Here are the results of a pilot study (a small study done before a larger study) that was just published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Magnet Treatment Had No Beneficial Effect on Patients With Chronic Low Back Pain

A small study using one variety of magnet for treatment of low back pain had no effect on patients' pain; however, the researchers say that additional studies are needed to verify the results of this pilot study, according to an article in the March 8 issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association.

Edward A. Collacott, MD, from the Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Prescott, Ariz, and colleagues compared the effectiveness of a single type of therapeutic bipolar permanent magnet with a matching placebo device for 20 patients with chronic low back pain. X-rays of the patients' backs indicated spondylosis (degeneration or deficient development of the articulating part of a vertebra) and in some cases revealed additional diagnoses. All together, the patients had reported stable low back pain for an average of 19 years' duration.

Patients were questioned about their pain using a standardized questionnaire for pain measurement. Formal measurements of patients' range of motion of the lumbosacral spine were also taken. When the study was completed, researchers discovered there was no statistically significant difference between the patients wearing the placebo magnets and patients wearing the real magnets.

According to background information cited in the study, low back pain is a disabling costly condition that is difficult to treat effectively. It is estimated that 85% of all people will have back pain during their lifetime. Annual prevalence reports range from 15% to 45%. Currently more than 5 million Americans are disabled with low back pain. The direct cost of treating low back pain is estimated at $15 billion, with indirect costs as high as $100 billion annually. According to a recent study, 75% of patients who visit a physician for an acute episode of low back pain are still symptomatic 1 year later.

The devices patients wore consisted of a flexible rubberlike compound. The active devices were impregnated with active magnetic material. The placebo devices were identical, but had been demagnetized using a magnetizer/demagnetizer. All patients followed the treatment protocol for 2 weeks: 1 week with the magnets and 1 week with the placebo devices. The treatment regimen consisted of application of the devices 6 hours a day, 3 days a week. Participants were exposed to a total of 18 hours of treatment for both active and placebo devices.

"To our knowledge, this is the only randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study reporting the use of permanent magnets on more than a single occasion and for more than 45 minutes," the authors write. "This was a pilot study and was not intended to prove or disprove the effectiveness of magnet therapy in general. Additional studies using different magnets (unipolar and bipolar), treatment times, and patient populations are needed.

"Bipolar magnet therapy usually uses a flexible plastalloy (flexible plastic containing barium ferrite) sheet of magnetic material that has impressed upon it an alternating spatial pattern of north and south magnetic domains," the researchers explain.

According to the authors, "there currently exists a media campaign promoting the use of permanent magnets for the treatment of pain, which has resulted in large profits. Worldwide sales of $5 billion have been reported.... Therapeutic permanent magnets are popular for a variety of musculoskeletal complaints. Low back pain was selected for study because it is one of the most common problems for which magnets are used."

Comment 1:
20 patients. Rubberized bi-polar magnets (that's what refrigerator magnets are). Negative results. NO surprise. BUT, this will be cannon fodder for a barrage of anti magnet hate email. I've already gotten plenty. One guy titled his "VA Proves that Magnets are Worthless on Pain!" Since the "study" used weak and worthless fridge magnets, I am not surprised by their results. I use neodymium Iron Boron magnets. The fridge magnets have a gauss strength of about 300-400 max. The neodymium magnets are 12,600 gauss. It's like comparing an M&M to morphine. One will do nothing for pain but taste pretty good. The other will taste bad but will definitely reduce pain. It's the same comparison with the fridge magnets and the rare earth magnets.

Comment 2:
This is so correct. A weak fridge magnet, which is what many people try, get no relief from, and then decide all magnets do nothing, won't even hold my grandson's artwork to the fridge. Why? Too weak. The strength of a fridge magnet is about 300-400 gauss. That won't penetrate much. But, using a strong magnet, like a rare earth magnet which could hold a deck of cards to the fridge, would penetrate down to where pain is. Using the right tool for the job has always defined the outcome of the job. If you try to use a fridge magnet to relieve pain, it will not work. This "study" proved that. Using a 12,000 gauss rare earth magnet will relieve pain. At least my own experience proves that.

Comment 3:
I was watching like 20/20 about magnet therapy and they had said that it would have to penetrate through so many layers to be affective and that most magnets that patients use can be simple non-functional if a simple piece of paper was placed between the magnet and another piece of metal..meaning the magnet could not possibly be benificial, because it would not get to the root of the problem.. Just a tid-bit from one of those news magazine shows... Don't know how true it is...but I really don't see how magnets could work...sounds like a gimmick

Comment 4:
I know absolutely nothing about magnets. I agree with the authors when they said: "This was a pilot study and was not intended to prove or disprove the effectiveness of magnet therapy in general. Additional studies using different magnets (unipolar and bipolar), treatment times, and patient populations are needed." Pilot studies help researchers tweak their methods for a larger study.

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