Hi folks,

I would be very grateful if you could help me:

There’s an add appearing everyday on newspaper I read promoting magnet therapy and saying something like “numerous studies proves that it works”.
I want to present a reclamation to the Portuguese Authorities and need some data/studies about it. It would be great to have the official position of WHO. I’ve been looking but in the pile of stuff I found I’m having a hard time deciding which are the most important studies/opinions.

Thanks in advance,
Cláudio

I love the way these adds always say “numerous studies” but then fail to name the studies. I have called some of these companies to get their references and usually get hung up on or referred to some company web site which doesn’t have any real info. Just to make one thing clear. Its not up to anyone to disprove these claims. Its up to those who propose these therapies to PROVE that they work. If they can provide you with the studies they are using to make these claims I will be happy you look at them for you, but if not then don’t waste your time trying to come up solid studies to disprove them. Just in case you need them though here are a few. The first two are reviews that have a good bibliography which you can use to find other peer reviewed articles.

The funny thing about Magnet therapy is it doesn’t work any better than placebo but the placebo effect seems especially strong in some of these studies implying that there is a strong natural desire to believe in this type of therapy for many people. That probably explains the marketing success of these devices and treatments.

Magnet Therapy: Healing or Hogwash?

Magnet therapy:Extraordinary claims, but no proved benefits

The Effectiveness of Magnet Therapy for Treatment of Wrist Pain Attributed to Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

They talk about a “study made during 5 years with 7000 people in a Public Hospital in Italy (Manerbio)”. Does it ring a bell?
I will try to find more info about it.

Cláudio Tereso - 26 September 2011 10:02 AM

They talk about a “study made during 5 years with 7000 people in a Public Hospital in Italy (Manerbio)”. Does it ring a bell?
I will try to find more info about it.

No it doesn’t. Any reputable company would reference the study with the appropriate study title , journal, date, and page number. 7,000 people sounds like a big reliable study but it could be a complete farce if they didn’t follow standard protocols and all the did was interview the people who bought their product with no control group.

If they actually DO reference a study, you should read over it. It may still be a garbage study. My hospital was recently pushing a very expensive baby bottle touted to decrease colic by X%. They referenced studies, but apparently no one read them. The entire study consisted of giving 15 moms their bottle, and another 15 their magical bottle, and a month later, asking their opinion on whether their infants had more or less colic symptoms. This is true example of a garbage ‘study’.

Finally found something about the study!

Unfortunately it’s in Italian, don’t know if you will be able to undersand anything :(

Anyway, here it goes:

http://dreamsalud.com/_literature_34104/Estudio_Hospital_Manerbio
http://dreamsalud.com/_literature_34103/Estudio_la_Rehabilitación

Here’s something they have in their site:

“Todas as doenças partem de uma única causa, «o desequilíbrio celular”. Diz-se que uma célula se desequilibra celularmente, quando um electrão dos átomos que a constituem fica solto, ou seja, não se liga a outro (é aquilo que em ciência se conhece como um radical livre electromagnético).”

which translates into….are you prepared?

“All diseases start from a single cause, “the cellular imbalance.” It is said that a cell becomes unbalanced when one electron of the atoms that constitute it gets loose, ie not bound to another (in science is what is known as a electromagnetic free radical )”

“All diseases start from a single cause, “the cellular imbalance.” It is said that a cell becomes unbalanced when one electron of the atoms that constitute it gets loose, ie not bound to another (in science is what is known as a electromagnetic free radical )”

What this is, is a nonsensical word salad which is made to sound scientific but it really isn’t.

The claim that “Numerous studies” support something is as old as the medicine wagon itself and just as bogus. Snake oil couched in scientific sounding terminology is still snake oil and just as worthless.

Correction : the links are of a Spanish translation of an article that was written on the magazine “LA REHABILITACION” founded by Pietro Farneti

and here is a page of magnetic products that lists several studies including the one I linked:
http://www.gtnitalia.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=90&Itemid=194&lang=en

Never heard of magnet therapy. How many therapies do we have now? So it’s effective? I think I have to study more for this matter.

Check this info from sanswoo:

http://www.quackwatch.com/04ConsumerEducation/QA/magnet.html

Cap’t Jack