Magnets: Post-Polio Study
The Attraction Is Clear!
As many of you know, we frequently use bio-magnetic
acupuncture in our treatments and as home-based care
for chronic conditions. It seems to be catching on.
In a recent study of 50 patients at Baylor College
of Medicine and The Institute for Rehabilitation and
Research, both in Houston, participants--all
suffering from postpolio syndrome--were asked to
rank their pain on a ten-point scale when a
sensitive muscle or joint area was touched. A small
magnet or a placebo device (neither doctors nor
participants knew which was which) was taped to the
area and left there for 45 minutes. When it was
removed, patients were again asked to gauge their
pain. Twenty-two of the 29 patients treated with a
real magnet report improvement, compared with four
out of the 21 treated with a dummy magnet.
Furthermore, the average decrease in pain score was
five points among all who received a magnet, but
only one for those in the placebo group.
(Readers' Digest, April 1998.)
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