving certain kinds of pain and hastening wound-healing. Perhaps most significantly, electromagnets are being used experimentally at several university medical schools to treat depression. The procedure is known as transcranial magnetic stimulation.

"That's extremely exciting," Murray said. "I think there is clearly something powerful about the human energy field and its interaction with the energy in the world -- electromagnetic, biochemical, and the energy we get from other people and plants and animals."

In transcranial magnetic stimulation, a coil is held next to the patient's forehead and a pulsating electrical current passes through the coil, generating a magnetic field. That, in turn, creates a small electrical current in the region of the brain, called the left prefrontal cortex. That is the area of brain thought to be underactive in depressed people.

Three studies have compared transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), a procedure in which electricity is applied directly to the entire brain. ECT is effective against depression, although it often causes short-term memory loss and other temporary cognitive problems. It gained notoriety after it was featured in the film based on Ken Kesey's "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest."

In the three studies comparing the two procedures, TMS has been as effective as ECT in treating severe depression among people who are not troubled by hallucinations or delusions, according to David Avery, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the University of Washington Medical School in Seattle. And ECT, he said, is more effective than anti-depressant drugs.

The studies so far have involved only a couple of dozen subjects. Avery soon will begin a study with about 85 subjects. Researchers theorize that the magnetic therapy may work by activating sluggish nerve cells in the left prefrontal cortex.

Four years ago, researchers at Baylor University in Houston used magnets to treat muscular or arthritic-type pain in post-polio patients. They laid magnets on the painful areas for 45 minutes.

Seventy-six percent of people treated with real magnets reported feeling significantly better. Nineteen percent of those given sham magnets reported significant pain relief.

A team at the University of Virginia gave magnetic mattress pads a couple of years ago to a group of people with fibromyalgia, a baffling complaint characterized by chronic and pervasive muscle pain. Compared to a control group that slept on non-magnetized pads, those with the magnetic pads reported significantly reduced pain after sleeping on the pads for six months. Other outcomes did not differ significantly between the groups.

In another study, a large group of people with intense nerve pain in their feet – a condition known as peripheral neuropathy and common among diabetics -- were given magnetic insoles to wear. A substantial number reported less tingling and burning and numbness in their feet.

Michael Weintraub, the neurologist who orchestrated the controlled study that was conducted at 48 sites last year, said it "clearly shows that magnets work. It's a real response." He expects the study to be published in a major medical journal, and he hopes to pursue further research.

Blechman stressed that the magnets that are sold widely for medical purposes not only vary in strength and design, but may not deliver as promised. He tested some and found that they were not as powerful as advertised.

Nancy Russell, a Kansas City area internist, has used magnets on occasion for years, mostly to control pain.

"If somebody has an injury, like to a joint, (there are) wraps. I've used those myself, like with tendonitis, and it seems that it shortens recovery time."

Source: Health World Online, February 25, 2002

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Biomagnetic Therapy (Viewpoint of an Expert)

By Dr. Michael Tierra L.AC., O.M.D.

Magnetic energy is a structuring force of the universe. As such, it is a reflection of the order that causes the infinite stars and planets throughout the galaxies to revolve and spin at incredible velocities while remaining in their respective orbits. As one of the four fundamental forces of nature along with gravity, nuclear energy and radioactivity, electromagnetism is equivalent in definition to the Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) concept of 'Qi', or the East Indian Ayurvedic definition of 'Prana'. These concepts are what many in the West, regard as the 'life force'.

Personally, I have had long occasion to experiment and use magnets beginning with myself and then extending to family, friends, students and patients. Two particular occasions on myself were most convincing. Both were soft tissue injuries, one to my elbow and the other, a ligament injury of my knee, which I will describe further on. The elbow pain stemmed from an unknown cause, perhaps an injury or strain. It had persisted for at least 2 weeks during that time I tried acupuncture and herbal treatments, which offered only minor temporary relief. As is well known, soft tissue injuries can take some time for repair. It would be most helpful, however, if during that time, there was a simple, non-invasive method to hasten the healing and relieve the pain.

I decided to experiment using magnets to treat the problem. While I had previously heard of magnet therapy, basically that there was a difference therapeutically between the magnet's North and South polarities, I had no previous experience or further knowledge of their use. When I taped a small 1000 Gauss acumagnet directly on the skin over the 'trigger' point or center of the pain in my arm. I was amazed to find that the pain almost completely disappeared within 5 minutes. I decided to experiment further, first by removing and reapplying the magnet a few times. Each time the pain returned when the magnet was removed and all but completely disappeared again when reapplied. I then experimented by turning the magnet over to change its polarity from North, which is cooling and dispersing, to South, which is heating and building. I discovered that when the South side of the magnet was against the skin, the pain intensified and by reversing the magnet to North, it was alleviated.

Since that time, I have been intrigued with the therapeutic possibilities of bio-magnetic therapy. However, I still had no idea whether the magnet treatment to my arm was only symptomatic or could eventually promote complete healing. Further, I found that there were discrepancies both in print and from various distributors concerning the importance and definition of the North and South sides of a magnet. Despite my confusion, I tentatively began to use magnets on my patients. Because, however, I had such an unsure grasp of any basic theoretical or practical methodology, my results were inconclusive.

I say all this because there may be others who, like myself, felt or presently feel unsure about the value and results of an experience of biomagnetic therapy. Through my example they may appreciate a further corroboration by another who has become fully convinced that biomagnetic therapy may well be one of the safest and most powerful natural healing methods, especially for the relief of pain ever discovered by humankind.

My interest in magnets was rekindled a few years later when I had a crippling soft tissue injury to the medial aspect of my right knee. It was particularly debilitating because there were few positions either standing, sitting or reclining that could provide relief. Having nearly all but forgotten about my previous experience with the magnets on my elbow, I began by using acupuncture, moxabustion (heat applied to specific acupuncture points) and herbal poultices, fomentations and liniments. Everything helped but I still could barely walk or find a comfortable position to either sit or recline.

I certainly was not looking forward to having to stand and be present at a forthcoming natural products trade show that included a promised diversion to my excited young son to a nearby entertainment park. In desperation I remembered the all-but-forgotten magnets that I stored in a cupboard near my bed. I systematically applied the North magnets to the trigger points located near the site of pain around my knee. Estimating what meridians were involved, I positioned the South magnets further up the femur and hip on the Gall Bladder and Bladder Meridians. I found, however, that it was the local application of the North magnets around the knee that was most effective. Within two hours after their application, the pain was 95% gone.

Again, I decided to conduct the same experiments on my knee that I had done a few years previous on my elbow pain, by removing and reapplying them, changing the magnets to irrelevant locations and reversing their polarity. My previous findings were absolutely corroborated. I eventually discovered that I needed to wear the magnets on the trigger points around my knee nearly continuously for about two months before the problem became sufficiently stabilized and resolved.

After this second powerful experience with bio-magnetic therapy, I decided to apply magnets on all my patients along with the acupuncture, dietary and herbal therapy that was part of my normal practice. I wanted to discover for myself the range of their effectiveness for a wide variety of complaints. Since that time, I have found biomagnetic therapy to be around 90% effective for the relief of pains and conditions caused by inflammation. For example, a woman with diagnosed symptoms of colitis, had tried many forms of conventional and non-conventional treatment over the year previous but was relieved with the application of magnets to her lower abdomen within a week. Another man with arthritis in his hands and fingers with only minimal response from acupuncture and herbal therapy used magnetic balls to relieve and eventually remedy his condition completely. Similarly, another man had encroaching stiffness in his fingers that was threatening to impair his main love, playing the guitar. He also found the results he was seeking with the use of magnetic balls. As a pianist, I can only imagine the benefit these simply magnetic balls could be to the many who have suffered injury from repetitive use or wrong playing.

Everyone, who had acute or chronic lower back, elbow or knee problems found relief and in many cases, complete recovery from the local application of magnets. Patients with asthma, found that the application of magnets to their upper back or chest would provide them the relief they desperately needed without any further external medication. The list goes on to include patients with upper respiratory allergies, gastro-intestinal and digestive complaints, migraine headaches – all were relieved with the use of magnets – and the list of conditions continues to expand. Now with the expanded methods of application using magnetized water, magnetized oils, magnetic mattresses and magnetic mattress pads, jewelry and so forth, I am convinced that there is no condition that bio-magnetic therapy would not be at least helpful.

Because of my experience with traditional Eastern systems of medicine, including Traditional Chinese Medical (TCM) and East Indian Ayurvedic medicine, I was able to tangibly experience the fundamental energetic basis of healing with magnets described in various traditional healing systems around the world. I could tangibly understand that the North facing side of a magnet was equivalent in energy to the definition in TCM of Yin, or in Ayurveda of Shakti energy. The South facing side was equivalent to TCM Yang, or Ayurvedic Shiva energy. I also understood that the relative strength of a magnet determined whether it was to be used as an important energetic nutrient when in low strength (under 1000 gauss), or a high powered therapeutic tool in high strength (over 3000 gauss) that should be used with due respect. Essentially, like other forms of natural healing energy, if reasonably used, magnets are very forgiving. Except for the obvious contraindications noted, it is rare that anyone would experience anything more than a minor discomfort or aggravation usually caused by using magnetics that are too strong, applying the wrong North-South polarity for a given area or generally an overexposure to a strong magnetic field. If, for instance, one misapplies them over a wrong area, uses the wrong polarity or uses magnets that are inappropriately too strong, there may be a period of minor aggravation and discomfort that is easily remedied as soon as they are appropriately changed or removed. As with herbs, acupuncture and all other systems of natural healing, trial and error is a valid approach to biomagnetic therapy.

Science recognizes a close relationship between electricity and magnetism. In 1820, Hans Oersted of Denmark discovered a direct relationship between electricity and magnetism by showing that an electric current flowing in a wire caused a nearby compass needle to be deflected. Following the discoveries of Oersted, Ampere, the 18th century physicist whose notable achievements were germinal to the harnessing of electrical energy, discovered a quantitative relationship between the strength of an electric current with the magnetic field it creates (Ampere's theorem). Noting the close relationship between electricity and magnetism, he described magnetism as "electricity thrown into curves".

Just as the stars and planets revolve in galactical orbits, each atom has a nucleus around which spins various positively charged protons and negatively charged electrons that in turn generate a magnetic field. To reiterate, health represents a balance of these positive and negative forces described in TCM as Yin and Yang, in Ayurvedic medicine as 'Shiva' and 'Shakti', and in Western physiology as the sympathetic and parasympathetic systems.

The current theory of 'free radicals' as the cause of degenerative diseases and aging, is based on the concept of a negatively charged electron spinning out of their orbit, invading another cell which in turn causes a cellular disruption that sends other subatomic particles off their respective orbits. This results in cellular chaos. Biomagnetic healing is able to passively provide a stimulus for the restoration of balance at a subatomic level and offset the devastating domino-effect of harmful free radicals.

Because every atom generates an electromagnetic (EM) field, we, along with all of nature, are imbued with the power of electromagnetism. It is also possible for us to channel our innate positive electromagnetic energy for healing both ourselves and others.

Stressing the importance of electromagnetism, Einstein said, "we may therefore regard matter as being constituted by the regions of space in which the field is extremely intense .....There is no place in this new kind of physics both for the field and matter, for the field is the only reality."

The mystic founder of Theosophy, Madame Blavatsky states similarly in different terms when she describes: "Matter is spirit at its lowest level and spirit is matter at its highest level."

It is said that what may be described as matter, the nucleus of an atom, is so infinitesimal that if we were to gather all the nuclei of a human body, it would be no larger than a period at the end of a sentence. Thus, modern physics theorizes that what we call matter may not be particles at all, but the presence of an impenetrable electro-magnetic field.

Life, comprised of a complex chain of bio-chemical and physiological processes is activated and animated by an invisible bio-magnetic force. Apropos of this, Dr. F.K. Bellokossy of Denver, Colorado, described life as an "infinitely intelligent interaction of electro-magnetic energies carried by chemical substances."

Modern medicine has come to depend upon such high tech diagnostic procedures as the (ECG) electro-cardiogram, the (EEG) electroencephalogram, the (EMG) electromyogram to measure the electrical activity in the heart, the cerebral cortex and the skeletal muscles respectively. If there were no electrical energy in the body, such tests would not be possible.

From the perspective of bio-magnetics, health is based upon the individual cells of the body vibrating at a characteristic normal frequency. Disease, on the other hand, represents an abnormal change in cellular vibration. The therapeutic application of magnets and herbs, at the deepest level, is based on the principle of restoring normal cellular vibration.

This understanding should make magnetic therapy very accessible to those who have an energetic approach to treatment and it would include Traditional herbalism, TCM, Ayurveda and some Western 'holistically' oriented mind-body therapies.

About the author: Dr. Michael Tierra is the founder of the American Herbalists Guild, author of numerous books on health and herbal healing including The Way of Herbs, The Natural Remedy Bible and The Way of Chinese Herbs (Pocket Books), Planetary Herbology, Chinese Traditional Herbal Medicine, Vol. 1 & 2 Biomagnetic and Herbal Therapy (Lotus Press) and The East West Course of Herbology.

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A Modern Definition of Qi

By Dr. Yang Jwing-Ming

It is important that you know about the progress that has been made by modern science in the study of Qi (or Chi). This will keep you from getting stuck in the ancient concepts and level of understanding.

In ancient China, people had very little knowledge of electricity. They only knew from acupuncture that when a needle was inserted into the acupuncture cavities, some kind of energy other than heat was produced which often caused a shocking or a tickling sensation. It was not until the last few decades, when the Chinese people were more acquainted with electromagnetic science, that they began to recognize that this energy circulating in the body, which they called Qi, might be the same thing as what today's science calls "bioelectricity."

We must look at what modern Western science has discovered about bioelectromagnetic energy. Many bioelectricity-related reports have been published, and frequently the results are closely related to what is experienced in Chinese Qigong training and medical science. For example, during the electrophysiological research of the 1960's, several investigators discovered that bones are piezoelectric; that is, when they are stressed, mechanical energy is converted to electrical energy in the form of electric current. This might explain one of the practices of Marrow Washing Qigong in which the stress on the bones and muscles is increased in certain ways to increase the Qi circulation.

It is understood now that the human body is constructed of many different electrically conductive materials, and that it forms a living electromagnetic field and circuit. Electromagnetic energy is continuously being generated in the human body through the biochemical reaction in food and air assimilation, and circulated by the electromotive forces (EMF) generated within the body.

In addition, you are constantly being affected by external electromagnetic fields such as that of the earth, or the electrical fields generated by clouds. When you practice Chinese medicine or Qigong, you need to be aware of these outside factors and take them into account.

Countless experiments have been conducted in China, Japan, and other countries to study how external magnetic or electrical fields can affect and adjust the body's Qi field. Many acupuncturists use magnets and electricity in their treatments. They attach a magnet to the skin over a cavity and leave it there for a period of time. The magnetic field gradually affects the Qi circulation in that channel. Alternatively, they insert needles into cavities and then run an electric current through the needle to reach the Qi channels directly.

Although many researchers have claimed a degree of success in their experiments, none has been able to publish any detailed and convincing proof of the results, or give a good explanation of the theory behind the experiment. As with many other attempts to explain the How and Why of acupuncture, conclusive proof is elusive, and many unanswered questions remain. Of course, this theory is quite new, and it will take more study and research before it is verified and completely understood. **

Much of the research on the body's electrical field relates to acupuncture. For example, Dr. Robert O. Becker, author of The Body Electric, reports that the conductivity of the skin is much higher at acupuncture cavities, and that it is now possible to locate them precisely by measuring the skin's conductivity. Many of these reports prove that the acupuncture, which has been done in China for thousands of years is reasonable and scientific.

Although the link between the theory of The Body Electric and the Chinese theory of Qi is becoming more accepted and better proven, there are still many questions to be answered. For example, how can the mind lead Qi (electricity)? How, actually, does the mind generate an EMF (electromotive force) to circulate the electricity in the body? How is the human electromagnetic field affected by the multitude of other electric fields that surround us, such as radio wiring or electrical appliances? How can we readjust our electromagnetic fields and survive in outer space or on other planets where the magnetic field is completely different from the earth's?

You can see that the future of Qigong and bioelectric science is a challenging and exciting one. It is about time that we started to use modern technology to understand the inner energy world which has been for the most part ignored by Western society.

About the author: Dr. Yang has been involved in Chinese Gongfu since 1961 and has more than thirty years of instructional experience. Dr. Yang has published twenty-four books and twenty-eight videotapes on the martial arts and Qigong.

** Therion commentary:

Current research provides strong evidence that magnetic fields affect the movement of electrochemical ions. These are natural chemicals within our bodies that have either a positive or negative electric charge. Ions control different biological processes, like pain signals in nerves, and the contraction of smooth muscle tissue.

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NHS takes up Cherie's Magic Magnets cure

It could be called the Cleopatra Effect. Magnetic therapy, which has held the rich and powerful in thrall from ancient Egypt to modern Downing Street, is about to be made available on the National Health Service.

NHS accountants are so impressed by the cost-effectivenessof a magnetic leg wrap that from Wednesday doctors will be allowed to prescribe it to patients.

Magnetic therapy, which was pioneered in ancient Egypt, has become one of the pillars of modern alternative medicine. Its adherents include Cherie Blair, Bill Clinton and Sir Anthony Hopkins, the actor. Although its merits are challenged by traditional medics, it is used to treat joint pains, sports injuries, backache, muscle soreness and period pain.

It is also used on animals – the magnetic leg wrap was inspired by a dog named Kiri, which developed severe arthritis. Conventional treatments did not help and, after researching the use of magnets, Kiri's owner, Derek Price, made a magnetic collar.

The dog made a remarkable recovery, which led Price to start manufacturing magnetic treatments for animals and people. Magnopulse, of which he is managing director, has sold more than 1m therapeutic magnets since 1997 to treat arthritis, swollen ankles, period pains and varicose veins.

The NHS Prescription Pricing Authority has ruled that the magnetic leg wrap is not just good for patients, but also a good use of NHS cash. It believes the magnets will save money on bandages and nurses' time by healing the wounds.

It has included magnets on the official list of items that can be prescribed on the NHS. The NHS has even done a cut-price deal with the manufacturers, buying treatments at £13.80 instead of the normal price of £29.

Only last month a paper in the British Medical Journal by Professor Leonard Finegold, from Drexel University in Philadelphia, and Professor Bruce Flamm, from Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Riverside, California, cast doubt on the treatment.

It is not known exactly how magnets work. Adherents believe they improve circulation because they attract the iron in blood towards them and, in doing so, increase the supply of oxygen to the wound.** They may also reduce painful acidity in tissue.

Some holistic therapists say magnets reduce "negative energy" in the body. They also believe magnets may encourage healthy tissue to generate its own electrical currents to stimulate wound repair.

A study demonstrating the benefits of static magnets was published in the Journal of Wound Care last year.

Dr Nyjon Eccles, an NHS GP in north London who carried out the trials, said: "I am not surprised that 4UlcerCare has been accepted since the clinical evidence is very convincing."

Source: Sunday Times, February 26, 2006, "NHS takes up Cherie's magic magnets cure", Sarah-Kate Templeton.
Link: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-2058902,00.html

** Therion Commentary:

Iron in hemoglobin is not attracted to magnetic fields. Studies on blood microcirculation have proven magnetic fields affect the relaxation and constriction of capillary blood vessels. This increases or decreases blood flow, depending on what response the body needs.

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Magnetic Field Therapy: Professional and Personal Observations by Edward Friedler, M.D.

By Dr. Edward Friedler, MD

I use and I recommend magnetic products to my patients. I sponsored an introductory lecture on Magnetic Field Therapy to other family physicians. Is this professional heresy, or open mindedness with the interest of my patients coming first?

My formal training in Family Practice required exposure to all the traditional medical and surgical specialties. A family physician must have a wide array of management options for his or her patients. In spite of years of training and clinical experience, it is unfortunately not unusual for my "bag of tricks " to be unsatisfactory or empty! Because it is anathema for me to tell patients "There is nothing more I can do for you," I have referred some to chiropractors and not discouraged others seeking help through other "alternative" providers. And now, I am one too!

I use magnetic products for a variety of ailments. Because I see people in the setting of a medical office, there is an expectation that any treatment is recommended after a working diagnosis is made. In other words, I listen to and examine my patients and get appropriate lab information and x-rays first. Once the data is collected and considered and a working diagnosis made, I then organized a discussion on treatment options.

For the person complaining of fatigue, I treat anemia with iron and vitamins, not a magnet. For a person with achy legs and low potassium, I treat with potassium, not a magnet. Yet there are times when iron, potassium, aspirin, or a narcotic pain pill are not the appropriate remedies, or are not enough. In these cases, I encourage my patients to try a magnet. Let me share some success stories.

Cancer:

Dr. F was diagnosed with cancer at age 41. After three months of chemotherapy, he decided that because the track record for chemotherapy was poor, it would be crazy to not add other modalities to his own treatment. Since his oncologist was concerned with chemotherapy dosing, and didn't know about other treatments, Dr. F on his own added Magnetic Field Therapy, via a magnetic mattress pad, seat pads in the office and home, and a large magnet worn against the lower spine. (Dr. F added other "modalities" over the next few months.) He experienced fewer negative side effects of chemotherapy, to the surprise of his oncologist. He lived, and still lives to tell about it, I am happy to say, because Dr. F is me!

Arthritis:

I remember Mrs. R whose knee joint had no cartilage. No medicine prescribed by me or other doctors had helped her. I taped a small magnet to her knee after a physical exam, and left the room while she got dressed. When I came back to minutes later, she was bending her knee in disbelief; it didn't hurt. The arthritis wasn't gone, but the severe pain was.

Fractured Rib:

Mr. E had fallen and broken a rib; his oncologist had given him Percocet for pain. He came in to see me, saying the rib still hurt and the drug made him feel bad. I advised him to place a magnet where the pain was causing him discomfort. He later told me the diminishment of pain was "instantaneous." The rib was still broken, but he was able to discontinue the Percocet. When he broke another rib two months later, he used a magnet first.

Brown Recluse Spider Bite:

Mr. W was bitten by a brown recluse spider. He had a one inch ulcer on his lower leg that was not healing. It hurt, too. We taped a magnet over the ulcer. The pain was less and it began to heal up quickly. The magnet, while he used it decreased the pain.

Swollen Eye:

A boy had been hit in the face by a baseball. His eyelids were swollen. He had already used ice. I gave him a mini magnet and told him to use it where the sting occurred. The swelling was gone the next day. I was surprised.

Shoulder Pain:

Dr. Q was experiencing a nagging pain in her shoulder for more than three months. She attended the lecture on Magnetic Field Therapy. During this event she held a magnet to her shoulder. The next morning, her shoulder was normal and the pain was gone. My own theory is she used the magnet on her own. (At that same meeting, another doctor used a magnet on a painful knee, which had been through many drugs and physical therapy. The next day, she came to my office for a second magnet, because it was helping her so much.)

Tiredness:

When all the tests are normal, doctors often diagnose depression for tired people. Some respond to anti-depressant treatment. For Ms. E, magnetic shoe insoles worked. She even returned to her karate class.

As a physician I prefer to understand as fully as possible the workings and applications of Magnetic Field Therapy. I study this in my own practice. I tell my patients about magnets, and I show them the Magnetic Field Therapy Handbook as a guide to usage. I have not had anyone say, "No thanks, I would rather suffer." I am grateful to have Magnetic Field Therapy as a positive intervention for helping the patients in my medical practice.

About the author: Dr. Friedler is a Family Physician in Annandale, VA.

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Frontier Science (holistic medicine):

Interview With Beverly Rubik, Ph.D

Interviewed By Daniel Redwood D.C.

Beverly Rubik is a leading spokesperson for research in consciousness studies, subtle energies, and alternative and complementary medicine, frontier areas that challenge the dominant biomedical paradigm.

Trained as a biophysicist at the University of California at Berkeley (Ph.D., 1979), she conducted postdoctoral research and supervised graduate student research at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory while also serving as a faculty member at San Francisco State University from 1979 to 1988. In l988 Dr. Rubik relocated to Philadelphia to become founding director of the Center for Frontier Sciences at Temple University. The Center facilitated global information exchange, networking, and education on frontier issues of science and medicine. Two important foci of the Center were alternative/complementary medicine and the matter-mind-spirit interrelationship. The Center was the first of its kind in the world linked to a major university and spawned sister centers at the University of Guadalajara, Mexico and the University of Milano, Italy. A journal, Frontier Perspectives, was founded in 1990 by Rubik and was published and distributed semi-annually to over 3,500 affiliates of the Center in 58 countries.

From 1992 to 1994, Dr. Rubik served as a member of the Advisory Panel to the National Institutes of Health (NIH): Office of Alternative Medicine and was Panel Chair on Bioelectromagnetics. She presently serves on the editorial board of several journals, including the Alternative Health Practitioner; Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine; and the Journal of Complementary Therapies in Medicine (UK). She is a member of the advisory board of the Journal of Subtle Energies and the European Journal of Classical Homeopathy. She also serves as an advisory board member to the John Templeton Foundation and the Society for Scientific Exploration, and has served the MacArthur Foundation as a nominator of fellows.

In late 1995 Dr. Rubik left Temple University to continue her work as an independent scholar and consultant and founded the Institute for Frontier Science, a nonprofit corporation. She is presently writing a book on the frontiers of science and medicine. An anthology of her writings, Life at the Edge of Science, was published in 1996. Rubik is also an advisor for HealthWorld Online, a consultant for corporations involved in the nutrition and bioelectromagnetic industries, lectures widely at universities and conferences in the United States and abroad, and has a new appointment as Visiting Assistant Professor of Medicine at the University of Arizona at Tucson, in the integrative medicine program under Dr. Andrew Weil, and is an adjunct faculty member at Union Institute, California Institute for Human Science, and the University of Creation Spirituality.

In this interview with Dr. Daniel Redwood, Dr. Rubik essential that health researchers and practitioners consider the role of energy flows in living systems rather than limiting their purview to molecular biochemistry. Moreover, she believes the new paradigm must take into account recent research on the role of the mind in healing (including healing at a distance).

DANIEL REDWOOD: You are trained as a biophysicist, but are best known as a proponent of "frontier science." What is frontier science, and what led you in this direction?

BEVERLY RUBIK: It's a term used to differentiate it from mainstream science, which is most academic science, and also to differentiate it from fringe science, which is very unconventional stuff. Frontier science is science that is outside of the mainstream but has a significant number of scholars asking questions within its domain. Topics such as consciousness studies and the science underlying alternative medicine are examples of what I call frontier science.

REDWOOD: What do you see as the primary features of the dominant scientific paradigm, and how does frontier science challenge it?

RUBIK: The dominant biomedical or biological paradigm is where life is viewed mainly as a bag of biomolecules, and a human being is a collection of organs, tissues, and other things that it can be reduced to. In that paradigm, the whole is considered the sum of its parts. It's also a mechanistic or materialistic worldview. For example, in the dominant paradigm consciousness is nothing but brain processes or the results of brain processes. Some of its chief features are materialism, reductionism, and fragmentation.

REDWOOD: What are the problems with that paradigm?

RUBIK: I don't think that a molecular view of life is sufficient for understanding holistic medicine or the whole human being.

REDWOOD: What other factors need to be included to create a larger or more applicable paradigm?

RUBIK: We need to consider energy flows in biology, the subtle energies that can't really be reduced to molecules. A good example is acupuncture. I'm aware that some features of acupuncture have been reduced to molecules, such as the analgesic effects that have purportedly been explained in terms of endorphin release. But the non-locality of acupuncture, and why stimulating at the crown of the head might cure hemorrhoids, is beyond anybody's comprehension from a molecular view. The specificity of that point for hemorrhoids and other points on the body for other internal organs certainly challenge it.

REDWOOD: Why do you think conventional medicine became so focused on the biochemical, molecular level as opposed to the other possibilities?

RUBIK: I think it's pretty obvious. We have a pharmaceutical industry that has grown up in the last 50 years that has been highly profitable and somewhat successful in dealing with acute diseases. So the approach has been to look for magic bullets in medicine. That approach works well with acute diseases, but it does not work for chronic degenerative disease. So we see the failure of that approach. Also, conventional medicine has failed to treat the whole person. It tends to reduce the person to their diagnosis, to the disease. In hospitals, people are even referred to as their disease [i.e. the pancreatic cancer in room 205]. Increasingly, people are upset at this. Patients want to be treated as whole persons, whose minds and spirits have something to do with their healing.

There's a body of evidence from frontier science that leads us to believe that mind is more than brain function, because conscious intention and prayer operating over even long distances can have beneficial effects on people. There have been experiments on distant healing and prayer, showing that people can have effects on other people as well as on microorganisms. I myself have conducted some of these experiments.

REDWOOD: Is the electromagnetic field of the body involved in human health? Can there be external influences that impact upon it negatively and thereby cause disease?

RUBIK: I think that both are true. We have some epidemiological evidence that humans, especially children, placed in schools or homes around power lines, have higher incidences of leukemia, lymphoma, and brain tumors. There were also reports about ten years ago that pregnant women sleeping under electric blankets (at least the older ones) had higher rates of miscarriages and birth defects in their offspring. It's not so clear for adults, however. The electro-pollution from our environment poses yet another stressor on our lives. The way stressors act upon us is that one plus one plus one may equal nine, and then you snap and get sick.

So it's very hard to point the finger to say bioelectromagnetics directly causes a particular tumor. It's not so simple, unfortunately. Our bodily systems don't work linearly; they're more like chaotic systems. They can absorb stress, they're somewhat resilient, but they get to the point where there's only so much stress they can take, and then they break. So the causal relationship is not clear. It's not like classical mechanics and physics, because once again, I'm considering these things from a new paradigm perspective, not from naive, simple causality. Everybody would like simple causal relations in medicine, but unfortunately, it's not so clear-cut. For chronic degeneration, it's impossible to point to a single cause. This is also true of electromagnetic influences "causing" disease.

I'm certain, however, that the evidence for the other side of the coin – electromagnetic medicine – is clearer. There are many devices on the market, some of them FDA-approved and most of them not, that can enhance or accelerate healing, lift mood, and can help broken bones heal faster.

REDWOOD: Why do you think they are not more widely used?

RUBIK: That's a puzzling question, especially when they're FDA approved. For example, the bone healing device has been on the market for about 20 years is FDA approved and is used in only about 20 percent of the cases for which its use is indicated. It's probably because doctors don't learn about the possibilities of using them. They're focusing mainly on chemistry, biochemistry, and drugs, and very little on physics, electro-magnetics, and other ways of healing. So it's simply not within the scope of the dominant biomedical paradigm. And I don't think doctors have teams of salesmen pushing electromagnetic medical devices like they have drug salesmen knocking on their doors.

REDWOOD: Do you have an opinion on the therapeutic use of magnets?

RUBIK: I do. I've seen some studies and I'm impressed that the anecdotal reports I've heard all over the place are bearing true in clinical trials in terms of pain relief and reduction of inflammation. I once sprained an ankle and used some magnets obtained from an Oriental health shop in San Francisco. I had some amazing results with the swelling going down quickly and the pain disappearing. It's hard to say how the magnets work on the body. From physics, there's the Hall Effect, whereby if you have charged particles in a stream moving near a magnet, they will be altered in their flow because of the magnetic field. This might explain changes in the flow of blood and lymph, which contain a lot of charged proteins, ions, etc., and that may explain why swelling, pain, and inflammation are reduced.

REDWOOD: What questions is complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) posing that conventional medicine may have the most difficulty answering?

RUBIK: Most people are using multiple modalities of CAM for a chronic condition. That is, they may be taking dietary supplements, doing biofeedback, going for acupuncture treatments, and practicing relaxation techniques. These may be acting synergistically, and they may also be tailored for the individuality of the patient. Conventional medicine uses more standardized procedures, largely ignoring patient individuality. So, here we see one major clash between conventional medicine and CAM: standardized scientific approach vs. individualized treatment.

Secondly, in CAM, optimization of self-healing is the goal; whereas conventional medicine throws out any self-healing response and maintains that the cure is something contributed by the drug or other medical intervention. What this means is that the gold-standard of conventional medicine, the controlled clinical trial, is much less meaningful as a test for CAM, since it does not address individuality of patients, nor does it respect self-healing.

Daniel Redwood is a chiropractor, writer and musician who lives in Virginia Beach, Virginia. He is the author of A Time to Heal: How to Reap the Benefits of Holistic Health (A.R.E. Press), and is a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine.

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Opposites attract: Doctors who spurned magnet therapy are paying heed

By Bob Condor

Here is a typical story about biomagnetic therapy: A local doctor, who happens to be open-minded about certain less conventional health therapies, like acupuncture and chiropractic, has been taking his 12-year-old daughter to see an orthopedic specialist for pain in her elbow. Turns out the daughter has a bone-growth irregularity, and the specialist recommends allowing the bones in the joint to develop more fully before taking corrective action.

About the same time, the father/physician has been talking with a former colleague about magnet therapy. He hears that magnets increase blood circulation to an area and boost the number of red blood cells, thanks to the interaction between an electro-magnetic field and electrolytes like sodium and potassium in the bloodstream.

There might be a catch. The colleague's wife is involved with a Japanese multilevel marketing firm that sells therapeutic magnet products. The colleague provides some product samples, along with a thick stack of translated research literature, which "has been mostly done in Russia."

The physician is skeptical but decides to try a magnet wrap on his daughter's elbow. "Her pain started to decrease almost immediately," he recalled. "Within a few hours it was practically gone. At first, her elbow would start hurting again if she stopped using the magnet. Gradually, over a few weeks, the pain would go away and stayed away.

"Does magnet therapy work? Does it have a scientific basis? I'm not sure, but I know it helped my daughter."

Anecdotes abound about biomagnetic therapy for pain relief. It's estimated that about 20 golfers on the PGA Senior Tour wouldn't be able to compete each week without magnets attached with elastic wraps, Velcro, belts or medical tape attached to knees, backs, elbows, necks, hips and other body areas.

Jim Colbert, one of the circuit's big winners, credits his success to wide-strip magnets he wears on his back. He also sleeps on a magnetic mattress pad product, which is typically fabric-covered foam padding with the magnets sewn inside. He said his back pain used to sideline him for a good part of the golf season. Now he hasn't missed a day, and keeps ringing up prize money.

FEELING GOOD

Chi Chi Rodriguez, another popular senior player, has been using a magnetic mattress since a trip to Japan some 30 years ago. Magnets are widely used for pain and overall wellness in that country, as evidenced by the dozens of tiny ones taped to the body of New York Yankees pitcher Hideki Irabo.

Pro football players are reporting quicker recovery from injury with the use of magnets. Ronnie Loll, the former all-pro safety with the Oakland Raiders, is a spokesman for Bioflex, one of several American magnet therapy companies chasing the Japanese manufacturer Nikken.

"I was willing to try anything within league limits to relieve pain during my playing days," said Loll, now a broadcaster with the Fox network. "But, believe me, I would not have kept using magnets if they didn't work."

Many doctors have doubted that the experiences of such pro athletes can be replicated in clinical trials. But one controlled, randomized study published in the Archives of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine last November is beginning to change some minds. In the experiment, which involved 50 people suffering from pain years after a bout with polio, researchers at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston found significantly reduced symptoms among subjects using magnet devices with power slightly stronger than refrigerator stick-ons. The results were corrected for any placebo effect.

Of course, more studies are needed to determine if greater magnetic intensity (called gauss) might bring more results, whether the pain relief is temporary or lasting, and whether there is any drop-off in effectiveness if magnets are used constantly.

Even most critics admit there is no physical harm in trying magnets for most people, though there are questions about whether a magnetic field can disrupt pacemakers, insulin pumps, drug patches and pregnancy.

Fiscal risk is another matter. There's little investment at the lower end of magnet products, say $20 or less. It gets more expensive if you want a special bracelet for wrist or elbow pain ($150 range) or a magnetic pad for your bed (about $500 and up).

"For some people with pain symptoms, magnets are not only the best treatment but the least expensive one," said Dr. Julian Whitaker, co-author of "The Pain Relief Breakthrough: The Power of Magnets." (Little, Brown and company). "Most anyone with back pain should benefit from using them."

Whitaker says magnets can be equally beneficial for arthritis, menstrual cramps. carpal tunnel syndrome and various sports injuries. His book details the history of magnet therapy, With its roots in China (where it is still used by some acupuncturists), India and Egypt.

He explained magnets are not respected by American doctors because there are few U.S. studies confirming results. One obstacle is the magnetic fields can't be patented, so any company wishing to prove that magnets work – at considerable expense if government endorsement is the goal – only does the heavy lifting for a host of competitors.

"I think magnets have potential to work for cancer and other diseases, maybe autoimmune disorders," said Whitaker. "I don't know how the mechanisms will work, but think it can be effective."

Source: Chicago Tribune, Thursday March 12, 1998

If you are a health professionals interested in finding out more about magnetic therapy, here is the information you need to get started.

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Magnets attracting health-care attention

By Emily Gest, Daily News Staff Writer

Who knows who would be sporting magnets now if Hideki Irabu had lived up to his $12.8 million billing.

The long-sleeve shirt that the former Yankees pitcher wore concealed the newest craze among health and body-conscious Westerners: dozens of small magnets taped to his wrists, arms, chest and back at pressure points. And even though they didn't seem to work for Irabu, the idea behind the magnets is simple, if unproven: They stimulate magnetic fields in the body, improving circulation, and promoting faster healing and general good health.

Magnets have been popular in Japan for two or three decades, said Hirofumi Murabayashi, a spokesman for the Japanese Consulate. "They are usually available at most ordinary drug stores without any prescription," he said. Kota Ishijima, Irabu's translator, says the ball-player has sported magnets for several years. "He changes [their position] every day, according to where he feels stresses within his body," Ishijima said. "It is supposed to relieve microscopic muscular tension and opens microscopic blood vessels for better blood flow."

Sean P. Gallagher, a physical therapist at Performing Arts Physical Therapy in Manhattan, said he often uses magnets in conjunction with accupressure points on the body to relieve soreness and swelling. Few scientific studies have been conducted to show how or whether magnets work, but two major universities are planning them.

Dr. Steven Abramson, chairman of the department of rheumatology and medicine at the Hospital of Joint Diseases in Manhattan, says that animal research shows that "by altering magnetic fields, you can alter blood flow or reduce the amount of inflammation by blocking the movement of inflamed cells." Magnets are not approved by the Food and Drug Administration. Dr. Alan Steiner of Denville, N.J., who calls himself a holistic dentist, said he doubted the medicinal benefits of magnets when he heard about them from a patient two years ago. Then he tried them.

"I was told I had arthritis in the neck, and I don't have it anymore," he said.

Steiner now offers magnets to patients who suffer from migraine headaches or TMJ (temporomandibular joint disorder), a painful jaw problem.

Whether magnets have physical benefits remains an open question, but there is some evidence of how they may work.

"We need really good scientific inquiry, not just into clinical improvement, but long term, 20 or 30 years later," said Dr. Patricia Muehsam, who studies bioelectricmagnetics at Mount Sinai Medical Center. "The body is exquisitely sensitive, even to weak electromagnetic fields; even one weaker than a hair dryer can affect enzymes in a test tube."

Source: NY Daily News, Aug. 3, 1997

Information for Health Professionals

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Magnetic Therapy

By Ray Cralle, RPT

A new tool is available to patients and rehabilitation specialists in the United States, thanks to the growing demands of alternative medicine.

Most everyone today is aware of some of the changes in medicine, especially as it relates to finding cost-effective means of providing care and treating ailments. Clinicians in this country found "magnetic therapy" a reimbursable medical expense in Germany, Israel, Japan and forty-five other countries and became intrigued with its possibilities for American health care.

Early manufacturers produced the familiar magnet with north and south poles, but growing numbers of investigators have realized the importance of using only one pole (usually north or negative). This allows for a much stronger magnetic field to be placed against the area of pain, which research seems to indicate the need for, especially in chronic pain or overuse symptoms.

The Office of Alternative Medicine** of the National Institutes of Health in Washington, D.C., has just awarded over a million dollar grant to Ann Gill Taylor, RN, Ph.D. at the University of Virginia, to study the effects of magnets in chronic pain. Dr. Gill joins a list of doctors and scientists currently interested in this European phenomenon. Prestigious centers such as Johns Hopkins, Baylor College of Medicine and Massachusetts Institute of Technology are studying magnetic therapy.

I first heard of magnets when a longtime friend and hospital director asked me to go to Dublin, Ireland in 1993 to meet Austin Darragh. MD, a world renowned researcher, who had been using magnets to treat pain. The joy of finding something so simple, yet so effective in helping people relieve pain still fascinates me.

I have practiced for over twenty-four years and have never been as impressed by a technology so simple and effective in helping arthritis, back pain and even fibromyalgia (chronic fatigue). Just to name a few, as safely and cost-effectively as unipole (negative) magnets.

I am convinced that it will soon be commonplace to treat headaches, sports injuries, and even allergies with magnets, and that managed care will find it on the top of its list of worthwhile expenses.

About the author: Ray Cralle, RPT is a registered physical therapist at Cralle Physical Therapy Services. Source: The Senior News, April, 1997

** currently the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM)

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Magnetic Therapy, Great for Your Patients and for Your Practice

By Bruce Spiegler, Reg. Magnetic Therapist

Magnetic Therapy is one of the most powerful and yet underutilized tools at a chiropractor's disposal. While it can help your patients heal faster - and grow your practice - many practitioners are either unaware of its uses, or else do not understand magnetic therapy enough to put it into practice.

Some practitioners are worried about magnetic therapy's effectiveness and have concerns that it may compete with the chiropractic services they already provide. At Therion, we educate chiropractors on how magnetic therapy can help their patients and how it can be integrated into their existing practice.

It is important for chiropractors to understand exactly how magnetic therapy reduces pain and speeds the healing process. All physical and mental functions are controlled by electromagnetic fields produced by the movement of ions within the body. When an injury occurs, positively charged ions move to the affected area, triggering pain and causing inflammation. In order for healing to take place, the electromagnetic fields at the injury site must be restored to their normal balance.

The application of a magnetic field to an injured area helps restore the electromagnetic fields to normal levels. The magnetic field relaxes capillary walls, as well as surrounding muscle and connective tissues, allowing for increased blood flow. More oxygen and nutrients are transferred to the injury site, while inflammatory-related toxins are removed.

In recent years magnetic therapy may have seemed like a passing fad. Yet the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) classifies magnetic therapy as a form of Energy Medicine. The NCCAM is one of the 27 institutes and centers that make up the National Institutes of Health, and falls under the Public Health Service in the Department of Health and Human Services.

The NCCAM states, "Static magnets have been used for centuries in efforts to relieve pain. Numerous anecdotal reports have indicated that individuals have experienced significant, and at times dramatic, relief of pain after the application of static magnets over a painful area." In fact over 300 studies have been published worldwide and the health benefits of magnetic therapy are being researched today more than ever before.

Varying results can be expected with any treatment and magnetic therapy had previously shown an unusually wide variation. Recently, Therion Inc. was the first to identify the root cause of this problem.

During the course of our research we found that a large majority of the magnets used in existing products were too small and weak. As a result, the magnetic field strength and effective penetration depth (how far the magnetic field can reach) were much too low. Since many injuries are located in tissue or bone several inches beneath the skin - these products were rendered effectively useless.

We were particularly intrigued by a number of results showing that pain seemed to increase in some people. The products used were found to have their magnets installed backwards so the polarity was reversed. As the north and south poles of a magnet have opposite effects on the body, when a magnet is installed in the wrong direction it can actually make the problem worse.

Therion is a direct manufacturer, producing a complete line of professional quality magnetic therapy products. We have developed products with both the proper polarity and magnet strengths. As part of our process, we figured out exactly how strong our magnets needed to be to achieve full magnetic field saturation. When our products were tested they had an effectiveness rate approaching 90%. Patients tend to see results from magnetic therapy fairly quickly. In general older people respond to therapy faster than younger people.

For acute injuries, most people start feeling better in a day or two. Some actually see results within hours or even minutes. With chronic pain-related conditions, it could take several days or even a week or two before you start to feel better.

Magnetic therapy should not be considered an alternative to traditional chiropractic care. Instead, it is intended to complement and enhance your overall treatment plan. We are aware of the fact that chiropractors are accustomed to using the treatment methods they have been trained for. Yet, we understand that most health care professionals are open to trying new products that can benefit their patients and help them live the life they deserve.

Magnetic therapy products can be prescribed by you as part of your regular patient visits - and used to improve healing and help your patients feel better between standard procedures. If you are unaware of how to use magnetic therapy products, magnetic therapy training is available through Therion, the leading manufacturer of professional magnetic therapy products.

With the serious side effects and health risks of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), now public knowledge, patients need a safe, effective alternative to relieve pain and feel better. Magnetic therapy is a safe, effective, and complementary treatment option to incorporate in your practice.

In addition, magnetic therapy products will end up boosting your reputation and help build referrals. When patients see their pain and inflammation decrease and they begin to heal faster, it's a natural instinct for them to tell their friends and family that you are the one responsible. Everybody wins.

Source: New Living Magazine, August, 2005

Information for Health Professionals

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Magnets 'help regrow brain cells'

Magnets may offer a way to boost mental performance, U.S. research suggests.

Scientists in New York promoted the growth of new neurons in the brains of mice using a magnetic stimulus in the region associated with memory.

Presenting the results at the American Academy for Neuroscience conference, the researchers said the results may lead to treatments for Alzheimer's. However, if proven the technique is more likely to be a way of slowing progression of the disease than a cure. Experts said the work was encouraging but would need to be replicated in humans.

Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) has been used to treat certain disorders, including depression and schizophrenia and to rehabilitate people after stroke. It uses a magnetic coil to introduce electrical fields in the brain, which activates or deactivates groups of neurons.

To look at the effect of TMS on growth of neurons, Dr. Fortunato Battaglia and Dr. Hoau-Yan Wang at City University in New York, gave mice the therapy for five days and then examined their brains, New Scientist magazine reported. They found large increases in the proliferation of stem cells - immature cells that go on to develop into nerves and other kinds of tissue - in a part of the brain called the dentate gyrus hippocampus. These cells divide throughout life and are believed to play a crucial role in memory and mood regulation. In particular they found one receptor in the cells was activated.

A subsequent study which is due to be published shortly showed that the activity of this receptor declines in mice and humans with Alzheimer's disease.

Brain recovery

Taking the two studies together, Dr. Battaglia said there were important implications for neurorehabilitation.

When you have a stroke there is an area that is damaged and there are several ways your brain can recover. One is that the area which is not damaged will have to work more and it's that we can promote with brain stimulation. The hippocampus is much deeper in the brains of humans so it would be important to make sure the technique could produce the same effect as in mice. But it might improve symptoms or delay progression of things like Alzheimer's disease," he added.

Professor Vincent Walsh from the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience at University College London said the findings were a good first step.

There are lots of examples of TMS enhancing function in some way but we have never been able to explain the mechanics of how it might work. The work is particularly encouraging for the use of brain stimulation in chronic disease such as stroke and dementia. The challenge now is to find ways of combining stimulation with drug therapies.

Professor Clive Ballard, director of research at the Alzheimer's Society said:

This is a potentially interesting piece of work, but is a preliminary study in mice. Further research is now needed before we can find out if TMS is a useful treatment approach for Alzheimer's disease in humans.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/health/6683757.stm
Published: 2007/05/24 01:20:47 GMT
© BBC MMVII

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Drug Addiction and the Brain

By Paul Tyler

Paul Tyler brings us up to-date on findings related to electromagnetism. He reports that the National Institute of Mental Health studied rats addicted to morphine and found that current stimulation to the lower part of the concha (posterior to the external auditory meatus) precipitated signs of morphine abstinence. Researchers (Sjolund, Clement-Jones, Salar and others) have reported an increase in B-endorphins in cerebrospinal fluid following electro-acupuncture and other forms of electrotherapy. Increased rat brain levels of serotonin, tryptophan and hydroxyindole acetic acid have been reported. Numerous studies show changes of calcium ion levels in the brain following the use of magnetic fields.

It is believed that the body's own production of B-endorphins is turned off by drug addiction and that electro or magnetic stimulation enhances the natural production and release of encephalms and £3-endorphins by the body, preventing the onset of withdrawal symptoms. Tyler speculates that calcium is the critical factor and not the endorphin system. He further states that modern medicine has studied and treated the chemical side of the equation but has almost completely ignored the electrical/magnetic side. The body's natural chemicals are released by an electrical signal so it seems plausible that an external signal can do the same at a specific site without drugging the rest of the body.

Source: Scientific Digest EMR and The Brain; A Brief Literature Review, 1/99 prepared for an FDA conference

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Researching the Benefits of Massage for Breast Cancer Patients

New York College for Wholistic Health Spearheads Project

By Editorial Staff

Dr. Prabhat Pokhrel, MD, MS, PhD, director of research at New York College for Holistic Health Education and Research in Syosett, New York, is lead researcher on a project investigating "Complementary Therapy for Stage II Breast Cancer." The project will evaluate the effectiveness of "Amma therapeutic massage or magnet therapy in the improvement of fatigue and quality of life of breast cancer patients." Amma massage combines deep tissue manipulation with the application of pressure, friction and touch to specific points on the body. The techniques of amma aim to remove blockages and free the flow of energy.

The primary sponsor of the project is Rick Shalvoy, whose personal "Row for a Cure" began three years ago after losing a friend to breast cancer. Rowing around Long Island in a 19-foot lifeguard boat, Rick has become a major fundraiser for breast cancer research. The funds raised each year from "Row for a Cure" go toward breast cancer research on Long Island, New York. This year, the funds will support Dr. Pokhrel's pilot research study.

The study has also received funding support via a $20,000 research grant from the American Massage Therapy Association (AMTA) Foundation.

A multidisciplinary coalition of health care professionals join Dr. Pokhrel on this project, including amma massage therapists Faye Schenkman, Kim Rosado, Ginnette Groome and Jerelyn Kirby. Also participating are regional oncologists Dr. Dwight DeRisi and Dr. Frank Tomao, and Drs. Barbara Piper and James Lynch from the University of Nebraska Medical Center. Magnetic therapy will be rendered in collaboration with Bruce Spiegler, president and CEO of Therion Inc.

Source: Massage Today, February, 2002, Vol. 02, Issue 02

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Magnets May Help in Chemotherapy

Cancer therapy in the future may include doctors placing a magnet over the tumor. Physicians at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) have found placing large magnets about the size of a soup can over a tumor can increase the effectiveness of chemotherapy. What do magnets have to do with chemotherapy? The magnets help draw the drugs to the specific area where the tumor is located, and keep the chemotherapy from drifting into the bloodstream and causing side effects, such as nausea and hair loss.

Lead researcher Dr. Scott Goodwin tested the magnet therapy on 14 liver cancer patients. One patient experienced more than 50 percent reduction in tumor size; two patients experienced similar but less dramatic effects; the disease stabilized for five patients, meaning it stopped progressing; and six patients experienced a progression in their cancer. Some patients suffered fever and pain during the magnet treatment.

The findings, Dr. Goodwin says, warrant additional research about the benefits of magnets in cancer treatment. Magnets have primarily been used to treat pain in non-life threatening conditions, and have shown some success.

This report was presented Monday at the Society of Cardiovascular and Interventional Radiology annual meeting in San Diego.

Source: www.webmd.com Tuesday, March 28, 2000

Therion Commentary:

The results of this study are very promising. There is however another explanation for the results that physicians involved in the study may be unaware of.

Opinion:

Based on the known ability of magnetic therapy to direct drugs, herbs and supplements within the body; reduction in chemotherapy side effects by drawing more chemicals to the tumor site (with less of the drug remaining in the blood stream) would be an expected result of the application of a strong bio-north magnetic field.

What appears to have been overlooked by physicians is that the shrinkage of the tumors may be attributable in part to the effects of the magnetic field itself.

Proper magnetic protocols are required in order to establish application guidelines. Unfortunately this knowledge is outside the field of expertise of physicians and requires a collaborative effort with those knowledgeable in the field of static biomagnetics.

At the very least it seems that magnetic therapy can be a very useful compliment to chemotherapy and the conclusion drawn by Dr. Goodwin is right on target: "the findings warrant additional research about the benefits of magnets in cancer treatment."

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Controlling Chronic Pain With Magnetic Therapy

By Ron Lawrence, MD

Do Magnets have healing power?

Alternative practitioners have long said yes, and recent studies suggest that they may be right.

In a recent study published in the Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, researchers at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston found magnets to be more effective than sham magnets at blocking pain caused by post-polio syndrome. (This syndrome, marked by leg pain, affects up to 20% of polio sufferers later in life.)

In the controlled study, 76% of patients treated with a magnet got pain relief. Only 18% treated with a sham magnet got relief.

Growing Body of Evidence

In other studies, magnets have proven effective against:

Fibromyalgia - Researchers at Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston showed that magnets help relieve muscle pain caused by this mysterious condition. In the study, patients who slept on magnetic mattresses experienced greater pain relief than patients who slept on ordinary mattresses.
Diabetic neuropathy - In research conducted at New York Medical College of Valhalla, magnetic foot pads were more effective than non-magnetic foot pads at relieving numbness, tingling and pain associated with this diabetes-related problem.

Evidence suggests that roughly 80% of chronic pain sufferers could benefit from magnetic therapy. That is true for virtually any form of pain.

How Magnets Relieve Pain

When held against the skin, magnets relax capillary walls, thereby boosting blood flow to the painful area.

They also help prevent the muscle spasms that underlie many forms of pain - apparently by interfering with muscle contractions. And, they interfere with the electrochemical reactions that take place within nerve cells, impeding their ability to transmit pain messages to the brain.

Of course, chronic pain can be controlled with aspirin and other over-the-counter and prescription painkillers. But unlike pain medications, magnets do not carry any risk of side effects.

Selecting Medical Magnets

Medical magnets come in a dizzying range of shapes, sizes and strengths. They range in price from about $5 all the way to $900.

It is usually best to start with one or more coin-shaped magnets made of the rare earth metal neodymium-boron. For most applications, these "neo" magnets work just as well as – and cost less than – other magnets.

Magnetism is measured in gauss. A typical refrigerator magnet is about 10 gauss. That is too weak to penetrate the skin - and unlikely to be helpful for anything more than a minor bruise.

Medical magnets range in strength from 450 gauss to 10,000 gauss. The higher the gauss, the better the pain relief.

Putting Magnets to Work:

The magnet should be affixed to the skin directly over the painful area. Some people use ordinary adhesive bandages to affix the magnets. But Transpore, a paper tape made by 3M, works better. It holds well, and it doesn't pull the hairs from the skin when it is removed.

If the magnet fails to provide relief within a few days, reposition the magnet over the nearest acupuncture point. To locate these points on the body, consult a book on acupuncture.

If repositioning the magnet fails to bring relief within 30 days, odds are it's not going to work. Switch to another type of magnet or speak with your doctor about using pain killing medication or another conventional approach.

Aching Feet - Magnetic insoles can relieve foot pain and the achy feelings in the legs after you've been standing all day.
Arthritis - If pain is limited to your fingers, a neo magnet taped to the affected joint should do the trick. Or, you can wear a magnetic wrist band.
Back Pain - Place four magnets about 1.5" on either side of the spine, two per side. If applying and removing several magnets proves troublesome, use a three to four inch ceramic strip magnet, or a magnetic back brace.
Headache - Tape magnets to your temples or to the back of your head, just above the neck. Or use a magnetic headband.
Tennis Elbow - Use a magnetic band around the elbow. The same band also relieves hand and arm pain caused by repetitive strain injury.

About the author: Ron Lawrence, MD. is the President of the North American Academy of Magnetic Therapy and co-author of Magnet Therapy - The Pain Cure Alternative

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Alternative Treatments for Chronic Pain

According to biomagnetic researcher William H. Philpott, M.D., of Choctaw, Oklahoma, magnetic field therapy has many applications for the relief of pain. "The negative magnetic field (traditional south seeking pole) provided by magnetic therapy is ideal for relieving pain symptoms due to its ability to quickly normalize the metabolic functions that create the conditions in the first place," Dr. Philpott says. He points out that the negative magnetic field does not act as a painkiller, or analgesic. Instead, it is a "normalizer of disordered metabolic functions."

One of Dr. Philpott's patients was a woman in her seventies who came to him suffering from a fibrous clot in her left groin that made climbing stairs painful due to the way it impinged on the blood flow of her left leg. Dr. Philpott had her sleep on a negative field magnetic pad with magnets also placed at the crown of her head. After one year of treatment, the woman was climbing stairs freely without pain and it was discovered upon further examination that the clot, which had been present for over thirty years, was healed despite the fact that it had never been treated directly.

Dean Bonlie, D.D.S. and a colleague of Dr. Philpott, also employs magnetic field therapy to treat a variety of chronic pain conditions. One of his patients was a retired member of the Canadian Armed Forces who had been released from service on medical grounds for being 48 percent disabled due to three injuries to his lower back. His condition was so severe that he had been operated on and received a spinal fusion. He had also tried medication, heat treatments, chiropractic and physiotherapy, all without long-term results.

Dr. Bonlie applied a four by six inch negative North Pole magnet directly on the injured section of the man's back for twenty-five minutes and the man experienced substantial pain reduction. Moreover, upon standing up, for the first time in years, he did not experience the flash of burning pain down his upper right leg that had previously been one of his symptoms. Dr. Bonlie suggested he begin sleeping on a magnetic mattress pad and the man soon confirmed that, after twenty-five years, he was finally free of his pain.

Source: Alternativemedicine.com

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Magnet Therapy Reduces Pain in Post-polio Patients

A small magnet strapped to post-polio patients' most sensitive sore spots reduced pain acutely in a study of 50 people at Baylor College of Medicine and The Institute for Rehabilitation and Research (TIRR) in Houston. Results of the double-blind study were published in the November issue of the Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation.

"The majority of patients in the study who received treatment with a magnet reported a significant decrease in pain, and most of the patients who were given a placebo, or inactive magnet, reported very little or no improvement," said principle investigator Dr. Carlos Vallbona. He is a professor of family and community medicine and physical medicine and rehabilitation at Baylor and director of the Post-Polio Clinic at TIRR.

Vallbona evaluated the magnet therapy in adults diagnosed with post-polio syndrome who were experiencing arthritic pain in the joints or had identifiable points of pain in their muscles. Thirty-nine women and 11 men participated in the study. Most were in their 50's and had developed post-polio syndrome during their 40's. All patients were asked to press on the "trigger point" where they felt the severest pain and rank that pain on a scale of one to 10, with 10 being the worst. The patients were then randomly given an active or inactive magnet to strap against their trigger point for 45 minutes. After the magnets were removed, patients rated the intensity of their pain again.

Twenty-nine participants received an active magnet. Their average score of pain was 9.6 before the treatment, and 4.4 after wearing the magnet. The placebo group had an average pain score of 9.5 before treatment, and 8.4 afterward.

The low-intensity magnets, less than a half-inch thick and slightly stronger than refrigerator magnets, were available in four formats to accommodate different areas of the body: a credit-card-size rectangle, a six-inch strip almost two inches wide, a disc the size of a silver dollar and a disc the size of a CD.

"Seventy-six percent of the patients who had the active magnet reported a decrease in pain, but only 19 percent of the patients treated with a placebo felt an improvement," Vallbona said. None of the patients reported any side effects from the treatment.

"We do not have a clear explanation for the significant and quick pain relief observed by the patients in our study," Vallbona said. "It's possible that the magnetic energy affects the pain receptors in the joints or muscles or lowers the sensation of pain in the brain."

The Baylor-TIRR study consisted of one treatment per patient and did not evaluate how long the reported pain relief lasted. Vallbona said more research is needed to determine whether magnet therapy should be recommended as an alternative to the standard treatments for pain in post-polio patients, such as physical therapy, support braces, muscle relaxants, anti-inflammatory drugs and other medication.

Vallbona's co-principal investigator for the study was Dr. Carlton F. Hazlewood, Baylor professor of molecular physiology and biophysics.

Source: Baylor College of Medicine, One Baylor Plaza, Houston, TX 77030

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Magnet Therapy for Fibromyalgia

Over the past decade, chronic pain sufferers have become avid consumers of magnet therapy. Unfortunately, doctors and consumers alike know very little about the clinical effects of these products.

In a new study published in the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine , researchers from the University of Virginia describe the largest and most rigorous clinical trial to date of a magnet therapy used to treat patients with chronic pain. Results were obtained from 94 patients with fibromyalgia, a syndrome affecting 2 percent of the general population and responsible for widespread pain, fatigue, fitful sleep and anxiety in sufferers.

Researchers randomly separated participants into five treatment groups to test the effects of magnetic sleep pads on several measures of participants' pain. Ratings of subjects' pain were measured over six months using the Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire, pain intensity ratings, tender point counts, and tender point pain intensity.

One group slept on pads that administered whole body therapy with a low magnetic field. A second group received magnet therapy that varied in intensity. A third group slept on the pads but received no magnetic therapy while a fourth group were instructed to stick to their normal pain treatment regimens with no magnetic therapy.

Ann Gill Taylor, R.N., from the University of Virginia, says, "We did find a statistically significant difference in pain intensity reduction for one of the active magnet pad groups. The two groups that slept on pads with active magnets generally showed the greatest improvements in outcome scores of pain intensity level, number of tender points on the body and functional status after six months."

Alan P. Alfano, M.D., from the University of Virginia, says, "the results tell us maybe this therapy works, and that maybe more research is justified." However, he cautions, "You can't draw final conclusions from only one study."

Source: Ivanhoe Newswire, Feb. 27, 2001

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Magnetic Healing Does it Work?

by Tom Edward

The idea of magnetic energy or magnetic therapy is centuries old. Legend has it that Cleopatra wore magnetic bracelets and necklaces for healing. Though actively employed by medical doctors in America in the 1800's and early 1900's, magnetic therapy eventually fell out of favor. But in the past decade, magnetic therapy has become a 100 million dollar a year industry in this country (magnetic therapy has long been used as an effective healing tool in China, France, India and Japan, especially in repairing soft-tissue injuries).

Studies on magnetic therapies in the Journal of Electro-and Magnetobiology led some pioneering doctors in this country to experiment with magnets in their practice. Their activities helped to standardize the use of some magnets, the magnet size and strength-in treating various conditions. The length of exposure to a magnet for healing certain ailments was also determined. Because of their work we know which magnets work most efficiently – for example, a magnet placed in one specific area of the body may not activate the entire body's healing power, whereas sleeping on a magnetic mattress pad radiates a magnetic field that can penetrate evenly into every part of the body and boost the entire immune system.

Through the growth of the magnetic therapy industry, different magnetic products have been designed which can be useful in treating many conditions. Some of the most commonly used magnetic products include the previously mentioned magnetic mattress pad which can alleviate insomnia, joint pain, muscle spasm and fibromyalgia. Magnetic insoles for shoes are often helpful in relieving painful inflammation resulting from bone spurs, and for gout and to improve circulation. Magnetic pads and wraps which can be secured to the lower back, knees and elbows are recommended for arthritic joints, inflamed tendons and carpal tunnel syndrome.

What is a Magnet?

In any material that is capable of being magnetized, there are groups of atoms with their own magnetic orientation arranged haphazardly in the material. When that material comes into contact with a strong magnetic field, it rearranges the groups of atoms so that they are in alignment. As the groups of atoms become aligned, they project a magnetic field.

Magnetic energy has different names. Some people call it energy or life force; the Chinese call it Chi, the Indians know it as Prana. Whatever you choose to call it, magnetic energy is a basic force of life-it pulses throughout the galaxies and is found everywhere in nature.

How Do Magnets Heal the Body?

Some researchers and doctors say that magnets don't actually heal the body. Science knows that the human body is composed of numerous cells that combine to form blood, tissues, bones and organs. These cells are in the constant state of renewing themselves. Dr. Robert Becker, one of the leading medical doctors who advocates the use of magnets in healing, believes that the force which stimulates cellular growth and division is electromagnetic energy.

He and other scientists contend that the charge on the cells of the body gets depleted as cells perform their normal daily functions and that the body tries to "recharge" the worn down cells by sending pulses of electromagnetic energy from the brain through the nervous system.

James Souder, President of Norso Biomagnetics in Raleigh, North Carolina, claims that studies performed on animals, and microscopic examination of blood vessels, indicate that capillary blood flow is stimulated by the movement of magnetic fields through tissue and is the dominant factor in magnetic field therapy.

Is All Magnetic Energy Healing?

No.

As previously stated, magnetic energy is a basic force of nature and necessary to all biological systems. Magnetic energy pulses from far-off galaxies; the sun showers us with magnetic fields. Our earth, itself a huge electromagnet with north and south poles, protects us from harmful cosmic radiation. Cosmic radiation is so potent that it is capable of penetrating a 12 foot thick block of lead. But it cannot penetrate the earth's protective magnetic shield.

There is increasing evidence that there are harmful effects from high pulsating magnetic energy emitted from power transmission lines, TVs, radios, computers, microwaves and myriad electric appliances. The ordinary 60 cycle alternating electromagnetic fields created by technology seem to exert stress on the body's cellular level. It is reported that they can cause memory loss, headaches, changes in heartbeat and blood chemistry. Melatonin production can be reduced, and the brain's electromagnetic signals to the cells can be blocked, diluting the body's disease-fighting ability.

Studies of exposure to alternating electromagnetic fields have shown mutagenic effects, cancer cell promotion and a lowering of the body's pH to a more acidic level.

In addition, energy deprivation caused by living in concrete buildings also appears to have negative effects on the body. Dr. Kyochi Nakagawa, Director of Isuzu Hospital in Tokyo says that "Magnetic Field Deficiency Syndrome," produces symptoms such as headaches, back and neck pains, insomnia, heaviness of head and general lassitude.

Using Magnetic Energy Beneficially

While there are many applications claimed for magnetics, from the reduction of scar tissue to the treatment of internal organs, the predominant use of magnetic devices is the treatment of musculoskeletal pain and myofacial pain. While, as previously stated, the mechanism by which this pain relief occurs is subject to much conjecture, there is a consensus that heightened blood flow to the area under the footprint of the magnet is one of the primary results of magnetic treatment. The results have been demonstrated by both thermographic and nuclear medicine studies. There have also been evidence of pain blocking phenomena in certain nerve fibers related to the application of magnetic fields. And researchers have been able to demonstrate changes in the electrical potential of nerve cells which raise the threshold for transmitting pain impulses as a result of magnetic fields.

Some scientists subscribe to the "Hall Effect," which promotes the idea that ions in the blood are manipulated by magnetic fields thus producing a heating effect in the magnetized area and increasing blood circulation. James Souder disagrees, and insists that "from a biological perspective, magnets activate or turn on capillaries creating extra blood supply at the cellular level as opposed to the older notion that magnets produce a local heating effect to stimulate blood supply, which is essentially what the Hall effect is about."

Dr. Dean Bonlie, Chairman of the Scientific Committee of the North American Academy of Magnetic Therapy, explains that when the body is fatigued, a "loss of static charge" on the body's cells causes a "clumping of red blood cells." Through magnetic field supplementation, he says, chemical reactions are enhanced, building up the charge on cell walls which cause the cells to repel each other, reducing the clumping. With more surface area available, he says, the oxygen-carrying capacity of the cells is increased which in turn reinvigorates the body.

Another source of disagreement among magnetic therapy advocates is the healing quality of negative and positive poles. Such prominent voices in the magnetic therapy movement as Dr. Philpott say that "there are distinct and opposite effects of the two separate magnetic poles on metabolic function...in terms of biological response, the separate negative and positive polarities are as distinctly opposite as day and night, hot and cold, and acid and alkali." Dr. Philpott claims that his clinical observations show that negative magnetic field energy should be used to fight infection, normalize acid/base balance, increase cellular oxygen and reduce fluid retention. He claims that using positive magnetic field energy can actually decrease cellular oxygen, accelerate microorganism growth and result in acidic metabolic response. James Joseph, an independent research consultant for Optimal Living Associates, agrees with Dr. Philpott.

Dr. Philpott concluded that positive magnetic field energy creates an acidic condition in the tissue and negative magnetic field energy creates alkalinity after performing before and after saliva tests on patients being treated with a whole-body negative magnetic field. Dr. Bonlie, in a similar test, found that patients who had tested over-alkaline in pre-testing became more acidic, indicating that whole body treatment with a negative magnetic field brings normalcy from either end of the spectrum.

Dr. Bonlie claimed that this happened because of "simple rules of physics. When an atom is placed in an increased magnetic field," says Dr. Bonlie, "the charge is increased on the atom for a fraction of a second. This increase in energy is expressed by an increase in the velocity of some of the orbiting electrons and protons. In the case of paired electrons, one is sped up and the other slowed down. This imbalance causes a phenomenon known in physics as precession (wobble). This is much like increased molecular action which takes place from heating a solution to make a chemical reaction take place. Precession causes electron transfer which is the basis of all chemical reactions in the body. In summary, when the magnetic field is increased in which the atoms of the body exist, body chemistry is enhanced, assisting it in normalcy which improves body performance and healing."

While the physics of magnetic energy is debated, its benefits are being experienced by people around the country. Dr. Ronald Lawrence of Agoura Hills, California asserts that magnets have been extremely effective in the control of arthritic pain in many of his patients. Dee Massengale, an exercise physiologist in Atlanta, Georgia suffering with fibromyaglia since 1982, says that of all the therapies she's tried magnetic devices have been one of the most valuable tools for pain management.

In one of our own experiments, Anne Ziselman of Hollywood, Florida slept with magnet wraps strapped above her kneecap. She reported a reduction of arthritic swelling and a softening of the inflammation after four nights of use. "Sometimes the swelling goes away by itself, but the only times my knee has softened was when I had a cortisone shot," said Mrs. Ziselman.

Getting Started with Magnetic Therapy

First some caveats. Magnets are not meant to be used with pacemakers or automatic internal defibrillators. Nor in cases of pregnancy.

There are some other basics to know about magnets. To begin with the power of a magnet. The strength of a magnet is measured by a gauss meter in gauss units power by the iron weight it can lift (the term gauss denotes the electromagnetic unit of magnetic flux density equal to one maxwell per square centimeter). For example, a magnet that can lift two pounds of iron weight has 530-600 gauss power; five pounds of iron weight has 900-1250 power; 25 pounds has 2500 gauss power. The magnet's strength is determined by its size, weight and the type of material it is made of.

Magnetic therapists have general guidelines for magnetic use. Magnets with 1000 to 3000 gauss power [on the magnet's surface] are recommended for chronic diseases like rheumatism, paralysis, back ache and injury to large muscles. More delicate parts of the body such as eyes or ears require less gauss power of around 500. 500 gauss should also be employed when treating children.

The depth of penetration of a magnetic field into the body is another important factor in magnetic healing and is in direct relationship to the size of the magnet as well as its gauss power. A magnet can have a strength of over 10,000 gauss but if it is small it might only penetrate an inch or two into the body. But a magnet of 4" x 6" and 1000 gauss can penetrate the body completely (magnetic energy has not been fully standardized in terms of application for all diseases, but a rule of thumb for use established by the Japanese Ministry of Health and Welfare is a minimum of 500 gauss for any significant illness).

Drinking magnetically treated water is another way to reap the benefits of magnetic energy. Magnetically treated water is relaxing to the body. Put an 8-ounce glass of water on the negative pole of a magnet for five minutes or longer and drink twice a day as a general preventative.

Lastly, scientists have been recording the strength of the earth's magnetic field over the past 158 years and they claim that its magnetic field, and subsequently the intake of magnetic energy into our bodies, has been reduced by more than 8% in that time (this rate of decline has been verified by measurement of the decrease of north-south orientation of magnetite crystals in deposits in volcanic flows and sediments that date back as far as 4,000 years). As the human body is electromagnetic by design - composed of charged particles such as atoms and ions - advocates of magnetic therapy say that chemical and electrical actions of the body can be strengthened by exposure to the right kind of magnetic fields.

The range of healing using magnetic energy has been found effective in treating complaints from acne to asthma, but knowing the proper gauss strength, how and where to place a magnet on the body and the duration of exposure to magnetic energy are variables that a trained practitioner would know best. Keep an open mind as you explore this alternative therapy, but be practical and find a therapist who can help you to maximize its benefits rapidly and safely.

Source: Newlife, July 1996

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Biomedical Engineering Study Demonstrates the Healing Value of Magnets

by Melissa Maki

Jan. 2, 2008 - Magnets have been touted for their healing properties since ancient Greece. Magnetic therapy is still widely used today as an alternative method for treating a number of conditions, from arthritis to depression, but there hasn't been scientific proof that magnets can heal.

Lack of regulation and widespread public acceptance have turned magnetic therapy into a $5 billion world market. Hopeful consumers buy bracelets, knee braces, shoe inserts, mattresses, and other products that are embedded with magnets based on anecdotal evidence, hoping for a non-invasive and drug-free cure to what ails them.

“The FDA regulates specific claims of medical efficacy, but in general static magnetic fields are viewed as safe,” notes Thomas Skalak, professor and chair of biomedical engineering at U.Va.

Skalak has been carefully studying magnets for a number of years in order to develop real scientific evidence about the effectiveness of magnetic therapy.

Skalak's lab leads the field in the area of microcirculation research - the study of blood flow through the body's tiniest blood vessels. With a five-year, $875,000 grant from the National Institutes of Health's National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, Skalak and Cassandra Morris, former Ph.D. student in biomedical engineering, set out to investigate the effect of magnetic therapy on microcirculation. Initially, they sought to examine a major claim made by companies that sell magnets: that magnets increase blood flow.

The researchers first found evidence to support this claim through research with laboratory rats. In their initial study, magnets of 70 milliTesla (mT) field strength - about 10 times the strength of the common refrigerator variety - were placed near the rat's blood vessels. Quantitative measurements of blood vessel diameter were taken both before and after exposure to the static magnetic fields - the force created by the magnets. Morris and Skalak found that the force had a significant effect: the vessels that had been dilated constricted, and the constricted vessels dilated, implying that the magnetic field could induce vessel relaxation in tissues with constrained blood supply, ultimately increasing blood flow.

Dilation of blood vessels is often a major cause of swelling at sites of trauma to soft tissues such as muscles or ligaments. The prior results on vessel constriction led Morris and Skalak to look closer at whether magnets, by limiting blood flow in such cases, would also reduce swelling. Their most recent research, published in the November 2007 issue of the American Journal of Physiology, yielded affirmative results.

In this study, the hind paws of anesthetized rats were treated with inflammatory agents in order to simulate tissue injury. Magnetic therapy was then applied to the paws. The research results indicate that magnets can significantly reduce swelling if applied immediately after tissue trauma.

Since muscle bruising and joint sprains are the most common injuries worldwide, this discovery has significant implications. "If an injury doesn't swell, it will heal faster - and the person will experience less pain and better mobility," says Skalak. This means that magnets could be used much the way ice packs and compression are now used for everyday sprains, bumps, and bruises, but with more beneficial results. The ready availability and low cost of this treatment could produce huge gains in worker productivity and quality of life.

Skalak envisions the magnets being particularly useful to high school, college, and professional sports teams, as well as school nurses and retirement communities. He has plans to continue testing the effectiveness of magnets through clinical trials and testing in elite athletes. A key to the success of magnetic therapy for tissue swelling is careful engineering of the proper field strength at the tissue location, a challenge in which most currently available commercial magnet systems fall short. The new research should allow Skalak's biomedical engineering group to design field strengths that provide real benefit for specific injuries and parts of the body.

"We now hope to implement a series of steps, including private investment partners and eventually a major corporate partner, to realize these very widespread applications that will make a positive difference for human health," says Skalak.

Source: University of Virginia - Research News; UVa Today

View 30 Studies on magnets affecting Blood Circulation and Blood Pressure

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Healing Power of Magnets

By Richard Dean Jenkins

Magnetic fields work much more quickly and effectively than heat, infrared light, anti-inflammatory drugs, trigger-point injections or microwave diathermy. It's likely to be four or six months before an injured skier or other athlete is back in play again from the conventional treatment of ice, followed by heat to reduce swelling. Heat alone will not stimulate therapeutic repair of injured tissue or muscle. An ample supply of nutrient-rich blood is needed. Healing requires resumption of normal blood flow to the injured site, not simply pain relief. In magnetic therapy, knee braces can be removed more quickly; weightlifters can reduce lower back pain; sciatica (inflammation of sciatic nerve running down the hip and thigh) and carpal tunnel syndrome can be relieved.

Osteopathic physician Sanford Paul, Mercerville NJ, is convinced of the effectiveness of magnetic therapy. "Though I use conventional medical methods I find that the application of biomagnets has helped in some difficult traumatic-injury cases. I feel that biomagnets should be part of the total armamentarium of future physicians," he says. However, "Unless used properly, their value is no greater than that of a regular magnet."

Orthopedic chiropractor Kurt Vreeland, White River Junction, Vermont, physician for the U.S. Olympic ski jumping team, uses magnets for ski and other injuries. "I have used magnets with good results on everything from rotator cuff injuries to what they used to call in football 'hip-pointer'.

Source: Fitness Magazine, February 1992

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Golfers Can Now Benefit From the Amazing Therapeutic Power of Magnets

By Martin Meyer, Herbologist - Nutritionist

You can obtain more energy, enhance your ability to focus and relieve chronic pain just by applying a magnetic bracelet or magnetic wrap. Are you tired of daily pain killers for knee pain, neck pain, sciatica, arthritis, bursitis, muscle pain, shoulder pain, tennis elbow, back pain. Then why not try magnetic therapy? The newest neodymium rare earth permanent magnets have helped millions and are used worldwide.

A powerful magnet smaller than a penny placed near a pain or injury may do wonders for you and relieve your pain as many have experienced. The magnetic field produced by permanent magnets is a safe natural energy source. There are no known harmful exposure levels and no limitations by Governmental agencies. All Magnet Force magnets are of the highest energy neodymium rare earth and are identified, differentiating between south pole and north pole.

Since the Egyptians

The science and use of Magnetic Therapy has been known ever since Egyptian times, and has been continuously practiced all over the world. Because many Americans have been fed up with the ever burdening cost of medical care and its sometimes failures, it has forced them to look for alternative therapies for their aches and pains. A host of therapies have surfaced some old, some new. Chiropractic, massage, acupuncture, herbal, vitamins, biofeedback, homeopathy, and permanent magnetic are just a few therapies offered. Magnetic therapy has the most appeal, because of its effectiveness. It is a natural therapy, non toxic, no pills, no needles, no salves, no side effects and most important, a one time low cost for everyone. Magnetic therapy, when coupled with professional therapy, proper nutrition and exercise, has proven to be the most effective and economical. Magnets can be used over and over, and will last for years.

Biomagnetism in the Human Body

Biomagnetism works in the human body through the circulatory system, the nervous system and the endocrine system. Magnetism is continuously penetrating every known particle, right down to the single cell. Its ordering effect on living systems arise from the fact that magnetism is a blueprint of life itself. All known energies have, as a base, this electromagnetic field. The latest research indicates that magnetism has a very significant beneficial biological effect on human beings.

Blood contains ferrous hemoglobin (iron) that functions as a carrier of oxygen and carbon dioxide. As blood circulates the lungs, fully magnetized ferrous hemoglobin is able to transport more oxygen to cell tissue as well as taking more carbon dioxide waste from the cell back to the lungs for removal. This means more energy and less fatigue as tissue cells and internal organs stay substantially healthier. Also golfers report an energy reserve allowing their play on the 18th hole to match first tee energy, this in turn enables greater concentration and execution for your game. Magnetic bracelets and wraps recharge the body's magnetism. The body, like the earth, is a biomagnetic unit that vibrates at approximately 7.9 cycles per second direct current. Our electric devices, TV, computers, lights, appliances etc. vibrate at 60 cycles per second alternating current. Magnetic devices serve to balance the body and counter the deleterious excitement of the 60 cycle per second vibration.

Dr. Nakagawa, of Isuzu Hospital in Tokyo Japan, has identified a malady that he calls "Magnetic Deficiency Syndrome". It is believed that we call this problem Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.

Reaching Outer Space

Magnets are used in spacecraft to protect the astronauts from bone loss, disorientation, and other magnetic deficiencies. Magnetic Therapy is the cutting edge of a healing, health, energy boom that is sure to revolutionize the way we treat our bodies. Magnets will not only help your golf game it could also improve the length and quality of your life and that of your loved ones.

Source: Long Island Golfer Magazine, October 1997

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Life Begins At 50 for Players on Mature Tour

GOLF By Ken Fidlin

LANCASTER - The promotional slogan invites us to come on out and "Walk With A legend." It doesn't even scratch the surface.

At Hamilton Golf and Country Club this week, you can indeed walk with a legend. You can even talk with a legend. You can get a legend's autograph without getting your head bitten off. You can share a joke with a legend. You might even get a golf lesson from a legend. Or free medical advice from a legend. There is no end to what a legend can do to enhance your day on one of Canadian golf's most spectacular pieces of real estate.

The players on the PGA Seniors Tour who will compete in the du Maurier Champions tournament tomorrow through Sunday are different from any group of professional athletes you'll ever find.

For starters, most of them don't take themselves too seriously. Probably comes with having grandkids.

For example, as lee Trevino and DeWit Weaver prepared to hit their tee shots on the ninth hole of a practice round yesterday, a toddler appeared from the gallery and was immediately swept into Grandpa Trevino's arms. A photo opportunity for the astounded father.

When Trevino realized it was a video camera in dad's hands, well, being the Merry Mex, he had to spin a yarn. So he talked about attending a granddaughter's important piano recital, how he photographed the event, then taped over the proud moment.

These for the most part are men who long ago learned that the world doesn't owe them a living. In fact some of the most successful seniors have turned out to be guys whose PGA careers were less than stellar.

Nobody fits that mold more precisely than Jim Colbert, currently the king of the tour. He led in money last year and continues to do so this year. His emergence from a middle-of-the-pack PGA career to star status as a senior resulted from two factors: magnets and equipment.

Equipment, we can understand. But magnets?

Ever since he was 15 years old, Colbert has been plagued by painful disc degeneration in his lower back. Several years ago, a fellow pro named Mickey Gallagher told him about a doctor who was getting amazing results with back problems by using magnets. Colbert tried it and the rest is history.

"During the last three years, any day I wanted to play golf, I could," he said. That was something entirely new for me."

He has a magnetic mattress pad and tapes magnets to key areas on his back and neck. Other touring pros like Tom Weiskopf and Bob Murphy have used varying forms of the therapy for pain and arthritis control.

"For a lot of years there were a lot of days when I just couldn't play because of the back pain," Colbert said. "And on the days that I could, I was so full of medicine and muscle relaxants that I couldn't score anyway."

Magnets. Hey, we don't make this stuff up.

There is an understanding from these old pros who ply their trade from week to week on the Mature Tour that the world does not necessarily revolve around them. They have come to Hamilton and are of one voice in praise of the golf course.

"You won't hear anything but raves from anyone this week," Weaver said. "If anyone says this isn't the nicest golf course we've played all year, I'd like to know which one he's thinking of."

"We don't get to play many of these special old courses," Colbert said. "You can't buy or build what 100 years of natural evolution can bring."

"Can we play here the rest of the year?" Trevino asked. "You should see some of the ranches we play on."

Imagine that. A professional athlete, appreciative that he has been invited into our midst.

A senior event on Canadian soil would be incomplete without a visit from our own legend, Moe Norman. Trevino himself has called Norman the finest striker of the golf ball ever, and hundreds were crowded around Norman, including many of the touring pros on the range yesterday for one of his famous clinics.

Ho-hum, Moe hit 'em straight again.

I've heard people say that life begins at 50 and never once considered that it could be true. Until you stop and consider Colbert and many of his buddies. "We always ask ourselves if we could lock in at a certain age, what would it be," Colbert said.

"For me, it would be my early 50's, the way my life is going. The most fun I've had to date has been Senior Circuit."

Take a walk with a legend and you might begin to believe it.

Source: The Financial Post, Wed. June 12, 1996 Section: SPORTS

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Athletes Put Their Faith in Power of Magnets

By Sal Ruibal

Contributing: Jim Lassiter

Denver Broncos linebacker Bill Romanowski KO's quarterbacks, then sleeps like a baby on a magnetic mattress pad. Yankees pitcher Hideki Irabu throws a wicked split-finger fastball with dozens of magnets stuck to his body. Senior PGA Tour golfer Jim Colbert swings for the greens with dollar bill-sized magnets strapped to his lower back.

Magnetic therapy is the hottest trend among professional athletes. But the idea of using magnetic fields to increase blood circulation in injured tissue and encourage healing by stimulating the nervous system goes back thousands of years to ancient Greece and Egypt. The original Olympic athletes might have used magnets. And in the same way that today's top athletes influence fashion and language, their eagerness to embrace alternative healing techniques is influencing the public: U.S. consumers will spend more than $500 million this year on magnetic mattress pads, bracelets, magnetic insoles, back wraps and seat cushions, the magnet companies say. The trend is so lucrative, athletes are adding brand-name magnets to their list of endorsements, along with sneakers and soda pops.

Romanowski began using magnets seven years ago while a member of the 49ers, but didn't take them seriously. The team trainer had recommended them, but it was not until Romanowski had off season surgery that he adopted the idea. "I'm a believer, definitely," he says. "The first time I tried them, I got pain relief. It wasn't mental. I know it wasn't mental because I know my body." Because they know their bodies, it's natural that top athletes would be attracted to alternative therapies, says Dinnie Pearson, a Cranial-Sacral therapist with the Mind/Body Center in King of Prussia, Pa.

"Athletes use a lot of mental imagery, visualizing the correct muscle movements for their sport," Pearson says. "They can use that same powerful tool for healing, contacting injured areas to focus on that tissue to help it in the natural healing process." They had an acupuncturist travel with the team earlier this year. The team credits the therapy with helping second baseman Quilvio Veras get over hamstring problems.

"I think it's great," Towers says. "I know it worked on me. It blocks the nerve endings and takes the pain away. It's very relaxing. I'd go back."

Not understanding how an alternative therapy works is no roadblock for jocks in search of relief, but it can be for the federal government. Magnetic therapy has not been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, but the National Institutes of Health are investigating the phenomenon.

The NIH Office of Alternative Medicine, which was created only five years ago, is funding a study of magnetic therapy at the University of Virginia's School of Nursing.

Broncos safety Steve Atwater isn't waiting for the scientists to bless his magnets. "I don't know what it is, but it works," the 30-year-old, seven-time Pro Bowl player says. "I figure it can't hurt me, and it may help me."

Source: USA Today, Wed., Aug. 20, 1997 Section: SPORTS

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Sleep and Magnetic Mattress Pads?

by Bruce Spiegler, RMP, HHP

How does lack of sleep affect our lives?

Sleep is a key part of maintaining your health, affecting everything in your life, from how you feel to your relationships with others. Lack of sleep negatively affects your physical health, your ability to handle stress, and your general mood. Even one night of disrupted or missed sleep can reduce productivity and increase the chances of accidents at home or work.

Lack of sleep compromises your body's immune system and adversely affects metabolism and memory. On average, people are 50% less successful at simple memory tests after a sleepless night, because the entire brain's ability to function decreases.

One-in-three American adults (over 56 million) experience nighttime sleeplessness due to back pain, headaches, and muscle aches and pains, losing an average of 20 hours of sleep per month - the equivalent of nearly three full nights of sleep. More than 60% of adults over the age of 50 suffer from sleeplessness due to arthritic pain at night.

The earth's magnetic field is essential to all life

The earth's natural magnetic field plays an important role in maintaining proper electromagnetic balance of the body's internal systems. Currently, the earth's magnetic field measures 0.4 gauss. Several thousand years ago the earth's magnetic field measured 4 gauss, which was 1000% stronger than it is today.

Scientists are able to determine the alignment of the earth's magnetic poles, as well as the strength of the earth's magnetic field through measurements of iron-rich minerals in sediment samples taken from deep within the earth. Samples dating back 3 billion years have shown that the earth's magnetic poles reverse approximately every 200,000 years, which is believed to be the result of directional shifts in the earth's molten core.

Recently, a team of researchers at UCLA used super computers to analyze data from 33 of these samples, and re-create a history of the earth's magnetic field dating back 800,000 years. The computer model clearly showed that the earth's magnetic field declines dramatically over a several thousand-year period preceding a magnetic pole reversal. This data has lead many scientists believe that the rapid decline in the earth's magnetic field over the past several thousand years is a clear indication that a pole reversal is underway.

How does this affect us?

Scientists are now certain that the declining magnetic field detrimentally affects life on earth. In addition, many scientists believe that modern technology, such as steel structure buildings, cars, and trains absorb the earth's magnetic field, causing a further reduction in its strength.

Since these conditions are very recent developments in the history of man's existence on earth, it seems logical that the human body has not had time to adapt to the earth's rapidly decreasing magnetic field; hence the rapid increase in the rate of chronic illnesses worldwide. Following 20 years of research, Dr. Kyoichi Nagawa, a leading scientist in the field of biomagnetics, concluded that the much weaker magnetic field of modern times has caused what he has termed magnetic deficiency syndrome. The symptoms include stiffness in the shoulders, back and neck; insomnia; chest pains; headaches; and dizziness. The long-term consequences of magnetic deficiency syndrome include the development of chronic and degenerative diseases; the loss of normal healing ability; and increased susceptibility to infections and the effects of environmental toxins.

Can anything be done to help?

Dr. Nagawa, as well as other researchers and medical professionals, believes that correcting this deficiency can easily be accomplished by supplementing the earth's magnetic field with a magnetic mattress pad using negative (north) polarity. Double-blind clinical studies have shown that properly designed magnetic mattress pads are effective in relieving chronic pain and improving quality of sleep, and that pain relief continued to improve over time.

Strong Results from Long-Term Studies

1. A 12-month double-blind clinical test of magnetic mattress pads for pain relief in 375 hospitalized patients was conducted at Sanikukal Hospital, Tokyo Communications Hospital, and Kouseikai Suzuki Hospital in Japan.

Symptom	Total Cases	# of Positive Results	% of Total	# With No Results	% of Total
Neck & Shoulder Pain	66	47	71.2%	19	28.8%
Lower Back Pain	76	61	80.3%	15	19.7%
General Back Pain	31	25	80.7%	6	19.3%
Lower Limb Pain	68	54	79.4%	14	20.6%
Insomnia	70	61	87.1%	9	12.9%
Fatigue	64	53	82.8%	11	17.2%

CONCLUSIONS: Out of 375 total subjects with symptoms in this study, 301 (80.27%) reported positive results. 74 cases (19.73%) reported no results.

2. A double-blind clinical study of magnetic mattress pad use in patients with Fibromyalgia was conducted at Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston, MA:

CONCLUSIONS: Sleeping on a magnetic mattress pad, with a magnet surface field strength of 1100 +/- 50 Gauss, delivering 200-600 Gauss at the skin surface provides statistically significant and clinically relevant pain relief and sleep improvement in subjects with Fibromyalgia. No adverse reactions were noted during the 16-week trial period.

Why use magnetic therapy for better sleep?

Clinical studies have shown that a properly designed magnetic sleep system provides many benefits to those suffering from nighttime pain and sleeplessness, and those waking up with stiff or sore muscles. An important caviat when purchasing magnetic therapy products manufactured overseas is that the magnets used are typically very small, with very low energy and limited penetration depth (less than 2"). It is also common for the magnets to be facing the wrong way in imported mattress pads, which can actually disturb sleep rather than enhance it.

There is a good reason that magnetic mattress pads vary widely in price, so keep in mind why you are looking in the first place - to feel better. Select a product that provides the proper strength magnetic field and comfort level for your specific needs.

A direct manufacturer located in the U.S. who ensures the quality, strength and integrity of their magnetic products is Therion Inc. They offer an extensive professional magnetic therapy product line, which includes four magnetic sleep systems designed to address different levels of pain and difficulty sleeping. Several of the sleep systems are made with memory foam.

Bruce Spiegler is a Registered Magnetic Therapy Practitioner and is board certified by the American Association of Drugless Practitioners. He is also a member of the American Holistic Health Association.

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Having Trouble Sleeping?

Magnetic Therapy Solutions to Improve Sleep due to Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) and other causes of insomnia.

By Bruce Spiegler, RMP, HHP

The Facts...

Sleep is an important part of a healthy lifestyle, and is essential if you are to feel your best during the day. Sleep requirements vary widely, but most adults need seven to eight hours of sleep a night.

Lack of sleep impairs your ability to function properly during the day. 1-in-3 American adults (over 56 million) lose 20 hours of sleep each month due to nighttime pain and sleeplessness. That's the equivalent of three full nights of sleep.

Those who complain of nighttime pain experience back pain most, followed by headaches, muscular aches and pains, and arthritis pain.

Sleep loss decreases the entire brain's ability to function, most significantly impairing the areas of the brain responsible for attention, complex planning, complex mental operations, and judgment. Until recently, most scientists did not believe that lack of sleep caused any significant physical problems. A study at the University of Chicago, Dept. of Medicine found that sleep debt has a harmful effect on endocrine function and carbohydrate metabolism and may increase the severity of chronic disorders, including the sensation of pain. The impact of lack of sleep on the body is astounding. When healthy young men in there 20's were allowed only four hours sleep per night for six consecutive nights their blood test results nearly matched those of diabetics. In addition, they had elevated levels of the stress hormone cortisol, which can lead to hypertension and memory impairment.

How do the seasons affect our sleep?

The process of sleep is not fully understood, but we do know that when it is dark, the pineal gland (a magnetically sensitive gland located in the center of the brain) secretes a hormone called melatonin, which is believed to induce sleep. The results of a study conducted at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York on "seasonal affective disorder" found there is strong indication that changes in the earth's magnetic field alter melatonin secretion by the pineal gland, which synchronizes our circadian rhythms. Circadian rhythms control our sleep/wake cycle, also known as our biological clock. During the winter months the earth's magnetic field diminishes in strength, leading to increased susceptibility for desynchronization of circadian rhythms and "seasonal affective disorder," characterized by recurrent winter depression associated with hypersomnia, overeating, and carbohydrate craving. The study also found that when the earth's magnetic field is shielded it significantly desynchronizes man's circadian rhythms, which could gradually be resynchronized with the application of a supplemental magnetic field. The practical application of which would be to sleep on a magnetic mattress pad.

Pain and sleep...

Difficulty in sleeping (insomnia) can take various forms or patterns: difficulty falling asleep, difficulty staying asleep, and early wakening. Pain effects sleep patterns: arthritis, leg cramps, fibromyalgia, restless legs syndrome, and other forms of musculoskeletal pain can all interfere with your sleep patterns.

The most common reason for sleep problems for people with pain is the pain itself. While people with discomfort may eventually be able to fall asleep, the pain awakens them throughout the night, and they feel exhausted the next day. Although they may get many hours of sleep, they are fatigued during the day due to poor quality of sleep.

Sleep consists of two very different states: rapid-eye-movement (REM) and Non-REM sleep. In REM sleep (when dreams occur) your eyes move under your lids, your heartbeat quickens, your body processes speed up, and you toss and turn, which further aggravates a painful condition. Many people wake up in the morning feeling stiff or sore, which can also be a sign that your mattress is no longer comfortable or supportive.

There are several stages of Non-REM sleep, but we will concern ourselves with the deepest stage (stage 4). During this time the body repairs itself and restores lost energy, utilizing a hormone called somatostatin. Lack of stage 4 sleep is believed to be an important factor in chronically painful conditions such as fibromyalgia.

Improving the quality of your sleep...

For anyone who experiences even minor difficulty in sleeping, some simple, common sense measures to help you sleep are:

Avoid alcoholic drinks in the late evening. Alcohol may help sleep onset, but can cause early morning wakefulness.
Cut back on coffee, tea, and other sources of caffeine, especially in the evening.
Avoid eating a large, late-evening meal and heavy, fatty foods before going to bed.
Listen to some relaxing music or do some light relaxation exercise such as yoga before going to bed.
Don't use your bedroom as a place to work.
Take a warm (NOT HOT) bath (not a shower) before going to bed.
Avoid naps if they interfere with your normal sleep pattern.
If unable to fall asleep within 20-30 minutes of lying down, get up and do something else until you feel sleepy. This way your body does not associate your bed with wakefulness.

Exercise during the day. -For those of you with difficulty sleeping due to nighttime pain or suffer from other forms of insomnia, complementary and alternative therapies are noninvasive and tend to be free of side effects. They enhance physical and emotional well-being and help to relieve and control your symptoms. They are also an important part of an overall wellness program to help maintain your health.

Clinical studies have shown that a properly designed magnetic mattress pad provides many benefits to those suffering from nighttime pain and sleeplessness, and those waking up with stiff or sore muscles. Therion magnetic mattress pads use a multi-therapeutic approach for reducing pain and stress to improve the quality of your sleep.

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Why is Prevention So Important?

by Bruce Spiegler, Reg. Magnetic Therapy Practitioner, H.H.P.
Steven Schenkman, Past President, New York College for Health Professions

One of the least known and least practiced aspects of medicine is prevention. If you look at a list of medical specialists that have evolved in our system of western medicine, you will not find a Doctor of Preventive Medicine. You will find a physician for every part of our body -- but none for the whole.

Most people do not realize that the essence of Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM), which finds much of its roots in Traditional Chinese Medicine, really has to do with prevention. It is a little known fact that traditional Chinese doctors were paid on a regular schedule to maintain the total health of their patients. In other words, they were paid to prevent them from getting sick. They would accomplish this by providing regular acupuncture, herbal treatments and other therapies, as well as nutritional counseling. If one of their patients suddenly became ill, the physician's payment was immediately stopped and he was required to treat his patient for free until his health was brought back to normal. At that time, the patient resumed his regular payment schedule to his physician for the prevention of disease and the maintenance of his health. The patient was required to follow through with all of the care and treatment recommendations his physician would make. So in essence, the patient was accepting responsibility for his or her own well-being and practicing prevention.

Even today with the tremendous growth of the complementary and alternative medicine industry we often see that CAM practitioners are being used in the same way that we use our Western trained physicians. That is, if we have a problem we go to the doctor to be cared for. Although there is nothing wrong with seeking help when needed, if we look a little closer we see that there tends to be a certain lack of responsibility for our own health. This is largely due to the expectation that our health care practitioner will take care of our difficulties when they arise, so for the most part we have done little or nothing to take care of them ourselves.

Let's look at this from a different perspective for a moment. Think of a business that has a lot of customers who really depend on a product that the business produces. Now think of your body as being the only machine that produces this product, so everything depends on your working at peak efficiency. If you are properly maintained you will run for many years with only a few minor adjustments. If you are not properly maintained, you break down - and then what happens? You have a lot of unhappy customers and coworkers. In life, those unhappy people are your family and friends; and you're pretty miserable yourself because, unlike a machine, you have feelings and emotions.

So now that we all feel like a broken popcorn machine in a movie theater on opening night, what are we supposed to do about it? The first step is to accept responsibility for our own physical, mental and spiritual well-being.

The time to start is now!

As we become older, chronic musculoskeletal conditions and injuries become more common. According to the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention, over 43 million Americans suffer from arthritis, and nearly 50% of people over the age of 65 have the disease. The CDC reports arthritis sufferers have "a substantially worse" health-related quality of life than those without arthritis. Musculoskeletal problems account for 40% of all work related injuries and diseases worldwide, with back injuries alone accounting for nearly half of that number.

Preventing back injury...

Chronic back pain is usually the result of many years of repeated stress due to an acute injury or a series of injuries. Your spine works 24/7, and if you are out of shape or stressed, you are more prone to back injury. Over time, repetitive stress can cause parts of the spine to degenerate. The condition of your spine at the time of an injury is an important factor in determining how fast you will recover, as well as the risk of the injury turning into a chronic back condition. Your spine has three natural curves:

Cervical - inward curve at your neck
Thoracic - outward curve of your middle back
Lumbar - inward curve in your lower back

Good posture is the result of the proper positioning of your spine, which is properly maintained by having good muscle tone. Recommendations for a healthy back:

Learn how to lift, move objects, and reach for things correctly. When lifting, let your legs do most of the work and hold the item close to your body, regardless of its weight.
If you smoke, QUIT. Nicotine decreases blood flow to your back, which makes you more prone to injury and increases healing time.
Change your position periodically during the day. Standing or sitting for too long may aggravate (or even cause) a back problem.
Exercises to strengthen your back muscles and improve flexibility, as well as relaxation techniques to relieve stress, can be very helpful. Be sure to have a qualified professional design a program that is right for you.

Which Therion products can relieve a chronic back problem?

If you are uncomfortable sitting for long periods, use a magnetic seat pad. A combination of high density foams and powerful magnets relieve the pressure on your back, relax muscles and improve circulation.
There is also a magnetic lumbar pillow available for the pad. Elastic straps and clips to hold it securely in place as it comfortably and properly supports curvature of the spine.
Wear a low back brace to help support the natural curve of your spine and relieve stress on your back. Therion's award-winning magnetic back support provides a deep-penetrating magnetic field to relieve discomfort. Its special Thermal Reactive™ neoprene adjusts the amount of body heat retained for blood blow and breathable comfort, while providing excellent support and stability for your lower back.
If your back bothers you while sleeping, try a Therion magnetic mattress pad. You'll feel like you're floating on air as the viscoelastic memory foam adjusts to your body, relieving pressure on your spine for proper alignment. The magnetic mattress pad soothes your body as its therapeutic magnetic field relaxes muscles and improves blood flow.

Preventing other types of musculoskeletal injury

As we all know there are countless ways that we can injure ourselves, so what we will try to address are some basic prevention recommendations to help keep you from injuring or re-injuring your muscles, bones and joints.

To help prevent falls:

Make sure that hallways and stairwells are well lit.
Remove or repair anything that could make you trip (loose rugs, electrical cords, toys, etc.)
Install handrails on inside and outside stairways.
Install traction strips in bathtubs.
Rub the bottoms of new shoes on a rough surface, such as concrete before using them to avoid slipping.
If you live in a cold climate be sure to put salt or sand on the walkways.

When you are away from home:

Watch out for slippery surfaces, curbs and other obstructions while walking.
Always wear seat belts while in the car.
Never drive after drinking alcohol or while taking certain medications.
Be alert for hazards in your workplace and follow all safety rules.

Magnetic therapy has been shown to be very effective in relieving the symptoms of chronic musculoskeletal conditions and injuries. Numerous scientific studies and clinical trials are available to view in Therion's Research section.

Orthopedic supports and braces have been shown to be very effective in the prevention of injury and for the relief of musculoskeletal symptoms due to an injury or chronic condition. A large-scale study conducted by UCLA on the use of back supports in the work place for prevention of injury, found there was a 34% drop in on-the-job injuries after the back-support policy was implemented.

Are you proactive about your health?

Whether you're a weekend warrior, enjoy playing golf or other sports, or prefer to just relax at home, you owe it to yourself and your family to stay healthy. If you have a chronic condition or a weak area prone to injury, you have to be proactive in order to prevent further injury. By not taking preventative measures, you greatly increase your risk of injury.

Be careful how you bend or perform a task; try not to twist or turn suddenly; and wear the appropriate brace or support for added stability and relief of discomfort. Therion magnetic supports are uniquely designed to provide you with numerous therapeutic benefits with Magnetic Thermal Reactive technology. These are the only supports in existence that are comfortable to wear during any level of activity, in any climate, for as long as needed.

While there is no way to completely prevent injuries, if you follow the recommendations provided here, you can substantially reduce your risk of further injury -- and most importantly, the days, weeks, or months that it would take to recover.

Bruce Spiegler is a Registered Magnetic Therapy Practitioner and is board certified by the American Association of Drugless Practioners. He is also a member of the American Holistic Health Association.

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Life Begins At 50 for Players on Mature Tour

Athletes Put Their Faith in Power of Magnets

Sleep and Magnetic Mattress Pads?

How does lack of sleep affect our lives?

The earth's magnetic field is essential to all life

How does this affect us?

Can anything be done to help?

Strong Results from Long-Term Studies

Why use magnetic therapy for better sleep?

Having Trouble Sleeping?

The Facts...

How do the seasons affect our sleep?

Pain and sleep...

Improving the quality of your sleep...

Why is Prevention So Important?

The time to start is now!

Preventing back injury...

Which Therion products can relieve a chronic back problem?

Preventing other types of musculoskeletal injury

Are you proactive about your health?

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