What Is Magnetic Field Therapy?  Top
The use of magnets and electrical devices to generate controlled magnetic fields has many medical applications, and has proven to be one of the most effective means for diagnosing human illness and disease.  For example, MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) is replacing x-ray diagnosis because it is safer and more accurate, and magnetoencephalography is now replacing electroencephalograph as the preferred technique for recording the brain's electrical activity.
In 1974, researcher Albert Roy Davis, Ph.D., noted that positive and negative magnetic polarities have different effects upon the biological systems of animals and humans.  He found that magnets could be used to arrest and kill cancer cells in animals, and could also be used in the treatment of arthritis, glaucoma, infertility, and diseases related to aging.  He concluded that negative magnetic fields have a beneficial effect on living organisms, whereas positive magnetic fields have a stressful effect.
Robert Becker, M.D., and orthopedic surgeon and author of numerous scientific articles and books, found that weak electric currents promote the healing of broken bones.  Dr. Becker also brought national attention to the fact that electromagnetic interference from power lines and home appliances can pose a serious problem to human health.  "The scientific evidence," writes Dr. Becker, "leads only to one conclusion: the exposure of living organisms to abnormal electromagnetic fields results in significant abnormalities in physiology and function".
According to Wolfgang Ludwig, Sc.D.,Ph.D., Director of the Institute for Biophysics in Horb, Germany, "Magnetic field therapy has been used effectively in the treatment of:

• Cancer
• Rheumatoid disease
• Infections and inflammations
• Headaches and migraines
• Insomnia and sleep disorders
• Circulatory problems
• Fractures and pain
• Environmental stress

How Magnetic Field Therapy  Works Top
"The healing potential of magnets is possible because the body's nervous system is governed, in part, by varying patterns of ionic currents and electromagnetic fields,"reports Dr. Zimmerman.  There are numerous forms magnetic field therapy, including static magnetic fields produced by natural or artificial magnets, and pulsating magnetic fields produced by electrical devices.  The magnetic fields produced by magnets or electromagnetic generating devices are able to penetrate the human body and can affect the functioning of the nervous system, organs, and cells.  According to William H. Philpott, M.D., of Choctaw, Oklahoma, an author and biomagnetic researcher, magnetic fields can stimulate metabolism and increase the amount of oxygen available to cells.  When used properly magnetic field therapy has no harmful side effects. All magnets have two poles: one is called positive and the other negative.  However, as there are conflicting methods of naming the poles of a magnet, a magnetometer should be used as a standard method of determination (if one is using a compass to locate the poles, the arrowhead of the needle marked "N" or North will point to the magnet's negative pole).  Dr. Philpott and other researches claim that the negative pole generally has a calming effect and helps to normalize metabolic functioning.  In contrast, the positive pole has a stress effect , and with prolong exposure interferes with metabolic functioning, produces acidity, reduces cellular oxygen supply, and encourages the replication of latent microorganisms. The strength of a magnet is measured in units of gauss ( a unite of measuring the intensity of magnetic flux), or Tesla (1 tesla=10,000 gauss), and every magnetic device has a manufacturer's gauss rating.
 
 

How Magnets Are Used Therapeutically   Top
Magnetic therapy can be applied in many ways, and devices range from small, simple magnets to large machines capable of generating high magnitudes of field strength (used for treating fractures and pseudoarthrosis, a joint affliction caused by nerve breakdown.)  Magnetic blankets and beds have also been manufactured for the purposes of promoting sleep and reducing stress. Specially designed ceramic, plastiform, and neodymium (a rare earth chemical element) magnets can be placed either individually or in clusters above the various organs of the body, lymph nodes, or on various points of the head.  In Japan, small tai-ki magnets have been designed to stimulate acupuncture points, but no clinical studies have yet explored this procedure.  Magnetic devices are quite popular in Germany, where the use of certain devices is covered by medical insurance.  After simple instruction is given to the patient, these devices can be used at home.
 
 

Conditions Benefited by Magnetic Field Therapy   Top
Treatments can last from just a few minutes to overnight and depending upon the situation and severity, may be applied several times a day, or for days or weeks at a time.  Sometimes, though, the results of magnetic therapy can be quite dramatic, as in case cited by Dr. Ludwig.  A forty-six-year-old man had suffered for years from sever heart flutter, diarrhea, and nausea.  No treatment seemed to help, but when a magnetic applicator with less than one gauss of energy was placed upon his solar plexus for only three minutes, his symptoms immediately ceased.  Two years later, he had experienced no relapse.  In a case described by Dr. Philpott, a seventy-year-old man who had undergone coronary bypass surgery continued to suffer from heart pain.  His walk was reduced to a shuffle, his speech was slurred, and he lived in a state of chronic depression.  He decided to try magnetic therapy and a plastiform magnet was placed over his heart.  Within ten minutes, the pain disappeared.  Magnets were applied to the crown of the head while he slept, and within a month his depression was gone, his speech was clear, and his walking returned to normal.  In other cases cited by Dr. Philpott, magnets have helped to eliminate toothaches, eliminate periodontal disease, and eradicate fungal infections like candidiasis.  Kidney stones and calcium deposits in inflamed tissues have also been known to dissolve.  Magnetic therapy has been shown to be particularly effective in reducing swelling and edema.  According to Dr. Philpott, "Symptoms of cardiac atherosclerosis and brain atherosclerosis have been observed to disappear after six to eight weeks of nightly exposure to a negative static magnetic field."
 
 

Stress Top
A negative magnetic field applied to the top of the head has a calming and sleep-inducing effect on the brain and body functions, due to the stimulation of the hormone melatonin, according to Dr. Philpott.  Melatonin has been shown to be anti stressful, anti aging, anti infectious, anti cancerous and to have control over respiration and the production of free radicals.  A free radical is a highly destructive molecule that is missing an electron, and readily reacts with other molecules.  This can lead to the aging of cells, the hardening of muscle tissue, the wrinkling of the skin, and in general, a decreased efficiency of protein synthesis.  As there are literally hundreds of diseases leading to stress, infections and aging, magnetic field therapy could be considered an important adjunct in their treatment and researchers are currently studying its contributes.
 
 

Bacterial, Fungal, and Viral Infections   Top
"A negative magnetic field can function like an antibiotic in helping to destroy bacterial, fungal, and viral infections," says Dr. Philpott, "by promoting oxygenation and lowering the body's acidity."  Both of these factors are beneficial to normal bodily functions but harmful to pathogenic (disease causing) microorganisms, which do not survive in a well oxygenated, alkaline environment.  Dr. Philpott theorizes that the biological value of oxygen is increased by the influence of a negative electromagnetic field, and that the field causes negatively charged DNA to "pull" oxygen out of the blood stream and into the cell.  The negative electromagnetic field keeps the cellular buffer system intact so that the cells remain alkaline.  the low acid balance also helps maintain the presence of oxygen in the body.
 
 

Pain Relief    Top
A negative magnetic field normalizes the disturbed metabolic functions that cause painful conditions such as cellular edema, cellular acidosis, lack of oxygen to the cells and infection.  Dr. Philpott cites the case of a woman in her seventies who had experienced pain and weakness n her left leg for thirty years stemming from a blood clot in the groin area, and could not climb stairs without stopping several times due to pain.  AFter twelve months of sleeping on a negative magneto-electric pad, the woman found that she could walk a long flight of stairs without any pain or weakness in her leg.  A negative magnetic field cannot take the place of local anesthetics and analgesics, however.  A positive magnetic field on the other hand can increase pain due to its interference with normal metabolic function.
 
 

Central Nervous Disorders   Top
"When a negative magnetic field is placed directly over an area of electrical activity in the brain, the electrical excitement can be reduced," says Dr. Philpott.  It can stop symptoms as hallucinations, delusions, seizures or panic without disrupting the patient's mental alertness and orientation.  Small disc magnets can be placed around the head to alleviate these kinds of symptoms.  Dr. Philpott has pioneered the use of magnetic therapy for numerous psychiatric disorders, and he believes that in the future subtle uses of magnets will be used to control a variety of symptoms and central nervous disturbances.  A woman who had a begin tumor removed from her spine could not walk without dragging her feet.  When Dr. Philpott placed a positive magnetic pole over the area where the tumor had been removed, she could walk perfectly.  With practice, and with the help of both a positive and a negative magnetic field, the neuronal function returned.  The positive field stimulated the non functioning neurons and produced endorphins while the negative field prevented the neurons from becoming overly excited.
 
 

The Future of Magnetic Field Therapy   Top
With the rising popularity of magnetic field diagnosis techniques such as MRI, magnets, and electrical devices are beginning to gain mainstream medical acceptance as human diagnostic and treatment tools.  According to Dr. Philpott, the application of magnets provides the most predictable results of any treatment he has observed. "it is not only valuable as a medically supervised technique, but for many self-help problems such as insomnia, chronic pain and tension."  Because magnets do not introduce any foreign substance to the body, this will, Dr. Philpott believes, make them safer over the long term than aspirin or other over-the-counter medications.