Adam’s Journal
An Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation coworker would like your opinion on the use of magnets to treat pain. In particular, she says her mother has gotten relief by using a magnet – I believe it’s enclosed in a wrap – to treat shoulder pain.
Dr. Scofield Prescribes
The idea of using magnets as a therapy traces to German physician Franz Mesmer. In the late 18th century, Mesmer argued that all illness stemmed from interference with a vital life force he called “magnetic fluid.” His answer, then, was to treat patients with magnets to redirect the magnetic fluids.
Ultimately, a royal commission in France – where so-called mesmerism had grown quite popular – determined that any beneficial effects of the treatment were caused not by the magnets themselves but, rather, by the power of suggestion. Still, the commission conceded that even if it was the power of patients’ minds, these treatments managed to heal some maladies for which there were no other remedies at the time.
Interesting sidenote: This is where we get the term “mesmerize.”
One more sidenote: The royal commission’s members included Benjamin Franklin and Joseph-Ignace Guillotin, a physician who popularized the use of the device that now (with an added e) bears his name.
Almost 250 years later, magnets and magnetic devices continue to be marketed widely as therapy, most often for pain, inflammatory conditions and wound healing.
According to the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health, a part of the National Institutes of Health, research does not support the use of magnets like the one our OMRF coworkers’ mother is trying for pain relief.
Scientists have investigated whether “static” magnetic therapy – placing magnets on the affected part of the body – alleviates different types of pain. However, those studies have failed to produce convincing evidence the treatments are beneficial.
Still, the Food and Drug Administration has approved the use of another type of magnetic therapy for a variety of conditions. Pulsed electromagnetic field therapy, which uses an electric current passing through a wire coil containing magnetic material, has received the green light from regulators to treat fractures that don’t heal with standard treatment, as well as post-operative pain and swelling in soft tissues.
The FDA has also okayed a specific type of this therapy, transcranial magnetic stimulation, for severe migraines, obsessive-compulsive disorder and depression. A study published this year in the journal Brain Sciences offered additional support for its use in depression: Those treated with this technique showed significant improvement.
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Adam Cohen is senior vice president and general counsel at the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation. Dr. Hal Scofield is a physician-scientist at OMRF, and he also serves as Associate Chief of Staff for Research at the Oklahoma City VA Medical Center. Send your health questions to contact@omrf.org.
