Brief Review On Magnet Therapy

For thousands of years, magnet therapy (also known as magnetic therapy) had been known to be a safe, simple, effective and economical form of alternative therapy. From a scientific point of view, magnets had been proven to help the body to regain its self-healing electromagnetic balance naturally.

There had been evidence that suggests that magnet therapy can help relieve pain, reduce inflammation, restore natural energy, increase blood circulation, and prevent infection and promote natural metabolic processes to help support the healing process.

From the proponents of magnet therapy, the claim is that it is a non-invasive treatment method with a high success rate. 

Short history 

There may have been a revival of sorts regarding the role of magnets in a person’s health and well-being, but this association goes a long way into the past.

For over 2,000 years, magnet therapy in China had occupied a central role in Chinese medicine. It had also been mentioned in the earliest writings in Egypt, India and Greece.

How it works

For the layman, magnet therapy works on the natural energy of magnetism and its relations to a person’s overall health. A magnetic field provides a natural method in helping the body’s normal healing processes.

Studies had shown that magnets had been an effective therapy for pain relief through the method of blocking pain sensations. Applying magnetic fields to an injured area improves blood flow and oxygen which in turn enhances the body’s natural healing process. 

With the improved blood flow and the fluid exchange to the injured tissue helps reduce pain and inflammation.

Magnetic therapy today

In Japan and other Asian countries, therapeutic magnets are licensed as medical devices. There is growing popularity in the use of magnet therapy in such countries as Australia, Russia, Germany and many other European countries.

Lately, western medicine had used magnetic energy for diagnosis with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and as an alternative method of accelerating the healing of bone fractures.

Alternative therapy

Magnetic therapy is increasingly popular among progressive health care practitioners, veterinarians, professional athletes and the general population as well.  

With the spiraling cost of traditional health care and the continual aging of the general population, magnetic therapy had been included by many as among the options in relation to health. For reasons of effectiveness and economy as well as simplicity, magnet therapy might be well on its way of becoming an important part of alternative therapy in the future. 

Clinical trials 

There were some clinical trials in the U.S. reporting on some successes on their results. In 1997, the Baylor College of Medicine published a study where 76% of treated patients using permanent magnets had reported a decrease in arthritic joint and muscle pains compared to the 19% placebo patients.

The New York Medical College also released a study showing a significant reduction rate of foot pain in millions of diabetic patients. Employing magnetic insoles in their shoes, nine out of ten diabetics reported a decrease in painful burning sensations, numbness, and tingling.  

Understanding 

For a long time, the medical community and the practitioners (and users) of magnet therapy had been at odds on the many aspects of this particular alternative therapy. Some consensus had been arrived at in the past, but only on minor points.

The major point is the medical community’s flat-out non-recognition of the medical efficacy of magnet therapy. The story continues.
