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New York Times–December
1997
Study on Using Magnets to Treat Pain Surprises Skeptics
A small
trial raises hope, but it is not the last word
By Lawrence K. Altman, M.D.
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No
one was more skeptical about using magnets for pain relief than Dr. Carlos
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
years 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 Food 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, Dr. Vallbona recalled,
and, "the priest said this was a miracle."
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 sizes so they could fit over the anatomic
area identified as setting off their pain.
It was difficult to design a system to prevent participants from learning
whether they were being treated with a magnet or a sham.
So Dr. Vallbona asked Magnaflex Inc., a magnet manufacturer in Corpus Christi,
Tx., 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 9.6 among the 21 treated
with a sham magnet.
The Baylor scientists emphasized that their study applied only to pain from
the 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 magnets'
medical benefits.
In an article about magnet therapy for chronic pain published five months
ago, Dr. William Jarvis, a professor of public health and preventative medicine
at Loma Linda University in California and president of the National Council
Against Health Fraud, dismissed magnet therapy as "essentially quackery."
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