Magnetotherapy: What is it? What is it for?

, which is based on the idea that the exposure of the human body to magnetic fields has therapeutic effects.
The medical conditions that the promoters of magnetotherapy believe they can treat with magnetic fields include: bone fractures, osteoporosis, joint pain, muscle pain, arthrosis, rheumatoid arthritis, algodystrophy, articular cartilage injuries and fibromyalgia.
Currently, according to official medicine, magnetotherapy is a practice without any scientific basis. There are, in fact, many studies that have demonstrated its absolute therapeutic ineffectiveness.

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Those who have joint, muscle or muscle-joint pain;

Those with skeletal diseases such as osteoporosis.

For magnetotherapy, or rather for the magnetic fields that are used for magnetotherapy, magnets are needed.

of the human body are equipped with an electric charge resulting from the presence, in the intracellular environment, of atoms with a certain charge (eg: sodium ions, potassium ions, calcium ions, etc.).

The electric charge of human cells is different from the electric charge present outside it and this creates a situation that electrophysiologists define with the term of resting membrane potential.
The so-called resting membrane potential, therefore, is the difference in electric charge, present between the inside and the outside of a generic cell.

Following cellular aging or after damage to the cell, the resting membrane potential undergoes an alteration, assuming values ​​different from the values ​​considered normal.

The alterations in the resting membrane potential are responsible for a malfunction of the cells and tissues of which these cells are part.

According to the creators and promoters of magnetotherapy, the magnetic fields used by the latter would act on the cells of the bone and soft tissues of the human body, favoring the restoration of the resting membrane potential where it is needed.

In other words, magnetotherapy would be a treatment capable of restoring the membrane potential at rest in the cells of the human body in which this potential is altered.

If all this were true - as magnetotherapists claim - the cells that, thanks to magnetotherapy, restore their membrane potential at rest would resume functioning adequately, repairing themselves more quickly in the presence of damage and so on.

This just reported is a deliberately simplified description of how magnetotherapy should act on the human body. In reality, however, the operation includes many other very complex aspects that only experienced people with a certain preparation would be able to understand.

Effects of Magnetotherapy on a cellular level:

• Restore the resting membrane potential in cells where the latter is altered;
• Interact with ferrodell "blood hemoglobin, thus improving blood circulation;
• Reestablish the balance of the electromagnetic energy of the human body.

Magnetotherapy: Frequency of Magnetic Fields

Magnets for magnetotherapy can create magnetic fields of two different types: low frequency (between 5 and 100 Hz) or high frequency (between 18 and 900 MHz).

Magnetotherapy that makes use of magnets generating low-frequency magnetic fields is called low-frequency magnetotherapy; on the other hand, magnetotherapy that uses magnets generating high-frequency magnetic fields is called high-frequency magnetotherapy.

The choice of the frequency of the magnetic fields depends on the health condition to be treated. There are, in fact, conditions that lend themselves better to low-frequency magnetotherapy and conditions that, on the other hand, lend themselves better to high-frequency magnetotherapy.
The indications of low-frequency and high-frequency magnetotherapy will be explored later.

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Forms of arthritis, including osteoarthritis (or osteoarthritis), rheumatoid arthritis, and periarthritis

Pseudarthrosis;

Carpal tunnel syndrome;

Algodystrophy;

Joint rheumatism or joint pain

Fibromyalgia;

Episodes of bursitis, heelitis, epicondylitis, neck pain, low back pain or lumbosciatica;

Cartilage injuries;

Venous skin lesions, pressure sores, burn sores and edema;

Arteriopathy of the lower limbs;

Joint prostheses, to favor the consolidation of the latter after grafting.

Main fields of medicine involving magnetotherapy:

• Orthopedics;
• Traumatology;
• Rheumatology.

Low Frequency Magnetotherapy

As anticipated in the previous chapter, low-frequency magnetotherapy has different indications from high-frequency magnetotherapy.

According to the creators and promoters of magnetotherapy, exposure to low frequency magnetic fields would be useful in at least two circumstances:

• When it is necessary to favor the assimilation of calcium, to strengthen the skeletal system and protect it from problems such as osteoporosis;
• When it is necessary to stimulate bone calcification, to accelerate the healing time from a bone fracture.

High Frequency Magnetotherapy

As regards the exposure to high frequency magnetic fields, the experts maintain that this practice is particularly indicated when it is necessary to promote blood circulation and reduce inflammatory states, with the final aim of relieving the painful sensation.

In summary ...

Low-frequency magnetotherapy is used in patients with fractures, osteoporosis and diseases related to the latter, while high-frequency magnetotherapy is a resource in patients who complain of arthritis pain, cartilage injuries, algodystrophy, carpal tunnel syndrome, muscle problems etc.

and so on.

Some manufacturers of magnetotherapy equipment have made bands with magnets incorporated inside; others, even, have thought of building a sort of magnetized blanket, which an individual can use during night sleep (night magnetotherapy).

and weight, and enters the information obtained in the computerized console, through a specific typing path.

At this point, allow the console computer time to process the data entered and carry out a sort of calibration, which will be essential when generating the magnetic field.

Then, at the conclusion of the calibration, he applies the magnets, in the anatomical region of interest, and presses the button on the console which is used to create the magnetic field.

Once the magnets are in action, the entire equipment works by itself, without any external intervention; the therapist, in fact, is called to intervene only after the session time has elapsed, when the patient needs help to remove the magnets and the application ranges.

Magnetotherapy: How long does a session last?

The magnetotherapy sessions can last from 20 to 35 minutes.

According to experts in the field of magnetotherapy, for a session to be truly effective, it should last at least 30-35 minutes.

Magnetotherapy: How many sessions are generally scheduled?

Generally, a magnetotherapy treatment involves a cycle of 10-30 sessions.

Those who have conceived and promoted magnetotherapy as a therapeutic practice believe that, for the treatment in question to be effective, it should consist of about thirty sessions.

Night Magnetotherapy

The expression "nocturnal magnetotherapy" indicates the particular magnetotherapy sessions carried out during the night, while you sleep.
In these circumstances, the patient makes use of a magnetized blanket (also called mat) (ie equipped with internal magnets), with which he undergoes magnetotherapy on the whole body and for several consecutive hours.

The promoters of magnetotherapy suggest night sessions to clients who, according to them, need a long-lasting treatment due to some chronic pathology.

Clearly, night magnetotherapy is accessible to people who have opted for the purchase or rental of equipment and its use at home.

or a portable cardioverter defibrillator e

Pregnant women.

As regards the first circumstance, the contraindication is explained by the fact that the magnetic fields, generated for therapeutic purposes, could interfere with the correct functioning of the electronic device, which controls the heart's rhythm.

As regards the second situation, the contraindication is based on the suspicion that the same magnetic fields mentioned above could be the cause of fetal anomalies, thus compromising the normal development of the fetus.

, blood, bones or other organs;

There is no scientific evidence in favor of the fact that the magnetic fields would interact with the iron of the blood hemoglobin, improving, as a final effect, the circulation of the blood.
In this regard, it is important to specify that iron is affected by the strength of a magnetic field only when it is in a solid crystalline form; therefore, if it is in molecular form, as in human hemoglobin, it does not respond to any stimulus of magnetic origin;

There is no scientific evidence that proves the ability of magnets and resulting magnetic fields to restore the so-called electromagnetic energy balance of the human body.

Magnetotherapy: What does the scientific community think?

Magnetotherapy has raised and still raises numerous debates between those who conceived it, who clearly defends its validity, and the scientific community, which, with reliable experiments, has demonstrated its therapeutic ineffectiveness and does not recommend its use.

The FDA, that is the US government body for the regulation of food and pharmaceutical products, also expressed itself on the "topic: its opinion is that magnetotherapy is a practice without any medical-therapeutic utility.

Opinions of Doctors and Scientists on Magnetotherapy

• There is no scientific evidence that testifies to the therapeutic efficacy of magnetotherapy and magnetic fields;
• Magnetotherapy can lead to a delay in healing from a certain medical condition, when a person prefers it to a traditional medicine treatment which has been proven to be effective;
• Given the considerable cost of a cycle of sessions, magnetotherapy represents an important burden for the financial resources of less wealthy patients.

Antonio Griguolo

Graduated in Biomolecular and Cellular Sciences, he obtained a Specialized Master in Journalism and Institutional Communication of Science