REVIEW OF STUDIES INTO THE USEFULNESS OF MAGNETS IN GETTING RID OF PAIN

This article was printed in the  Journal of alternative and complementary medicine (New York,) in 2005, Volume 11 pp 495-509

Author/s: Eccles, NK, from The Chiron Clinic, London, UK.

METHOD:
A systematic literature review was undertaken of studies that compared the use of static magnets with an appropriate control for the treatment of pain.
Study methods, their quality, and outcome were also reviewed.

RESULTS:
Of the 18 better quality studies with 3 points or more on the quality assessment, 11 were positive and six were negative, and in one there was a non-significant trend towards a positive analgesic effect. (n.b analgesia: The absence of the sense of pain).

In two of the negative studies, there are concerns over adequacy of magnet power for the type of pain, and in the other study, of duration of exposure to the magnetic field.

If these two studies are excluded on the grounds of inadequate treatment, then 11 out of 15 (73.3%) of the better quality studies demonstrated a positive effect of static magnets in achieving analgesia across a broad range of different types of pain (neuropathic, inflammatory, musculoskeletal, fibromyalgic, rheumatic, and postsurgical).

CONCLUSIONS:
The weight of evidence from published, well-conducted controlled trials suggests that static magnetic fields are able to induce analgesia.