- Wearing a magnetic bracelet can ease pain caused by arthritis
of the hips and knees, UK researchers have shown.
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- Anecdotal benefits have been reported by wearers but
studies comparing these bracelets with 'dummy' versions have produced mixed
results.
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- The current British Medical Journal study found a significant
reduction in pain scores among 65 wearers.
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- The Peninsular Medical School team said the effect could
be real or down to the individual's faith in the treatment.
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- 'Real' benefit
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- The authors also emphasised that the benefits were in
addition to existing treatments, which should not be suddenly stopped without
discussion with their doctor.
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- Also, high strength magnets (170mTesla or more) seemed
to be needed to have any effect on pain.
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- GP Dr Tim Harlow and colleagues recruited 194 patients
aged 45-80 years with osteoarthritis of the hip or knee from five rural
general practices in Devon.
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- The patients were given one of three bracelets to wear
for 12 weeks - a standard strength magnetic bracelet, a weak magnetic bracelet,
or a non-magnetic 'placebo' bracelet.
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- The patients were asked to rate their pain using a recognised
scoring scale.
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- All three groups reported less pain when wearing the
bracelets.
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- But the largest reductions in pain scores were reported
by the patients wearing the standard strength bracelets.
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- The results for the weak magnet group were similar to
those of the dummy magnets, suggesting that the magnetic strength of the
bracelet is important.
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- Placebo effect
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- Dr Harlow and his team, who were funded by the Arthritis
Research Campaign, said more research was needed to confirm their findings.
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- They did checkthat factors such as use of painkillers
and patients' beliefs about the type of bracelet they were testing had
not affected the results.
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- They said: "We cannot be certain whether our data
show a specific effect of magnets, a placebo effect, or both.
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- "Whatever the mechanism, the benefit from magnetic
bracelets seems clinically useful."
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- A spokeswoman for the Arthritis Research Campaign said:
"We funded this study because we wanted to establish if there was
any evidence for the claims made on behalf of magnetic bracelets; and we
didn't want the public to waste their money on devices that didn't work.
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- "Results appear to show that wearing a magnetic
bracelet does reduce pain in people with hip and knee osteoarthritis although
it is still unclear whether this effect is due in some part to the placebo
effect.
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- "As magnetic bracelets are quite cheap, between
£30 and £50, and safe, people with osteoarthritis might want
to consider wearing them as part of their self-help regime."
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- However, a spokesman from Arthritis Care said: "Clear
evidence of the efficacy of magnetic bracelets as a means of treating the
symptoms of arthritis is yet to be established.
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- "This is due mainly to the lack of large-scale clinical
trials undertaken in this regard.
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- "As a consequence, Arthritis Care does not recommend
the use of magnetic bracelets for this purpose, though we would welcome
a more robust and expansive trial of this treatment as a means of providing
firm evidential grounds for optimism."
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- About 760,000 people in the UK have osteoarthritis.
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- © BBC MMIV
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- http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/4101045.stm
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