No Surprise Here: Medical Claims for Healing Power of Magnets Proved False

You see the ads in magazines and on the web all touting the healing power of magnets. They have been added to belts, jewelry, mattresses and just about everything else. The reasoning that is touted for them is that they help attract blood and/or improve circulation by attracting iron-rich blood to affected areas.

Do they work? No.

In a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Assn. in 2003:

Dr. Mark Winemiller and colleagues at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., tested magnetic and nonmagnetic insoles on 101 patients with foot pain. (Fifty-seven patients received magnetic insoles, the others received regular insoles — and neither scientist nor patient knew who was getting what.)

After wearing the insoles daily for eight weeks, both groups of patients reported pain relief, but the run-of-the-mill insoles worked just as well as the magnetic variety.

Dr. Winemiller stated further that there's not much evidence that the types of magnets found in insoles have any effect on the body, good or bad--finding it unlikely that a magnet could attract blood or improve circulation.

In short, save your money and save time at the airport security checkpoints explaining why your clothes are made of magnets or why things keep sticking to you.

[If anyone in the healing magnet industry wants to take us to task for this post please include a link to an authoritative double-blind study on the subject in your communication to us.]