Arthritis

There are no cures for most forms of arthritis. It is the one of the most frustrating conditions for physicians to deal with. The most common treatments are painkillers and anti-inflammatory medications which have many side effects, can damage kidneys, stomachs and livers and have the risk of addiction. The key issue in managing it is delaying or stopping progression, reducing severity and improving function without toxicity or side effects or resorting to invasive procedures. Arthritis is one of the most responsive conditions to magnetic therapies. If someone says magnetic therapy doesn’t work for their arthritis, they are probably not using the right magnetic field or are not using it right. In my experience almost everyone benefits.

Arthritis, which is inflammation of a joint, is usually a progressive and chronic condition and can cause a range of symptoms: pain, swelling, joint stiffness, decreased mobility, decreased strength, thickening around joints, loss of cartilage, inflammation, osteophytes and the risk of infection. As result of the chronic pain and dysfunction, it additionally causes depression, insomnia, stress and disability.  All joints in the body can be involved. Depending on the cause, some joints are more likely than others to be affected. Almost all people have some arthritis, which is more common and obvious as we get older and involves many joints. The most common locations for arthritis are: hands, spine, knees, hips, and shoulders.

Two main forms of arthritis: degenerative and inflammatory.

Inflammatory causes, particularly autoimmune conditions, including rheumatoid and psoriatic arthritis, lupus, etc., are more complicated to manage and are often more damaging. These types are also more prone to wax and wane based on emotional, environmental, nutritional and infectious stresses. So, daily stress reduction is critical for repair and decreasing progression. They are also more likely to benefit from supplements supporting anti-oxidant functions.

Degenerative arthritis, also called osteoarthritis, the most common form, is usually caused by wear and tear (repetitive stress) or excess loads. The joint stress wears out the cartilage. The body tries to repair it by inducing inflammation and swelling with bone or calcium build up at the joint margins. This results in nodules in the joints – especially seen in the hands. This type is usually very slowly progressive. Injuries involving joints will often result in arthritis years later. New information suggests that running high blood sugar levels predisposes to osteoarthritis.

Allergies, infections or deposits of crystals cause other forms of arthritis, such as in gout.

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How can magnetic Field treatment help with Arthritis?

Treatment Goals
One should always attempt to remove the cause or progression may not be halted, even with magnetic therapy. The MF treatments will work at the energy level, on the acupuncture system and systemic levels as well as directly on the cells themselves. Appropriate basic conventional support is still needed, like stretching, heat, ice, braces, etc. Use of medications is often significantly reduced when MF therapy is used regularly.

The primary goals are to reduce:

• pain
• edema
• joint stiffness
• thickening around the joints
• loss of cartilage
• inflammation
• osteophytes
• increase mobility and
• increase strength.

The secondary goals are to assist with:

• sleep
• depression
• irritability and
• stress.

As a result dependence on medications should be less and make the likelihood of surgery less.

The expected time interval for seeing benefits will depend on the cause and its removal, how much arthritis there is in the body, how deep it is, the severity and how long it was present and adherence to other good treatments.

Recall the layers of a disease or condition to get some sense of how long it might take to get a benefit. Unrealistic expectations will lead to  a wrong conclusion of lack of benefit. The condition didn’t get there overnight, and won’t go away overnight. Medications that give relief don’t usually produce reversal of the arthritis. MFs, especially PEMFs (which are strong enough to go all the way through a joint and stimulate tissue repair) have a chance of slowing progression or reversing the arthritis, in addition to giving symptom relief.

With magnetic therapies, pain relief and improvement of sleep or mood is usually seen within hours to days. Stiffness, strength and range of motion often require several weeks to significantly improve.  A sense of improvement will be the greatest in the first few weeks and then progress may seem to stop or slow a lot.. You need to have faith that continuous improvement will happen, even though more slowly, over months, if not years. This depends on how badly the joints have been affected. I remind people, they didn’t get to their current state overnight, so they won’t recover overnight.  People are amazed at how much progress is made, when they look back a year later.

Treatment of arthritis is a long-term process. There are no magic bullets. Even joint replacements eventually fail and there is a limit to how many joints can be replaced. Starting magnetic treatments early in the course of arthritic change stands the best chance of stopping or slowing the arthritis. Slowing of progression or development has been demonstrated dramatically in research in dogs. Some research in humans indicates that early treatment can recover joints in some circumstances. The challenge in research has been lack of studies of long-term use. Short term randomized controlled studies in humans have shown signs of improvement in knee osteoarthritis symptoms and function.

When all the joint cartilage is gone and the pain is moderate to severe, the primary benefit really offered by magnetic therapy is to reduce or avoid strong painkillers. That is still a reasonable and often necessary goal. Joint replacement may be a justifiable option at this point in the condition. Even before and after joint replacement magnetic field therapy can still be useful to reduce pain and discomfort from the surgery but also to improve the”osteointegration” of the joint prosthesis.

Medications and supplements can and should be used together in a comprehensive treatment program. Other modalities such as acupuncture, massage, manipulation and physical therapy can be used concurrently. I emphasize and encourage daily magnetic therapy in the home. This can’t be done with other modalities, which  are used less often and require visits to practitioners.

Remember, symptom relief is all you can expect from typical conventional medications. They just don’t stop, slow or reverse the arthritis process at a structural tissue level. Deep acting magnets and PEMFs are most likely to not only give relief, but also to have a chance to stop, slow or reverse the arthritis process at a structural level. PEMF treatments can be used for up to 1-2 hours per day if needed, depending on the system being used. Daily use is probably going to be the most useful, especially to stop, slow or reverse the arthritis process.

I am reminded of a somewhat crusty, older gentleman who saw me for his spinal arthritis. I treated him with a back magnetic pad. When he came back 2 weeks later, I asked him how he was. He said “no better.” I then asked, “well then, how’s your back?” He replied, “Oh that’s better, but I’m no better!” The progress people make with magnetic fields, doesn’t always make everything else better too. But … miracles do happen.

Local vs. whole body application

As long as the MFs are strong enough to get all the way through the affected joint/s, most types of fields will deliver considerable benefits to the arthritis sufferer. I usually recommend whole body treatments at least once or twice a day since most people with arthritis have multiple joints involved. In addition individual, joints should also be separately treated with local magnetic fields and selected based on pain or disability. Rotating treatments among individual joints would help if home treatments were done regularly.

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One of the most frustrating areas of arthritis to treat successfully with any modality is the spine, especially spinal stenosis. There is virtually no treatment that will stop the progression of spinal stenosis. Many of these people require strong daily medications, often narcotics. The spinal joints are very deep and not easily accessible to most treatment modalities. Steroid injections are of limited value. Surgery is a last resort and usually not very successful. MFs are the only treatment I know of that will act at the spinal joints themselves without harm or risk. Other than pain medications and acupuncture, none can act deep enough to help at the level of the involved spinal joints. Assistance with pain relief is important but I always want to stop, reverse or slow progression, and magnetic therapy is the only approach that has the potential benefit to do that.

Static or permanent magnets
The biggest challenges in using static magnets are having strong enough magnets to adequately treat the whole joint, to treat multiple joints throughout the body simultaneously , to limit the treatment time and the problems of applying the magnets to and keeping them on the body. When single, smaller joints close to the skin surface are involved, static magnets work very well. Magnetic wraps with multi-polar patterns or multiple individual magnets work very well. The wraps with individual magnets are often available with much stronger magnets, so the magnetic fields go deep enough. The larger joints – knees and hips are usually too large and deep to benefit from static magnets to any great degree.

If a magnet is not helping with joint pain, the first thing to do is to increase the field strength, since the magnet may not be getting a strong enough action at the place in the joint generating the pain. If this doesn’t work, increase the treatment time or try different placements. Sometimes it may be necessary to stimulate the joint/s and simultaneously to treat acupuncture points near the joint/s.  Eastern European doctors would often add magnets to the spinal part governing the joint/s involved, since pain signals are transmitted through the spinal cord . By decreasing the pain signal transmission at least some pain reduction can be accomplished. I will use a strong magnetic field over the neck for upper extremity joints and over the lower back for joints below that level.

PEMFs
The beauty of PEMFs is that it almost doesn’t matter how strong the field is to get a reasonable measure of relief. Treatment doesn’t need to be for extended periods. There are no special placement needs. Many different frequencies have been successfully used. Use a magnetic field system that will treat both the whole body and individual joints. It may be helpful to select a system that will simultaneously treat the whole body and individual areas at the same time, to allow more efficient use of time. For example, laying on one’s back on a whole body PEMF pad and using a pillow applicator over individual joints for 15-30 minutes, will accomplish the same thing as using multiple strong static magnets for possibly hours. Key is daily use and preferably at least 2 times a day.

Key to success is daily use – twice a day if you can. In the morning to wake up the cells. In the evening to clean out the effects of the day’s stresses on the body. You can still use the system mid-day if needed for any other given problem/s.  Arthritis specific treatment settings and pillow/pad placements may be combined in any given treatment session with Health Maintenance settings.

Others
Other types of electromagnetic therapies are helpful such as:

• laser
• infrared
• electrical stimulation
• diathermy
• millimeter waves
• microwave resonance
• qui machines, etc.

Most of these are best for more superficial applications. They are best for pain, edema and inflammation. For most of these the more limited depth of penetration is a consideration, especially for large joints. Also, they are typically used for individual joints and so whole body treatment is severely limited. Many are only available in doctors’ or therapists’ offices and require payment for each treatment session.

I will use some of these other types of therapies in the office setting for more severe pain, swelling and joint stiffness, alongside the whole body PEMFs to get the best short-term help. Home-based PEMFs would then continue to be used lifelong, for both treatment and prevention. Remember, whole body PEMFs also give the many additional advantages of supporting the rest of the body too and being useable for other organs, tissues, functions and problems.

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Specific magnetic field devices

Since the recommended devices can have complicated set-ups and treatment regimens and often do not come with explicit directions, consultation is the best way to get individually tailored protocols, specific to any given individual’s unique overall health issues or needs.  Otherwise, the manufacturer’s directions can be a starting place.

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Always check for sensitivity when you start. If you think you may be sensitive, or know you are, “start low and go slow” in advancing intensity and time settings.

In addition:

• Always treat your day’s water ration on the system with you in the morning – preferably in a glass container without a metal lid.
• Take your morning supplements before you get on the system. There are no supplements I know of no supplements that have to be avoided with these treatments.
• Have a drink of water – at least 10-16 ounces before you get on the system.
• Have your breakfast first to stimulate digestion.
• Let your body tell you what it needs in terms of settings, length of treatments and/or placements of applicators.
• It doesn’t matter when supplements are taken relative to magnetic field therapy. In the ideal circumstance they should be taken about half an hour to one hour before the magnetics treatment.
• Key is daily use – twice a day if you can. In the morning to wake up the cells. In the evening to clean out the effects of the day’s stresses on the body. You can still use the system mid-day if needed for any other given problem/s. Health Maintenance settings may be combined at any given treatment session with treatment settings and pillow/pad placements as needed.
• In the morning: If sensitive, start at the lowest intensity setting and gradually- typically every 3-4 days -  increase the intensity until the strongest setting is reached. If not sensitive, typically start the mid-range and increase the intensity, by one or two levels day by day until the strongest intensity is reached. Once the strongest intensity is reached, you can stay at that level or whatever level seems to produce the best results from then on, unless you have a reaction or your intuition tells you another intensity is preferred.
• In the evening: you may need to use a lower intensity just before bedtime in case the body may become over stimulated and interfere with sleep. However this will be an individual consideration and you may have to try different intensities to find what works best for you, balancing symptom reduction and achieving sleep. You may also find that you may use stronger intensities before bedtime for a short period of time for arthritis symptom management followed by other frequency or intensity settings that may enhance sleep.

How to use static magnets for arthritis
Static or permanent magnets can be useful for individual superficial joints. They can also be used as individual magnets if there are specific tender points around a joint, even though they may not treat the entire joint. The small permanent magnets are more useful wrapped or taped to small joints near the skin surface, such as, hand or foot joints, the acromioclavicular joint, rib joints or TMJs.

Because magnetic field strength drops off so rapidly, permanent magnets work best on these small, near the surface (superficial) joints. Large joints, such as the knees or hips or deep joints like those in the spine, don’t lend themselves well to permanent magnets. Can these help, yes, they often do but they don’t accomplish my primary goal of getting the field deep into the joint to do its work. Wrapping a flexible material with many magnets woven or sewn into it may work to give better relief. When all the joint cartilage is gone, relief is still a reasonable goal. Joint replacement may be a justifiable option at this point in the condition. Even before and after joint replacement magnetic field therapy can still be useful to reduce pain and discomfort from the surgery but also to improve the”osteointegration” of the joint prosthesis.

Do not wear static magnets all day every day. Give the body a break, a chance to rebalance itself every day. To prevent morning stiffness and gelling, use them at night. If symptoms are worse as the day wears on, with activity or standing, put them on in the morning for the day or otherwise as needed for part of the day. On occasion, I will recommend static magnets to be placed all day for several days just to initiate a treatment program. After significant improvement is achieved, then the magnets can be used for parts of the day/night.

Go to my Product Reviews for more information on specific magnetic field devices.

Nutrition

Most conventional day-to-day treatments for arthritis, e.g., the anti-inflammatories and “pain killers” are simply helping with symptoms. In the long-term they may even worsen the arthritis, because of the basic underlying actions of these medications. Their anti-inflammatory actions also have important immune suppressant effects – for example, significantly reducing the body’s levels of vitamin C, among others.  Some supplements are more than symptom modifiers. They are structure modifiers – as are magnetic fields. This means nutritional supplements are likely in the long term to actually improve the joints, without causing long term joint deterioration. The combination of these agents and magnetic fields even better, since magnetic fields enhance absorption of medications by the gut and through cell membranes to where they need to do their work.

More Nutritional, supplement and lifestyle recommendations…

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