Magnet therapy
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Magnetic therapy is a
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.
Methods of application
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
Suggested mechanisms of action
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
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
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
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
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.
Legal regulations
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,
See also
- List 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
- Quackery
References
- ^ 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 webpageon that.
- ^ .
- ^ ISBN 0-19-513515-6.
Not only are magnetic fields of no value in healing, you might characterize these as "homeopathic" magnetic fields.
- 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.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ S2CID 260289461.
- PMID 20361902.
- ^ Barrett, Stephen (2019-10-16). "Magnet Therapy: A Skeptical View | Quackwatch". Retrieved 2022-07-21.
- 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.
- 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.
- ^ PMID 16399710.
- 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.
- PMID 22923762.)
{{cite journal}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link - PMID 22661556.
- ISBN 978-0-16-066579-0. Archived from the originalon 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
- Magnetic 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