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Magnet therapy

April 09, 2024

This article is about static magnetic fields in alternative medicine. For medical uses of electromagnetism, see Electromagnetic therapy.

Magnetic therapy is a pseudoscientific alternative medicine practice involving the weak static magnetic field produced by a permanent magnet which is placed on the body. It is similar to the alternative medicine practice of electromagnetic therapy, which uses a magnetic field generated by an electrically powered device.[1] Magnet therapy products may include wristbands, jewelry, blankets, and wraps that have magnets incorporated into them.[1][2]

Practitioners claim that subjecting certain parts of the body to weak electric or magnetic fields has beneficial health effects. These physical and biological claims are unproven and no effects on health or healing have been established.[1][3][4][5] Although hemoglobin, the blood protein that carries oxygen, is weakly diamagnetic (when oxygenated) or paramagnetic (when deoxygenated), the magnets used in magnetic therapy are many orders of magnitude too weak to have any measurable effect on blood flow.[6] This is not to be confused with transcranial magnetic stimulation, a scientifically valid form of therapy,[7] or with pulsed electromagnetic field therapy.[8]

Methods of application edit

 
Magnetite ring

Magnet therapy involves applying the weak magnetic field of permanent magnets to the body, for purported health benefits. Different effects are assigned to different orientations of the magnet.[9]

Products include magnetic bracelets and jewelry; magnetic straps for wrists, ankles, knees, and back; shoe insoles; mattresses; magnetic blankets (blankets with magnets woven into the material); magnetic creams; magnetic supplements; plasters/patches and water that has been "magnetized". Application is usually performed by the patient.[1]

It is similar to the alternative medicine practice of electromagnetic therapy, which uses the weak electric or magnetic fields as well, but generated by electrically powered devices.[1]

Suggested mechanisms of action edit

Perhaps the most common suggested mechanism is that magnets might improve blood flow in underlying tissues. The field surrounding magnet therapy devices is far too weak and falls off with distance far too quickly to appreciably affect hemoglobin, other blood components, muscle tissue, bones, blood vessels, or organs.[3][10] A 1991 study on humans of static field strengths up to 1 T found no effect on local blood flow.[6][11] Tissue oxygenation is similarly unaffected.[10] Some practitioners claim that the magnets can restore the body's hypothetical "electromagnetic energy balance", but no such balance is medically recognized. Even in the magnetic fields used in magnetic resonance imaging, which are many times stronger, none of the claimed effects are observed. If the body were meaningfully affected by the weak magnets used in magnet therapy, MRI would be impractical.[12][13][14]

Efficacy edit

Several studies have been conducted in recent years to investigate what role, if any, static magnetic fields may play in health and healing. Unbiased studies of magnetic therapy are problematic, since magnetisation can be easily detected, for instance, by the attraction forces on ferrous (iron-containing) objects; because of this, effective blinding of studies (where neither patients nor assessors know who is receiving treatment versus placebo) is difficult.[15] Incomplete or insufficient blinding tends to exaggerate treatment effects, particularly where any such effects are small.[16] Health claims regarding longevity and cancer treatment are implausible and unsupported by any research.[10][17] More mundane health claims, most commonly about anecdotal pain relief, also lack any credible proposed mechanism and clinical research is not promising.[2][18]

The American Cancer Society states that "available scientific evidence does not support these claims".[1] According to the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health, studies of magnetic jewelry have not shown demonstrable effects on pain, nerve function, cell growth or blood flow.[19]

A 2008 systematic review of magnet therapy for all indications found insufficient evidence to determine whether magnet therapy is effective for pain relief,[2] as did 2012 reviews focused on osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis.[20][21] These reviews found that the data was either inconclusive or did not support a significant effect of magnet therapy. They also raised concerns about allocation concealment, small sample sizes, inadequate blinding, and heterogeneity of results, some of which may have biased results.

Safety edit

These devices are generally considered safe in themselves, though there can be significant financial and opportunity costs to magnet therapy, especially when treatment or diagnosis are avoided or delayed.[17][2] Use is not recommended with pacemakers, insulin pumps, and other devices that may be negatively affected by magnetic fields.[2]

Reception edit

The worldwide magnet therapy industry totals sales of over a billion dollars per year,[10][17] including $300 million per year in the United States alone.[15]

A 2002 U.S. National Science Foundation report on public attitudes and understanding of science noted that magnet therapy is "not at all scientific."[22] A number of vendors make unsupported claims about magnet therapy by using pseudoscientific and new-age language. Such claims are unsupported by the results of scientific and clinical studies.[18]

Legal regulations edit

Marketing of any therapy as effective treatment for any condition is heavily restricted by law in many jurisdictions unless all such claims are scientifically validated. In the United States, for example, U.S. Food and Drug Administration regulations prohibit marketing any magnet therapy product using medical claims, as such claims are unfounded.[23]

See also edit

References edit

  1. ^ a b c d e f Russell, Jill; Rovere, Amy, eds. (2009). "Magnetic therapy". American Cancer Society Complete Guide to Complementary & Alternative Cancer Therapies (2nd ed.). Atlanta, Ga.: American Cancer Society. ISBN 978-0944235713. See archived online version . 1 November 2008. Archived from the original on 12 November 2012. Electromagnetic therapy is a related field. See chapter in ACS book just referenced, and on that.
  2. ^ a b c d e Pittler, Max H. (March 2008). "Static magnets for reducing pain". Focus on Alternative and Complementary Therapies. 13 (1): 5–6. doi:10.1211/fact.13.1.0003.
  3. ^ a b Park, Robert L. (2000). Voodoo Science: The Road from Foolishness to Fraud. New York, New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 58–63. ISBN 0-19-513515-6. Not only are magnetic fields of no value in healing, you might characterize these as "homeopathic" magnetic fields.
  4. ^ Wanjek, Christopher (2003). Bad Medicine: misconceptions and misuses revealed from distance healing to vitamin O. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons. pp. 1–253. ISBN 0-471-43499-X.
  5. ^ National Science Foundation, Division of Resources Statistics (February 2006). Science and Engineering Indicators, 2006. Arlington, VA. Chapter 7. Archived from the original on 2015-08-18.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  6. ^ a b Stick C; Hinkelmann K; Eggert P; Wendhausen H (1991). "Do strong static magnetic fields in NMR tomography modify tissue perfusion?". Nuklearmedizin. 154 (3): 326–31. doi:10.1055/s-2008-1033141. PMID 1849304. S2CID 260289461.
  7. ^ Slotema, C. W.; Dirk Blom, J.; Hoek, H. W.; Sommer, I. E. (2010). "Should we expand the toolbox of psychiatric treatment methods to include Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS)? A meta-analysis of the efficacy of rTMS in psychiatric disorders". Journal of Clinical Psychiatry. 71 (7): 873–84. doi:10.4088/jcp.08m04872gre. PMID 20361902.
  8. ^ Barrett, Stephen (2019-10-16). "Magnet Therapy: A Skeptical View | Quackwatch". Retrieved 2022-07-21.
  9. ^ Rawls, Walter C.; Davis, Albert Belisle (1996). Magnetism and Its Effects on the Living System. Acres U.S.A. ISBN 0-911311-14-9.
  10. ^ a b c d Flamm, Bruce L. (July 2006). "Magnet Therapy: a billion-dollar boondoggle". Skeptical Inquirer. Committee for Skeptical Inquiry. Retrieved 2009-08-18.
  11. ^ Polk, Charles; Elliot Postow (1996). Handbook of Biological Effects of Electromagnetic Fields. CRC Press. p. 161. ISBN 0-8493-0641-8.
  12. ^ Radiology (ACR), Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) and American College of. "MRI Safety". Radiologyinfo.org. Retrieved 2022-07-22.
  13. ^ "Is Blood Magnetic". The Naked Scientist. 12 December 2010. Retrieved 13 December 2012.
  14. ^ . Revising MRI. Archived from the original on 17 November 2012. Retrieved 13 December 2012.
  15. ^ a b Finegold L, Flamm BL (January 2006). "Magnet therapy". BMJ. 332 (7532): 4. doi:10.1136/bmj.332.7532.4. PMC 1325112. PMID 16399710.
  16. ^ Altman DG, Schulz KF, Moher D, Egger M, Davidoff F, Elbourne D, Gøtzsche PC, Lang T, CONSORT GROUP (Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials) (2001-04-17). "The revised CONSORT statement for reporting randomized trials: explanation and elaboration". Annals of Internal Medicine. 134 (8): 663–694. doi:10.7326/0003-4819-134-8-200104170-00012. PMID 11304107. S2CID 12834600.
  17. ^ a b c "Magnet therapies 'have no effect'". BBC. 2006-01-06. Retrieved 2009-08-18.
  18. ^ a b James D. Livingston. . Skeptical Inquirer. Archived from the original on 2009-12-08. Retrieved 2009-09-13.
  19. ^ Levinson, Mason; Randall, Tom (4 October 2010). "Energy Bracelets Turn Athletes to Stars, If Only in Their Heads". bloomberg.com. Bloomberg. Retrieved 9 September 2015.
  20. ^ GJ1, Macfarlane; et al. (Dec 2012). "A systematic review of evidence for the effectiveness of practitioner-based complementary and alternative therapies in the management of rheumatic diseases: osteoarthritis". Rheumatology (Oxford). 51 (12): 2224–33. doi:10.1093/rheumatology/kes200. PMID 22923762.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  21. ^ Macfarlane, Gary J.; Paudyal, Priya; Doherty, Michael; Ernst, Edzard; Lewith, George; MacPherson, Hugh; Sim, Julius; Jones, Gareth T.; on behalf of the Arthritis Research UK Working Group on Complementary and Alternative Therapies for the Management of the Rheumatic Diseases (2012-09-01). "A systematic review of evidence for the effectiveness of practitioner-based complementary and alternative therapies in the management of rheumatic diseases: rheumatoid arthritis". Rheumatology. 51 (9): 1707–1713. doi:10.1093/rheumatology/kes133. ISSN 1462-0324. PMID 22661556.
  22. ^ National Science Board (2002). . Arlington, Virginia: National Science Foundation. pp. ch. 7. ISBN 978-0-16-066579-0. Archived from the original on 2016-06-16. Retrieved 2018-04-06. "Among all who had heard of [magnet therapy], 14 percent said it was very scientific and another 54 percent said it was sort of scientific. Only 25 percent of those surveyed answered correctly, that is, that it is not at all scientific."
  23. ^ . CDRH Consumer Information. Food and Drug Administration. 2000-03-01. Archived from the original on 2008-04-24. Retrieved 2008-05-02.

External links edit

April 09, 2024
magnet, therapy, this, article, about, static, magnetic, fields, alternative, medicine, medical, uses, electromagnetism, electromagnetic, therapy, magnetic, therapy, pseudoscientific, alternative, medicine, practice, involving, weak, static, magnetic, field, p. This article is about static magnetic fields in alternative medicine For medical uses of electromagnetism see Electromagnetic therapy Magnetic therapy is a pseudoscientific alternative medicine practice involving the weak static magnetic field produced by a permanent magnet which is placed on the body It is similar to the alternative medicine practice of electromagnetic therapy which uses a magnetic field generated by an electrically powered device 1 Magnet therapy products may include wristbands jewelry blankets and wraps that have magnets incorporated into them 1 2 Practitioners claim that subjecting certain parts of the body to weak electric or magnetic fields has beneficial health effects These physical and biological claims are unproven and no effects on health or healing have been established 1 3 4 5 Although hemoglobin the blood protein that carries oxygen is weakly diamagnetic when oxygenated or paramagnetic when deoxygenated the magnets used in magnetic therapy are many orders of magnitude too weak to have any measurable effect on blood flow 6 This is not to be confused with transcranial magnetic stimulation a scientifically valid form of therapy 7 or with pulsed electromagnetic field therapy 8 Contents 1 Methods of application 2 Suggested mechanisms of action 3 Efficacy 4 Safety 5 Reception 5 1 Legal regulations 6 See also 7 References 8 External linksMethods of application edit nbsp Magnetite ringMagnet therapy involves applying the weak magnetic field of permanent magnets to the body for purported health benefits Different effects are assigned to different orientations of the magnet 9 Products include magnetic bracelets and jewelry magnetic straps for wrists ankles knees and back shoe insoles mattresses magnetic blankets blankets with magnets woven into the material magnetic creams magnetic supplements plasters patches and water that has been magnetized Application is usually performed by the patient 1 It is similar to the alternative medicine practice of electromagnetic therapy which uses the weak electric or magnetic fields as well but generated by electrically powered devices 1 Suggested mechanisms of action editPerhaps the most common suggested mechanism is that magnets might improve blood flow in underlying tissues The field surrounding magnet therapy devices is far too weak and falls off with distance far too quickly to appreciably affect hemoglobin other blood components muscle tissue bones blood vessels or organs 3 10 A 1991 study on humans of static field strengths up to 1 T found no effect on local blood flow 6 11 Tissue oxygenation is similarly unaffected 10 Some practitioners claim that the magnets can restore the body s hypothetical electromagnetic energy balance but no such balance is medically recognized Even in the magnetic fields used in magnetic resonance imaging which are many times stronger none of the claimed effects are observed If the body were meaningfully affected by the weak magnets used in magnet therapy MRI would be impractical 12 13 14 Efficacy editSeveral studies have been conducted in recent years to investigate what role if any static magnetic fields may play in health and healing Unbiased studies of magnetic therapy are problematic since magnetisation can be easily detected for instance by the attraction forces on ferrous iron containing objects because of this effective blinding of studies where neither patients nor assessors know who is receiving treatment versus placebo is difficult 15 Incomplete or insufficient blinding tends to exaggerate treatment effects particularly where any such effects are small 16 Health claims regarding longevity and cancer treatment are implausible and unsupported by any research 10 17 More mundane health claims most commonly about anecdotal pain relief also lack any credible proposed mechanism and clinical research is not promising 2 18 The American Cancer Society states that available scientific evidence does not support these claims 1 According to the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health studies of magnetic jewelry have not shown demonstrable effects on pain nerve function cell growth or blood flow 19 A 2008 systematic review of magnet therapy for all indications found insufficient evidence to determine whether magnet therapy is effective for pain relief 2 as did 2012 reviews focused on osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis 20 21 These reviews found that the data was either inconclusive or did not support a significant effect of magnet therapy They also raised concerns about allocation concealment small sample sizes inadequate blinding and heterogeneity of results some of which may have biased results Safety editThese devices are generally considered safe in themselves though there can be significant financial and opportunity costs to magnet therapy especially when treatment or diagnosis are avoided or delayed 17 2 Use is not recommended with pacemakers insulin pumps and other devices that may be negatively affected by magnetic fields 2 Reception editThe worldwide magnet therapy industry totals sales of over a billion dollars per year 10 17 including 300 million per year in the United States alone 15 A 2002 U S National Science Foundation report on public attitudes and understanding of science noted that magnet therapy is not at all scientific 22 A number of vendors make unsupported claims about magnet therapy by using pseudoscientific and new age language Such claims are unsupported by the results of scientific and clinical studies 18 Legal regulations edit Marketing of any therapy as effective treatment for any condition is heavily restricted by law in many jurisdictions unless all such claims are scientifically validated In the United States for example U S Food and Drug Administration regulations prohibit marketing any magnet therapy product using medical claims as such claims are unfounded 23 See also editList of topics characterized as pseudoscience List of ineffective cancer treatments Electrical devices in alternative medicine Bioelectromagnetics Detoxification foot baths Franz Mesmer Hologram therapy Ionized bracelet Magnetic water treatment Power Balance Rife machine QuackeryReferences edit a b c d e f Russell Jill Rovere Amy eds 2009 Magnetic therapy American Cancer Society Complete Guide to Complementary amp Alternative Cancer Therapies 2nd ed Atlanta Ga American Cancer Society ISBN 978 0944235713 See archived online version Magnetic Therapy 1 November 2008 Archived from the original on 12 November 2012 Electromagnetic therapy is a related field See chapter in ACS book just referenced and archived ACS webpage on that a b c d e Pittler Max H March 2008 Static magnets for reducing pain Focus on Alternative and Complementary Therapies 13 1 5 6 doi 10 1211 fact 13 1 0003 a b Park Robert L 2000 Voodoo Science The Road from Foolishness to Fraud New York New York Oxford University Press pp 58 63 ISBN 0 19 513515 6 Not only are magnetic fields of no value in healing you might characterize these as homeopathic magnetic fields Wanjek Christopher 2003 Bad Medicine misconceptions and misuses revealed from distance healing to vitamin O Hoboken New Jersey John Wiley amp Sons pp 1 253 ISBN 0 471 43499 X National Science Foundation Division of Resources Statistics February 2006 Science and Engineering Indicators 2006 Arlington VA Chapter 7 Archived from the original on 2015 08 18 a href Template Cite book html title Template Cite book cite book a CS1 maint location missing publisher link a b Stick C Hinkelmann K Eggert P Wendhausen H 1991 Do strong static magnetic fields in NMR tomography modify tissue perfusion Nuklearmedizin 154 3 326 31 doi 10 1055 s 2008 1033141 PMID 1849304 S2CID 260289461 Slotema C W Dirk Blom J Hoek H W Sommer I E 2010 Should we expand the toolbox of psychiatric treatment methods to include Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation rTMS A meta analysis of the efficacy of rTMS in psychiatric disorders Journal of Clinical Psychiatry 71 7 873 84 doi 10 4088 jcp 08m04872gre PMID 20361902 Barrett Stephen 2019 10 16 Magnet Therapy A Skeptical View Quackwatch Retrieved 2022 07 21 Rawls Walter C Davis Albert Belisle 1996 Magnetism and Its Effects on the Living System Acres U S A ISBN 0 911311 14 9 a b c d Flamm Bruce L July 2006 Magnet Therapy a billion dollar boondoggle Skeptical Inquirer Committee for Skeptical Inquiry Retrieved 2009 08 18 Polk Charles Elliot Postow 1996 Handbook of Biological Effects of Electromagnetic Fields CRC Press p 161 ISBN 0 8493 0641 8 Radiology ACR Radiological Society of North America RSNA and American College of MRI Safety Radiologyinfo org Retrieved 2022 07 22 Is Blood Magnetic The Naked Scientist 12 December 2010 Retrieved 13 December 2012 Does MRI attract the iron in your blood Revising MRI Archived from the original on 17 November 2012 Retrieved 13 December 2012 a b Finegold L Flamm BL January 2006 Magnet therapy BMJ 332 7532 4 doi 10 1136 bmj 332 7532 4 PMC 1325112 PMID 16399710 Altman DG Schulz KF Moher D Egger M Davidoff F Elbourne D Gotzsche PC Lang T CONSORT GROUP Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials 2001 04 17 The revised CONSORT statement for reporting randomized trials explanation and elaboration Annals of Internal Medicine 134 8 663 694 doi 10 7326 0003 4819 134 8 200104170 00012 PMID 11304107 S2CID 12834600 a b c Magnet therapies have no effect BBC 2006 01 06 Retrieved 2009 08 18 a b James D Livingston Magnetic Therapy Plausible Attraction Skeptical Inquirer Archived from the original on 2009 12 08 Retrieved 2009 09 13 Levinson Mason Randall Tom 4 October 2010 Energy Bracelets Turn Athletes to Stars If Only in Their Heads bloomberg com Bloomberg Retrieved 9 September 2015 GJ1 Macfarlane et al Dec 2012 A systematic review of evidence for the effectiveness of practitioner based complementary and alternative therapies in the management of rheumatic diseases osteoarthritis Rheumatology Oxford 51 12 2224 33 doi 10 1093 rheumatology kes200 PMID 22923762 a href Template Cite journal html title Template Cite journal cite journal a CS1 maint numeric names authors list link Macfarlane Gary J Paudyal Priya Doherty Michael Ernst Edzard Lewith George MacPherson Hugh Sim Julius Jones Gareth T on behalf of the Arthritis Research UK Working Group on Complementary and Alternative Therapies for the Management of the Rheumatic Diseases 2012 09 01 A systematic review of evidence for the effectiveness of practitioner based complementary and alternative therapies in the management of rheumatic diseases rheumatoid arthritis Rheumatology 51 9 1707 1713 doi 10 1093 rheumatology kes133 ISSN 1462 0324 PMID 22661556 National Science Board 2002 Science and Engineering Indicators 2002 Arlington Virginia National Science Foundation pp ch 7 ISBN 978 0 16 066579 0 Archived from the original on 2016 06 16 Retrieved 2018 04 06 Among all who had heard of magnet therapy 14 percent said it was very scientific and another 54 percent said it was sort of scientific Only 25 percent of those surveyed answered correctly that is that it is not at all scientific Magnets CDRH Consumer Information Food and Drug Administration 2000 03 01 Archived from the original on 2008 04 24 Retrieved 2008 05 02 External links editMagnetic Therapy Can magnets alleviate pain by Cecil Adams The Straight Dope Magnetic Therapy Plausible Attraction by James D Livingston Skeptical Inquirer Magnet therapy in the Skeptic s Dictionary by Robert Todd Carroll Magnet therapy editorial in the British Medical Journal Magnet Therapy A Skeptical View by Stephen Barrett Quackwatch Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Magnet therapy amp oldid 1182840431, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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