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There have been only a few double-blind scientific studies of magnets,
in which both the researchers and study subjects had no idea who
was getting a real magnet and who was getting a sham magnet.
* Research published in the December issue of the Journal of Plastic
and Reconstructive Surgery studied 20 patients recuperating from
liposuction of excess body fat, or "love handles." In
the research by Dr. Daniel Man, a board-certified plastic surgeon
in Boca Raton, Fla., 10 patients wore magnetic pads on their wounds;
10 others had sham magnets in the pads. Those who got the magnetic
pads had less pain in the first week, less swelling in the first
four days and less black-and-blue discoloration in the first three
days than did the control group.
* A study published in the January 1998 issue of the American Journal
of Pain Management found improvements among chronic foot pain patients
who wore magnetic shoe inserts on one foot. Dr. Michael Weintraub,
a neurologist at New York Medical College in Valhalla, N.Y., found
that nearly all of the patients had less pain in the foot with the
magnetic pad.
* A 1997 study published in the Archives of Physical Medicine and
Rehabilitation looked at 50 patients with post-polio pain. The research
by Dr. Carlos Vallbona, a professor at Baylor University College
of Medicine in Texas, found that of 29 patients who wore magnets,
76% reported a decrease in pain after 45 minutes. Those who got
placebos reported only slight improvement.
Other study findings are pending. Dr. Agatha Colbert, an assistant
professor of physical medicine and rehabilitation at Tufts University
in Massachusetts, is lead author of a magnet study that has been
accepted for publication in a rehabilitation journal. In that study,
patients suffering from fibromyalgia, a syndrome characterized by
widespread muscle and skeletal pain and fatigue, reportedly had
less pain after sleeping on magnetic mattress pads.
Ann Gill Taylor, a nursing professor and director of the Center
for the Study of Complementary and Alternative Therapy at the University
of Virginia, has not yet published results of a similar study of
magnetic mattress pads in fibromyalgia patients. The long-awaited
study was sponsored by a private Canadian foundation, but the center
is supported by the National Institutes of Health's Office of Alternative
Medicine.
Other doctors in several states of the US are enrolling patients
in double-blind studies of magnets' impact on lower back pain and
carpal tunnel pain in the arms.
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