IS THE pain relief that magnetic bracelets appear to give people with conditions like osteoarthritis just one more example of the placebo effect? Probably, suggests the latest study.
Studying this issue systematically is difficult because blinded trials depend on patients not knowing whether they have been given the real treatment or a placebo. But it is obvious whether or not a bracelet is magnetic: either it sticks to metal objects or it doesn鈥檛.
To get around this, a team led by Tim Harlow, a UK doctor from Cullompton, Devon, introduced a second type of control. They gave 194 people with osteoarthritis of the hip or knee a weakly magnetic bracelet, a non-magnetic or a strongly magnetic one.
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After 12 weeks of wearing the bracelets all day, all three groups reported less pain. The groups wearing magnetic bracelets did report less pain than the third group. But there was no statistically significant difference in perceived pain between the two groups wearing magnetic bracelets, as would be expected if the magnetism was having a physical effect (British Medical Journal, vol 329, p 1450).
鈥淭he placebo effect is much more likely than any actual effect,鈥� says Mark Winemiller of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, whose own studies show magnetic insoles are no better than placebos for relieving heel pain. But even if it is all in the mind, at least magnetic bracelets won鈥檛 harm your body. And at around 拢50 they don鈥檛 hurt your bank balance much either.
