The recent January 2006 issue of the British Medical Journal suggested patients be advised that magnetic therapy has no proved benefits. They argued that only blinded randomized controlled trials can prove medical benefit, and that it is difficult to study magnets in a blinded fashion. The editorial obscures an important truth about research and real world healing. If we were to apply this standard to all medicines, we'd also have to point out that many common surgeries and medical procedures also have no proved health benefit. Few of them have been studied in randomized controlled trials, and they cost at least as much as magnetic healing does. But no one complains about that. This exemplifies the double standard the medical establishment applies to alternative medicine. A randomized controlled trial of arthroscopic knee surgery for osteoarthritis found it to be no more efficacious than placebo, yet this surgery is performed on more than 600,000 people per year. This study appeared in the New England Journal of Medicine in July 2002. The British Medical Journal editorial is at odds with the results of more than 300 favorable studies of powerful magnetic therapy for diseases including arthritis, fibromyalgia, migraine, multiple sclerosis, pain, sinusitis, and insomnia. Abstracts of these studies are available for free at The FeelGood Store. Whats more, an expert review of 18 high quality randomized controlled trials of magnetic therapy for pain concluded that the weight of the evidence favors magnetic pain relief. This review was published in June 2005 in the Journal of Alternative & Complementary Medicine. The BMJ editor forgets that consumers are shrewd. If magnets don't work, they'll demand a refund or spread negative word of mouth. Plus, recent research continues to explain close relationship between nerves, the brain, and the immune system. The same neurovasculoimmune mechanisms that make acupuncture work explain how magnets heal the body. Nerves work via electricity and magnetic fields affect the flow of electricity. The FeelGood Store has been providing customers with superior pain relief, beauty, fitness, and wellness products via mail order and the internet since 1993. They sell a variety of magnetic products including bracelets and joint supports. - Editorial: Magnet therapy: Extraordinary claims, but no proved benefits. BMJ 2006;332:4 (7 January), doi:10.1136/bmj.332.7532.4
- Moseley JB, O'Malley K, Petersen NJ, Menke TJ, Brody BA, Kuykendall DH, Hollingsworth JC, Ashton CM, Wray NP. A controlled trial of arthroscopic surgery for osteoarthritis of the knee. N Engl J Med. 2002 Jul 11;347(2):81-8
- A critical review of randomized controlled trials of static magnets for pain relief. Eccles NK. J Altern Complement Med. 2005 Jun;11(3):495-509.
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