17 December 2004
Bio-Magnetic
bracelets reduce pain in osteoarthritis of the hip and knee, finds a
study in this week’s Christmas issue of the BMJ. (The British Medical
Journal).
Researchers from the Peninsula Medical School
recruited 194 patients aged 45-80 years with osteoarthritis of the hip
or knee from five rural general practices in Devon. Patients were
either a standard strength bio-magnetic bracelet, or a weak magnetic
bracelet, and a non-magnetic (dummy) bracelet for 12 weeks. Changes in
pain were recorded using a recognized pain scoring scale.
They
found a significant reduction in pain scores between the standard and
dummy magnet groups. The results for the week magnet group were similar
to those of the dummy magnets, and this suggests that the bio-magnetic
strength of the bracelet is important.
The authors emphasis
that the benefits are in addition to exist in treatments, which should
not be suddenly stopped without discussing with their doctor. Also
they note that high strength magnets (170m Tesla or more) seem to be
needed.
Although factors such as use of pain killers and
patient’s beliefs about the type of bracelet they were testing did not
effect the results, the authors cannot be certain whether their
findings are due to a specific effect of magnets or a placebo effect.
But, whatever the mechanism, the benefit from bio-magnetic bracelets
seem clinically useful.