Magnetic Attraction

By Tamela Thomas, Wellness Manager

Your favorite PGA professionals are wearing them, your friends and neighbors are selling them, and the latest issue of an in-flight magazine you picked up has no less than 20 ads for various magnetic products. What's all the hubbub? Ask the people who have had an occasion to use and get pain relief from magnetic therapy, and you'll get a variety of remarkable stories—many are hard to believe.

My own story took place about four years ago when I got rid of patellar tendinitis in just two weeks—that was after 10 months of physical therapy and inactivity. I've since used magnets successfully for plantar fasciitis and elbow tendinitis.

This month's article is written by another "magnet convert." His experiences with magnets were so compelling he became involved in launching a line of magnetic pain relief products. His story is amazing, but he's not asking you to take his word for it. Jerry Binkley's article outlines the current research being done in this area. Read the research and you decide. Regardless of your decision, reading the article will not be a negative. I'm positive!

The Latest on Magnets

By Jerry Binkley 

In 1998, an associate and friend of mine, Rich Devos, was waiting for a heart transplant operation. Rich was experiencing severe leg and chest pain for which the pain medication he was taking had no effect. After many failed attempts to get relief from the pain, Rich was referred to Dr. Robert Holcomb at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center's Center for Pain Research and Neuromagnetics. Dr. Holcomb, a pediatrician, neurologist, acupuncturist and pharmacologist, was able to relieve Rich's pain. Within minutes of taping 10 quarter-sized magnets over acupressure points related to Rich's chest and leg pain, his pain went away.

Soon after Rich's magnet experience, we formed a business partnership and launched a magnetic pain relief product line called Magnabloc. My family has used Magnabloc for a variety of things—to relieve migraine, low back, knee, elbow and wrist pain; to reduce swelling; and to quicken the healing of bumps, bruises and burns. Recently, after the prescribed pain medication for severe ear and facial nerve pain I suffered from did not work, I placed nine magnets around the most painful spots and within minutes the pain was gone.

How do magnets work?

Several theories have been put forth, but all of them seem to have a common link, what scientists refer to as the "Hall Effect." The negative and positive ions in our blood are stimulated by exposure to the magnetic field. The net result is the production of heat. The extra heat increases the blood supply, and with extra blood comes more oxygen, nutrients and the evacuation of toxins. By localizing magnets, it creates an environment conducive to healing.

Several studies conducted in this fascinating field

The following information is a recap of an article by David R. Friedman, ND, DC, that appeared in the April 1999 edition of Clinical Chiropractic. It will give you an idea of the wide array of study being conducted and the positive results coming out of the research.

• An orthopedic surgeon at the University of Miami Medical placed a static magnet over the thumb of a patient where a bone graft had been set to surgically repair the hand. The thumb was stable within 5-1/2 weeks, compared to a normal fusion time of 8+ weeks. He attributed the accelerated healing to the added magnetic field.

• In a study, osteoarthritis sufferers showed a 61% improvement in pain, swelling and range of motion when using magnets while those in the placebo group showed a 16% improvement. –Journal of Rheumatology, 1993

• Orthopedic journals have been reporting how magnets can be used to strengthen bones. Magnetic technology is now being used by orthopedics in combination with traditional surgical intervention to obtain non-union bone fracture healing rates of 80% or greater. Since their approval by the Food and Drug Administration in 1978, "pulsed" electromagnets have been used by hospitals to speed up the healing of fractures and in treating joint and muscle injuries.

• In a study, 75% of diabetics using static (non-pulsed) magnets reported improved blood circulation and reduced numbness. –American Journal of Pain Management, Weintraub, et al.

• "The effectiveness rate of therapeutic magnets for pain relief is about 85%, considerably higher than for any drug. In addition, magnets are absolutely free of any side effects, a claim that cannot be made by most pain relievers." –"Magnet Therapy, The Pain Cure Alternative," by Ronald Lawrence, MD, PhD, clinical professor at UCLA School of Medicine and President of The American Association for the Study of Pain

If you are looking for pain relief or accelerated healing, you may wish to try this noninvasive, low-cost alternative.