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Magnetic healing is it possible?
You thought magnets were just for refrigerators to hang those notes we always forget about or never look at. Magnets it seems are not just for refrigerators anymore. Tell a friend you have a backache and they might just pull out a magnet and say give this a try. As you look at them and wonder if they have lost their mind, you think of the pain, hmm, maybe it has only been a few hours of pain or as long as months, but pain being PAIN you decide to give it a try. To your surprise you find out by darn, it works.
There are also studies proving that magnet therapy works. Most of these studies have been done outside the US and were done in the East where magnetic therapy has been a mainstay for thousands of years. A good list of these studies can be found in, "Healing With Magnets" by Gary Null Ph. D. I highly recommend this book I have found it invaluable in my studies. An impressive US study conducted by Dr. Carlos Vallbona on 50 post polio patients found eye-opening results. In forty-five minute magnetic therapy sessions multipolar circular pattern magnets were used on some patients and on other patients a fake look-a-like device was used. Neither the staff nor the patient knew which ones were which, hence, this was a double blind study. Before and after a forty-five minute magnetic therapy session the patients were asked to rate their pain on a scale from 1 to 10. The 29 patients with the active magnets on average reported a significant reduction in pain from 9.6 to 4.4. The patients with the false magnets reported a reduction of 9.5 to 8.4.
Before this study many American doctors would say that the effect of magnets was just the placebo effect. However, in this double-blind study the placebo effect cannot be the reason. Magnetic therapy has also been used on animals for decades especially thoroughbred racehorses. Animals cannot be subject to the placebo effect. An injured race horse can mean a substantial loss of income and investment that means that the trainers and veterinarians are not going to take chances on something that they have not seen themselves proven to work.
Here are a couple other studies that might be of interest. G.B. Gromak and Ga Laris in, "Evaluations of the Efficiency of using Constant Magnets Field in the treatment of Patients with Traumas." from Riga institute showed that the effects of a constant magnetic field in patients that had fractures reduced pain on the onset of edema. Where Edema was already present the treatment gave noticeable anti-inflammatory effects. K Perjes at a Hungarian Symposium on Magnetic Therapy reported that in a double blind study placebo controlled that magnet therapy had the following results following a herniated disk surgery. It showed 52 percent of the patients receiving the treatment compared to the 30 percent of controls reported free of symptoms at the time of release.
How does magnetic therapy work? The debate is still going on about how exactly magnetic therapy works. Some believe that the magnets help balance out the acid-alkaline imbalances. Speeds up calcium ions to promote healing. Increases blood and oxygen circulation this increases nutrient carrying potential of the blood. It also helps to carry away toxins and which are the cause of pain and neutralizes histamines that cause pain. Robert Holcomb a neurologist at Vanderbilt University saw under his electron microscope , that magnets alter the orientation of chromosomes within the cells. He believes that the shift in position of the chromosomes leads to relief of acute and chronic pain. Could it be? It makes sense. We know so much yet so, little about the body. What matters most is magnet therapy does work.
For magnetic therapy to work you need to know a little bit of what to do. After all you don't just get a magnet off the refrigerator and stick it on. There are different companies that sell magnets and no not all magnets or the companies that sell them are the same. First there are unipolar magnets and there are also bipolar magnets. With unipolar magnets only one pole is facing the body, either north or south. With bipolar magnets alternating rays of north and south are facing the patient for the total Ying-yang effect. Which is more effective the debate is still out on that. It seems that it may depend on what you are treating.
For the unipolar magnets Dr William Philpot believes that the north or negative poles relieve pain, reduces swelling, promotes tissue alkalization, promotes restful sleep, increases tissue oxygenation, and claims nerves system. It is believed south position accelerates growth indiscriminately increases swelling, promotes tissue acidity, decreases tissue oxygenation, makes sleep less sound, produces acidity. This leads to an interesting question. Is magnetic therapy safe for everyone? It is claimed to be one of the safest complimentary medical aids out there and it is if properly and wisely used.
One study in the Journal of the National Medical Association published in 1990 took cancer cells and placed them in a biomagnetic north pole and in a biomagnetic south pole end. In 3 weeks the north pole showed a dramatic decrease in the cancer cells and the south end showed a small increase in the cancer cell growth. It would seem that the north end is beneficial to cancer patients and that south end would be detrimental to their health. If one has cancer the last thing they want is for it to grow. However, there are many studies done in foreign countries that show with other treatments that magnetic therapy can be very beneficial. A study done by N.G. Bakmutski showed that 51 breast cancer patients exposed to a rotational; field that 27 of them showed significant improvement Bakmutski also did a study that showed were a rotational magnetic field was used on patients that had walkers carcinoma tumor growth as much as a 90% inhibition was found.
Magnets also lesson the stickiness of platelets, so, you would not want to use them on a fresh wound. Also some suggest not to use magnets if you are on anti-coagulants or if you have polycythemia. Always be on the side of caution. Certain professionals think people with infections like candida fungi, viruses and bacteria should avoid exposure to bipolar or south side unipolar magnets as the south pole accelerates the growth of these cells. This is something to thing about and do research on if you have any of the above problems.
Do not use magnets during pregnancy, if you have epilepsy, wearing a pacemaker or other metal implants. Strong magnets should be used with very special care on small infants, children, on the eyes, the brain or over the heart. It is always better to be safe then sorry.
Now that you read all that you may want to run from magnetic therapy, please don't it can be a very useful tool in relieving pain and in speeding up the healing process. All magnets are not the same though, I like and use Nikken and I also use Homedics. The Nikken seem to be a bit stronger, but the Homedics are not as expensive. I would suggest that at least a few of your magnets be Nikken. For a comprehensive information package of over 2 dozen companies that sell therapeutic magnets call 702-827-9099 (please don't e-mail me for this packet I am just the carrier of how to get the info and have nothing to do with the packet and I don't have a copy). The gauss strength also makes a difference and different strengths will be used for different things. When treating muscles they say to get 4 inches into the muscle a 8,000 gauss at its surface is needed. You can also stick like magnets together to increase the strength.
Some place the magnets right over the site of pain while others place the magnets over acupuncture points. It is also useful to do both at once. Frank tells me to watch it that the refrigerator is going to come and mug me for all my magnets, ; ). For a list of acupuncture points see my Methods page. Most people it seems also use bipolar magnets. They believe that this harmonizes the approach of magnetic therapy. Bipolar magnets are very useful when a single center of the pain or disease goes over a larger area and/or cannot be identified. This is especially true of back pain and other muscle and joint injures that are hard to pin point. Sometimes, when you first start using magnetic therapy the pain may increase in the first 24 to 48 hours this is called healing crisis and usually is related to long terms injuries. Give the magnets some time like you would any other form of treatment.
Keep your magnets out of your car. High temperatures will decrease the strength and effectiveness of the magnet. Above 400 to 500 degrees the magnets lose all their energy. Keep magnets away from CD's, computers, credit cards, hearing aids and anything that can be de-magnetized. Magnet therapy can really enhance and improve one's health there is no doubt about it. Magnetic Healing is possible and has been a wave of the past and present for the East and most certainly will be for the East and the West in the future because it works. Get on the wave and get healthier.
Tracey Griffith @ January 11, 1999
BTW
Don't let any one try to sell you magnetic water. Think about it. Water is diamagnetic. When magnetic fields are applied to it there is a magnetic field as soon as the applied field is removed the water again becomes non-magnetic, so unless you are going to swallow some magnets with you water which I don't suggest doing you body is NOT getting magnetic water or any health benefits. (References below scroll down)
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REFERENCES
Healing With Magnets by Gary Null Ph. D
Magnet Therapy: The Pain Cure Alternative
by Ron Lawrence MD PhD, Judith Plowden, Paul Rosch MD PHD, Ronald M. Lawrence
BIOMAGNETIC AND HERBAL THERAPY Biomagnetic and Herbal Therapy Dr. Michael Tierra L.AC., O.M.D.
Magnetic Therapy? Are you positive or negative?, Guide To Alternative Medicine By Dr. Rosenfeld .
Magnetic Therapy: Plausible attraction?, Skeptical Inquirer, July_August 1998, James D Livingston
