Study on Using Magnet to Treat Pain Surprises Skeptics

No one was more skeptical about using magnets for pain relief than Dr.Carlos A Vallbona, former chairman of the department of community medicine at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. So Dr. Vallbona was amazed when a study he did found that small, low intensity magnets worked, at least for patients experiencing symptoms that can develop after polio.

Dr. Vallbona had long been fascinated by testimonials about magnets from his patients, and even from medical leaders- But his interest in magnet therapy became more serious in 1994 when he and a colleague, Carlton F. Hazlewood, tried them for their own knee pain. The pain was gone in minutes. "That was too good to be true, "Dr. Vallbona said.

Dr. Vallbona knew that the power of suggestion can fool both patient and doctor. But he also wondered: could strapping small, low intensity magnets to the most sensitive areas of the body for several minutes relieve chronic muscular and joint pains among patients in his post-polio clinic at Baylor's Institute for Rehabilitation Research. Valid studies could allow consumers to make informed choices. And if magnet therapy were found to be safe and effective, it could relieve pain with fewer drugs. Endorsements from professional athletes are one reason Americans spend large sums on magnets to seek pain relief. but most doctors take a 'buyer beware' attitude because many claims lack scientific proof or explanation of how they might work. The FDA and Drug Administration has warned doctors and manufacturers about health claims for magnets.

Aware of the medical profession's skepticism about magnet therapy, Dr. Vallbona sought to conduct science's most rigorous type of study. Participants would agree to allow the investigators to randomly assign them to groups getting treatment with active magnets or sham devices. But neither the patients nor the doctors treating them would know what therapy was used on which patient.

First Dr. Vallbona informally tested magnets on a few patients. One was a priest with post-polio syndrome who celebrated mass with difficulty due to marked back pain that prevented him from raising his left hand. After applying a magnet for a few minutes the pain was gone. Then a human experimentation committee allowed Dr. Vallbona to test 50 volunteers with magnets that at 300 to 500 gauss, were slightly stronger than refrigerator magnets. they were made in different so they could fit over the anatomic area identified as setting of their pain.

It was difficult to design a system to prevent participants from learning whether they were being tested with a magnet or a sham. -So Dr. Vallbona asked Bioflex, a magnet manufacturer, to prepare active magnets and inactive devices that could not be told apart. The devices were labeled in code. As a further precaution, a staff member observed the patients throughout the 45-minute period of therapy to make sure they would not try to find out - by testing with a paper clip say - what treatment they were receiving.

After the investigators identified the source of the pain and then pressed on it, the 39 women and 11 men in the study graded the pain on a scale of 0(none) to 10 (worst). Then after the experimental treatment, the participants rated their pain in a standard questionnaire. The volunteers were tested only one time. The 29 who received an active magnet reported a reduction in pain to 4.4 from 9.6, compared with a smaller decline to 8.4 from 9.5 among the 21 treated with a sham magnet.

The Baylor scientists emphasized that their study applied only to pain from post-polio condition. nevertheless, their report in last month's issue of Archives of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine. a leading specialty journal, has shocked many doctors who have scoffed at claims for magnet's medical benefits.

In an article about magnet therapy for chronic pain published five months ago, Dr. William Jarvis, a professor of public health and prevention medicine at Loma Linda university in California and president of the National Council Against Health Fraud, dismissed magnet therapy as essentially quackery."

Now, Dr. Jarvis said in an interview, the Baylor study changed his mind. "But like any other pilot study, it needs to be replicated." he said.

Dr. Vallbona's findings have led him to try to carry out a larger study in several medical centers, and they are expected to lead other investigators to conduct their own studies.

Dr. Laura S. Halstead of the National Rehabilitation Hospital in Washington, a pioneer in studying the post-polio syndrome, was among experts who said that further studies were needed to answer questions like: Will various strength magnets produce different degrees of benefit. how long does the pain relief last? Will the effect wear off after multiple applications? For what other conditions might magnets work?

At the University of Virginia, Ann Gill Taylor's team last month began recruiting 105 volunteers mf4th fibromyalgia, a painful muscle condition of unknown cause, to test magnetic- sleep pads.