4/5/10 Magnet Therapy
April 5th, 2010 |
Magnet Therapy
(By the way, Mesmer also is a creator of hypnotic healing (hence the term mesmerizing, and we all know how well that works.)
And, despite NO hard evidence that it actually works, the ball is still rolling more than 200 years later. A cottage industry has sprouted and is generating about $150 million a year producing magnetic insoles, bracelets, knee braces, and even magnets, all claiming miraculous healing powers. The most commonly cited reason is that magnets are attracted to the iron in your blood, and you can draw blood to any part of your body to speed the healing process. Which brings us to the interactive portion of today’s blog. Follow these directions below to participate
1)Prick your finger and place a drop of your blood next to a magnet.
2)Watch your blood not react at all.
There simply aren’t enough iron atoms in your red blood cells to form a magnetic surface. To put it simply, magnets don’t affect our bodies because we’re not made of magnetic stuff. The only benefit magnet therapy has is increasing the wealth of the people who choose to perpetuate the myth. You might as well just burn a pile of money in a ritual sacrifice to cure your pain. It least that would look kind of awesome. That’s more than I can say for magnetic bracelets.
Once again we do different takes on the same fact. I was just going to focus on ASL because I am a big advocate of people, especially young children, learning sign language (my son could do almost 200 signs at 18 months), but Anne Sullivan’s story was very interesting to me.
… and if your hands were metal that would mean something…..
Mystery Theater Science Theater 3000: The Movie?? Is that what that’s from? Either way, it’s a perfect quote.
Magnets do not affect iron in hemoglobin, because it’s in a chemically-bound state.
However, you’re incorrect in stating the human body is not magnetic. The body consists of electro-chemical ions – charged particles, like sodium, potassium, calcium, and chloride. Ions function to signal different biological processes, like nerve impulses and smooth muscle contraction. They can be influenced both chemically (by drugs) and by external magnetic and electrical fields.
With an $875,000 grant from the NCCAM (part of the U.S. National Institutes of Health), a 5-year study at the University of Virginia found that magnets affect blood flow by constricting and dilating capillary blood vessels. This study confirms previous research also conducted in Japan. The researchers state this has important implications for reducing swelling and improving healing times after injury and trauma.
You can view an article about it here:
http://www.virginia.edu/uvatoday/newsRelease.php?id=3573
For more related research studies, go here:
http://www.therionmagnetics.com/magnetic-therapy-research.html
A 5-year study at the University of Virginia found that magnets affect blood flow by constricting and dilating capillary blood vessels. This study confirms previous research also conducted in Japan.
How? Epithelial tissue isn’t magnetic. And even if it was, how would outward exposure to a magnet dilate a capillary in all directions? Wouldn’t it just pull the whole vessel toward the magnet?
The walls of capillaries consist of smooth muscle tissue. This type of involuntary muscle tissue receives signals to contract/relax by calcium ion (Ca2+) channels. Current research shows that magnetic fields are able to influence these particular ions, and also how they pass through cell membranes. Because ions are charged electro-chemicals, they can be affected chemically (by drugs), and also by external electrical and magnetic fields.
U.Va. study on Microcirculation
P.S. – Sorry for the duplicate posts. I wasn’t sure if they were going thru or not yesterday.
As far as more direct pain relief goes, nerve impulses are created from a shift in the balance of sodium and potassium ions. A nerve’s resting potential is usually around -70mV. When injured, the ion concentrations inside and around the nerve change, and the overall charge becomes more positive. This sends a pain signal to the brain.
While not proven, some researchers suspect magnetic fields may be able to allow the body to restore normal ion concentrations faster; possibly by making it easier for the ions to move through cellular membranes. This would reduce pain signals faster.
Josh- no worries about the duplicate posts. They got spam filtered but I dug them out.
First off, I’d like to thank you for your insightful comments. They inspired me to do a little reading on the subject myself.
I agree with Tycco’s point about iron in blood not interacting with magnets. I have heard that myth myself, and was happy to see it addressed so cheekily. You’ve got some amazing points about how ions can interact with magnetic fields. If these hypotheses turn out to be true it will be very exciting.
In the theironmagnetics site you linked to, I read the “review” under “pain relief” and the review showed a “non-significant trend towards a positive analgesic effect”. Which in layman’s terms means it’s slightly better than a coin flip whether magnets will help your particular pain. That doesn’t mean magnets don’t work, but you have to consider the placebo groups reported pain relief as well (as they often do).
I also noticed in the U.Va study you linked to, they confirm that magnets have an effect, but the effect changed between conditions. They say, “the vessels that had been dilated constricted, and the constricted vessels dilated”. So what do magnets do then, dilate or constrict? So maybe it’s a matter of field intensity, like they mentioned. You need the right amount of magnetism in the right place to get the desired effect. They specifically pointed out that most commercially available magnet systems do not deliver the proper strength in the proper place, meaning that those bracelets, insoles, mattresses, etc are ultimately myths in themselves whether you believe magnets work or not.
A lot of magnet therapy proponents mention the word “balancing” when talking about how magnetic fields affect the body. Scientifically, this doesn’t mean much. But from my own viewpoint, if the body uses ions to control signaling (i.e. contraction/dilation of capillaries), it would make sense if the magnetic fields are allowing these ion signals to be sent faster or easier. So in this case, the magnets aren’t actually causing the dilation or contraction. They’re really just allowing this action to happen faster. The body is still controlling what effect is needed to regulate blood flow.