SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE SUPPORTING BIOMAGNETIC THERAPY

Most research on biomagnetic therapy has been done on magnetic effects on the brain and neurological disorders. It has been recognized that electricity and magnetism are independent but yet are still connected, passing a current through a coil of wire causes a magnetic field that is perpendicular to the current flow in the coil. (6) The type of magnetic therapy being used in the scientific arena most often is transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). The Archives of General Psychology, in an article titled ?Transcranial Magnetic Stimulations: Applications in Neuropsychiatry? by Mark S. George MD, describes the process as placing an electromagnetic coil on the scalp, while a high-intensity current is rapidly turned on and off. It produces a magnetic field that lasts for an extremely short amount of time (100 to 200 microseconds). The strength of the magnetic field is 40,000 times greater than the earth?s magnetic field. This causes a sufficient current in the brain to produce neuronal depolarization. The treatment is not a pleasant one and the higher the frequencies the greater the pain. The pain is felt in the facial and scalp muscles that result in muscle tension headaches. The headaches can be alleviated with aspirin. These are the only know adverse effects of this treatment.
A study has show that TMS has beneficial effects on people with severe depression by applying slow repetitive TMS to the right prefrontal area of the brain. The objective of the experiment was ?to asses the efficacy of slow repetitive TMS (rTMS- random transcranial magnetic stimulation) in patients with major depression. 70 patients with major depression participated in the experiment and were randomly assigned to receive rTMS or sham rTMS (placebo rTMS) in a double blind study. The participants were given 10 daily treatments during a two-week period. The patients? mental states were assessed before, during, and after the treatment. The findings were that the patients who received rTMS had significantly greater improvement in their ?depression score? than those who received the sham treatment. The conclusion is that the short-term efficacy of slow rTMS improves the mental states of those who are diagnosed as having recurrent major depression. (7)
Another study supporting biomagnetic therapy, specifically TMS, is focused on the effects of TMS on the treatment of mood improvement. The title of the experiment is ?Mood Improvement Following Daily Left Prefrontal Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation in Patients With Depression: A Placebo-Controlled Crossover Trial?. The objective of this experiment was to confirm that the daily use of rTMS might have antidepressant effects. 12 depressed adults participated, and over a four-week period, they received 2 weeks of active treatment and 2 weeks of sham treatment. The results, based on the Hamilton depression scale, were that those individuals who had the rTMS had improved moods than those who had the sham treatment. The study suggest that daily rTMS has positive effects on depressed individuals; the treatment acts as an antidepressant. (8)
The effects of rTMS on Epilepsy also support the theory of magnetic therapy. An experiment called the ?Low-Frequency Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Improves Intractable Epilepsy? was published in The Lancet in 1999. (9) The objective of the experiment was to find out if rTMS would give benefits to patients with epilepsy on the basis of animal experiments that have shown that low-frequency repetitive electrical stimulation blocked the development of seizures in rats. 9 patients participated in the study, all of whom had medically refractory focal epilepsies with very frequent partial and secondary generalized seizures. On average, each person was having 7 seizures per week prior to the treatment. The treatment, rTMS, was administered on 5 consecutive days at 2 trains of 500 pulses placed over the vertex. For 4 weeks prior to and 4 weeks after the treatment, the participants were required to record every seizure or seizure-like event. The results: 8 patients found improvement in the number of or severity (or both) of seizures per week after the having had the treatment, 2 patients had partial seizures directly after the rTMS, and the number of seizures per week did not increase in any of the participants. The conclusion was that low-frequency rTMS may temporarily improve intractable epilepsy but that in order to be conclusive of the claim, more studies should be done.
Other studies dealing with such issues as ulcers of the limbs, bone healing, and chronic wounds have been conducted that support biomagnetic therapy. The following reports are from abstracts only.
A study on the effects of various magnetic currents on patients with trophic ulcers of the lower limbs was conducted in 1998 by Alekseenko AV et al. (10). 74 patients participated and after 10-12 days of the treatment, (magnetic therapy in form of varying magnetic currents: continuous, alternating, and ?running? impulse), the surface of the wounds had ?cleaned form necrotic tissues, surrounding inflammatory changes eliminated, epithelization of the wounds began.? The conclusion is that a magnetic current, when applied to trophic ulcers of the lower limbs, begins the healing process of the damaged area.
A study of the effects of static magnetic and pulsed electromagnetic fields on bone healing was conducted in 1997 by Darendeliler MA et all. (11) The purpose of the experiment was to assess ?the healing pattern of an experimentally induced osteotomy in Hartley guinea pigs in the presence of static magnetic and pulsed electromagnetic fields.? The experiment used 30 pigs that were divided into 3 groups- control, static magnetic, and pulsed electromagnetic. After undergoing an osteotomy, the pigs were places in their respective treatments or lack there of for 9 days. The results showed that both static and pulsed electromagnetic fields seemed to speed up the rate of bone repair in comparison with the control group, for the control group only had connective tissue and the other groups had filled in the osteotomy area with new bone. This study, because it was done on animals, does not automatically mean that it applies to human bone, but it does give reason to perform further experiments in this field.
In 1998, Toledo Hospital in Ohio conducted a case study about the use of magnetic therapy on a chronic abdominal wound. The case study involves a 51-year-old paraplegic woman who had had an abdominal wound for one year. After exhausting traditional approaches to cure the wound, she allowed a magnet to be placed over her wound dressing. The results: after 1 month, the wound was completely healed. (12) This study also warrants for more studies to be conducted on the use of magnets.

Source : http://www.vanderbilt.edu