Questions Over 'Healing Effect' Of Magnets

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Source: BMJ-British Medical Journal

Date: 2006-01-07

URL: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/01/060106131602.htm

Questions Over 'Healing Effect' Of Magnets

Patients should be advised that magnet therapy has no proved

benefits, and that any healing effect is likely to be small, say

U.S. researchers in a recent issue of the British Medical Journal.

Magnetic devices that are claimed to be therapeutic include magnetic

bracelets, insoles, wrist and knee bands, back and neck braces, and

even pillows and mattresses. Annual sales are estimated at more than

a billion dollars globally.

But Professors Leonard Finegold and Bruce Flamm argue that many

studies of magnet therapy are suspect because it is difficult to

blind subjects to the presence of a magnet. They suggest that money

spent on expensive and unproved magnet therapy might be better spent

on evidence based medicine.

More importantly, self treatment with magnets may result in an

underlying medical condition being left untreated, they warn.

Magnets are touted by successful athletes, allowed to be widely

advertised, and sold without restrictions, so it is not surprising

that lay people think that claims of therapeutic efficacy are

reasonable, they write. However -- even theoretically -- magnet

therapy seems unrealistic.

Extraordinary claims demand extraordinary evidence. Patients should

be advised that magnet therapy has no proved benefits. If they

insist on using a magnetic device they could be advised to buy the

cheapest -- this will at least alleviate the pain in their wallet,

the authors conclude.