Physicians in all medical fields have been studying the effects of magnets on pain, and now the sports medicine field is paying especially close attention. When studying how something can change the healing process sports medicine professionals are always looking at the athlete’s health first. Using magnets instead of medications has several benefits including the fact that there are no drugs used when treating injuries with magnets. This reduces the risk of detrimental side effects and also helps to ensure that the athlete is fully alert, rather than groggy from taking pain medications.

It is important however to note that the magnets that medical development is using, is not the standard magnet that you find on your refrigerator. Instead, medical technology is developing biomagnets that are much more effective, and offer the maximum benefits. In addition to treating simple sore areas from injuries, magnets are being used in research to determine their ability to help ease the symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome as well. The potential benefits to pain treatment are incredible.

Through the continued research into magnets as well as sports medicine fields it seems that the use of magnets is highly anticipated. Doctors have suggested that using the appropriate magnet can reduce healing time for many injuries by as much as half. These types of results are simply phenomenal in a field where quick recovery can mean the difference between a sports career, and sitting on the sidelines watching.

At this time, the number of doctors actively involved in the research of biomagnets if relatively small, however with growing numbers appearing it is a trend that is expected to grow even more in the coming months and years. Many are hoping that the use of the biomagnets will replace all standard heat and ice treatments that athletes are forced to use currently to help speed healing to injuries. While the use of magnets at this point is highly limited, there are many who are carefully watching developments for encouraging signs.

Regardless of sport, magnetic therapy has proven to be a highly effective and versatile treatment option that doctors have to use. With magnets used in various methods, including bracelets and wraps there is almost no limit to the type of injury that is expected to be treatable using magnetic therapy. Sports medicine doctors particularly are looking at the research as highly encouraging because of the vast amount of injuries that they see yearly.

In the meantime, while research continues unfortunately most athletes are forced to continue using the methods of heat and ice to help promote faster healing for their injuries. Once the research is developed further, we can expect that it will be widely available to all athletes, as well as non-athletes alike. From start to finish, magnetic therapy has offered a peek at a much easier and smoother treatment option and while research continues to suggest it is right around the corner there are many who are anxiously awaiting.

For those who are able to see benefits of magnetic therapy now, the results are amazing and provide immediately lower pain levels regardless of whether the pain is from the knee, neck, arm, back, shoulder, or anywhere else. Using the small magnets is a wave from the future and the sports medicine field is anxiously awaiting to see what other great developments are unraveled as the research continues into this important pain relief treatment.

This article was published April 8th, 2009

http://www.blogomator.com/blog/sports-medicine-ventures-into-magnetic-therapy-5/

Almost a year later, there was little sign of improvement. “He would open his eyes, but he was not responsive to any external stimuli in his environment,” says Theresa Pape of the US Department of Veterans Affairs in Chicago, who helped treat him.

Usually there is little more that can be done for people in this condition. Villa was to be sent home to Rockford, Illinois, where his mother, Laurie McAndrews, had volunteered to care for him.

But Pape had a different suggestion. She enrolled him in a six-week study in which an electromagnetic coil was held over the front of his head to stimulate the underlying brain tissue. Such transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) has been investigated as a way of treating migraine, stroke, Parkinson’s disease and depression, with some promising results, but this is the first time it has been used as a potential therapy for someone in a coma-like state.

The rapidly changing magnetic fields that the coil creates can be used either to excite or inhibit brain cells - making it easier or harder for them to communicate with one another. In Villa’s case, the coil was used to excite brain cells in the right prefrontal dorsolateral cortex. This area has strong connections to the brainstem, which sends out pulses to the rest of the brain that tell it to pay attention. “It’s like an ‘OK, I’m awake’ pulse,” says Pape.

At first, there was little change in Villa’s condition, but after around 15 sessions something happened. “You started talking to him and he would turn his head and look at you,” says McAndrews. “That was huge.”

Villa started obeying one-step commands, such as following the movement of a thumb and speaking single words. “They were very slurred but they were there,” says Pape, who presented her findings this month at an international meeting on brain stimulation at the University of Göttingen, Germany. “He’d say like ‘erm’, ‘help’, ‘help me’.”

After the 30 planned sessions the TMS was stopped. Without it, Villa became very tired and his condition declined a little, but he was still much better than before. Six weeks later he was given another 10 sessions, but there were no further improvements and he was sent home, where he remains today.

Villa is by no means cured. But he is easier to care for and can interact with visitors such as his girlfriend, who has stuck by him following the accident. “When you talk to him he will move his mouth to show he is listening,” McAndrews says. “If I ask him, ‘Do you love me?’ he’ll do two slow eye blinks, yes. Some people would say it’s not much, but he’s improving and that’s the main thing.”

John Whyte of the Moss Rehabilitation Research Institute in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, cautions that as intriguing as Villa’s case is, it alone does not show that TMS is a useful treatment. “Even after eight months, it is not uncommon for patients to transition from the vegetative to the minimally conscious state without any particular intervention,” he points out. He says TMS merits further investigation, along with other experimental treatments such as drugs which have temporarily roused three men from a coma, and deep brain stimulation, an invasive technique that roused a man out of a minimally conscious state.

“This is the first and very interesting use of repetitive TMS in coma,” says Steven Laureys of the Coma Research Group at the University of Liège in Belgium. Our understanding of disorders of consciousness is so limited that even a single study can provide new insights, he says.

Pape acknowledges that further studies are needed to demonstrate that TMS really is beneficial, though she is convinced that it helped Villa. He had only been given a 20 to 40 per cent chance of long-term recovery, and until he was given TMS his functioning had not improved since about four months after the accident. What’s more, after the 15th TMS session, he improved incrementally with each session - further evidence that TMS was the cause.

Pape hopes to begin treating a second patient in a coma-like state later this year. This time she plans to adjust the number of pulses of TMS in each train, and to alter the gap between pulses to see if there is an optimum interval.

McAndrews is also in no doubt that her son’s quality of life has improved as a result of TMS. “Before I felt like he was not responsive, that he was depressed almost. Now you move him around and he complains - he can show emotions on that level.”

See “Editorial: improving the lot of coma patients”

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Loriann Davis, Shelton WA

J.G.  from Federal Way, WA

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Christie from Tacoma

Sarah

I had heard about the use of these magnetic collars, from Epic Magnetics, being used as therapy for hyper dogs and thought I would give it a try. I did some research and found out that in addition to helping dogs who have chronic health conditions feel more energetic and normal; the magnets often have a calming effect on high energy dogs that are healthy.

What I found after purchasing the collar and having Duke wear it surprised and impressed me. In just a few days, he seemed to listen to and obey commands more consistently and just generally seemed more tranquil and gentle than he had previously been!

Besides the overall positive effect of the magnetic collar itself, I was very happy with the quality and design. It was custom made for Duke out of very “masculine” camouflage material, and a great fit. The material itself is tough and durable, much needed in our case, and it is very well made.

My overall satisfaction with the product couldn’t be greater and I have and will continue to highly recommend these collars, from Epic Magnetics, to anyone who owns a dog whether it is young, old, healthy or ailing.