MAGNOTHERAPY INDEPENDENT ARTICLE
What's the attraction?
Are magnets a cure-all or a con-all?
by Rebecca Colnar
Magnets have been put to medicinal uses for at least several centuries. They are shrouded in the mystery of non-Western healing but have believers aplenty who would validate their curative claims. In recent years, magnetic therapy has entered the horse world, and adherents claim improved circulation, relief for muscle soreness and relaxed disposition.
Sounds great, but do magnets really work? That depends on who you ask. Sandra Smith, who specializes in alternative therapies, insists that magnets have their place when used properly. "Some people look at magnets as miraculous products, but they really don't understand how they work. You need qualified people to show you how to use them. Whenever you have a new modality, such as magnets, you should work with your veterinarian and farrier, using them as complementary medicine and not as an exclusive panacea."
There are two types, static and pulse. "Static magnets are the ones most people have experience with. They are either in a pad or individual magnet format. They're not as powerful as pulse magnets, but they help with muscle soreness and assist in relaxation," she explains.
Pulse magnets use a battery and are enclosed in either a blanket or leg wrap and require more dedication to use. "They work on a current for deeper muscle work and immediate relaxation. Although some controversy surrounds pulse magnets--that they might spread bacteria around the body--I've never had complications," says the Virginia-based therapist.
"You use the blanket in several 20-minute treatments. They work more quickly than the static magnets, but you need to be careful how long you leave the blanket on. Again, if you want to use pulse magnet therapy on your horse, have someone knowledgeable about equine magnet therapy assist you."
Magnets also have their nay-sayers.
"There is virtually no evidence that magnets do anything," David Ramey insists. "They have been promoted as therapy for 400 years, but nothing has been scientifically proven."
The philosophy behind magnets is that they are a way to apply a magnetic field that sends electrical signals to cells. This influences the cell's interaction with ions and regulates its functions. Advocates say that magnetic therapy initiates biological reactions, which lead to acceleration of the healing process.
"Magnets have never been
reliably shown to have a therapeutic effect," Ramey says.
"Furthermore, with many of the devices sold to horse owners, there's likely
to be little or no magnetic field getting to the targeted area anyway." The
"There's a magnetic field being applied to the horse's body from the Earth every day. How is a field that is weaker than that which already exists supposed to do anything? There's a lot for these weak fields to penetrate, too," he notes. "By the time that the magnet gets through the air space between the bandage and the horse, then through the skin, there's little or nothing left of it."
Smith counters with a success story. "Whenever you'd push on his left hock," she says of one of her own horses, "he'd buckle. No one could figure it out. I put him under the electric blanket and also used light therapy on him. Then I used spot magnets on him five minutes daily. Over a month, the problem went away."
Exactly right, Ramey agrees; nature is a wonderful thing. "Say you put a magnetic boot on your horse every day for four months. At the end of that time, your horse is healed. You might say the magnet did the healing, but you also need to realize your horse had four months in which his body had time to heal naturally."
Ramey says that of eight studies evaluating the effects of magnets on blood circulation, only one has shown an effect. Pulsating electromagnetic fields are a bit more complex, as their purported effects may involve induced electrical currents in addition to magnetic ones.
"Electric activity exists in horses' bodies at all times, measured in the beating of the heart and generated in production of the bone. The theory is that by applying an appropriate electrical current induced by a magnetic field to tissue, some sort of effect on body tissue can be anticipated. But if such effects could be induced, it is unlikely that all cells and tissues would respond," lectures the vet.
"Individual cells and tissues respond to a variety of electric signal configurations in ways to suggest a degree of specificity for both the tissue affected and the signal itself." In other words, one magnet can't be all things to all cells.
He's skeptical of the few studies regarding the magnet's effect on pain relief in humans. "There were only 25 people in one study and they all reported pain relief. And there are any number of negative studies to contradict the positive ones. The only thing that's been well-documented is a strong placebo effect--if someone expects it to work, it just might."
Many researchers remain curious but
unsure. Dr. Carl Kirker-Head of
He conducted some small research on Norfields® magnets. Four horses had magnets placed on the hoof and lower limbs. "We noticed an increase in blood supply to the coffin bone," Kirker-Head says, "but four horses do not a scientific study make. Like any new technology, magnets are unregulated, and there are products that aren't what they claim. That gives the whole arena a bad name."
Pulse blankets can run to $5,000; big bucks tend to draw the fly-by-night crowd, just as surely as they draw the pure of heart.
Kirker-Head remains "cautiously optimistic" about magnetic therapy. He encourages manufacturers to step up to the plate with funds to underwrite scientific research.
Controversy circulates
A common controversy regarding magnets is the theory that in certain conditions–tumors, cancer, skin infections among them–increasing circulation means spreading the disease. Adherents maintain the opposite–by improving circulation with a tool such as a magnet, you move toxins out of the body, aiding the healing process. If you're going to use magnets, work with an expert in the field.
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