Much ado about...magnets.Much has been made (including billions of dollars) over magnet therapy mag·net therapy n. An alternative medical therapy in which the placement of magnets or magnetic devices on the skin is thought to prevent or treat symptoms of disease, especially pain. for pain (see Running & FitNews, June 1999). Up to now, there has been very little evidence to prove that magnets might be effective in the control of pain--now, there is even less evidence. In a randomized ran·dom·ize tr.v. ran·dom·ized, ran·dom·iz·ing, ran·dom·iz·es To make random in arrangement, especially in order to control the variables in an experiment. , double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover study, 19 men and one woman with stable low back pain were tested with magnets. The magnetic strength of the bipolar magnets bipolar magnets, n.pl magnets in which the north and south poles are adjacent. Have been used to relieve pain. See also therapy, magnetic field. used in the study was approximately 300 G, comparable to commercially available magnets. Each patient was treated with either sham or real magnets, six hours a day, three days over a one-week period. Sham and magnet treatments were separated by a one-week washout washout to disperse or empty by flooding with water or other solvent. medullary solute washout a syndrome in which the relative hyperosmolarity of the renal medulla is reduced due to an excessive loss of sodium and chloride from period. The magnets produced no perceivable effect on the subjects' chronic pain. Nonetheless, there are still many who feel magnets provide some degree of relief from pain. As a result, the industry thrives and worldwide sales are reported to be over five billion dollars. More research is still needed--the authors of this study suggest that more powerful magnets may show positive results. Other variables could be manipulated including the length of time the magnets are worn. These investigators limited the time the magnets were worn in order to reduce the possibility that the patient would discover whether the magnet was real or sham. Fortunately, no adverse side effects Side effects Effects of a proposed project on other parts of the firm. have ever been reported with magnets. So, as the industry flourishes, it is only patients' pocketbooks, not their health, that will be compromised. (Journal of the American Medical Association JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association is an international peer-reviewed general medical journal, published 48 times per year by the American Medical Association. JAMA is the most widely circulated medical journal in the world. , 2000, Vol. 283, No. 10, pp. 1322-1325) |
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