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TREATMENT BASICS Professional versus Home Use

Whether a system is only used by a professional or not is typically limited by field strength, FDA approval, risk, cost or whether covered by insurance or it’s specified use is for tissue destruction. The professional systems are of higher field strengths and risks, have FDA approval, cost most and/or used for tissue destruction are covered by insurance. In my experience, as of 2004, most effective, non-professional magnetic therapy systems are not covered by insurance. This simply has to do with the lack of costly research studies. Most companies that develop and supply these effective systems are small and not well capitalized (unlike pharmaceutical companies), so this level of research is not done. This does not mean that evidence shows that they are not effective, there simply is no evidence.

I have made my career focused on accumulating background evidence and gathering confidence about the expected effects of magnetic fields on health. This website wouldn’t exist if I had found absolutely no research evidence, negative evidence or lacked personal experience of clinical benefit for magnetic therapy. These books are good resources for evidence or have clinically applicable value:

I have excluded recommending published books that base too much value on north versus south polarity. Even if the polarity issue is moot, what isn’t is that magnetic fields do act positively on human functioning. After 15 years of using all kinds of magnetic systems for a vast array of medical conditions, I still pay no attention to polarity and haven’t noticed any problems doing so. I also have extensive experience using bipolar fields, likewise with no significant loss of benefit.

Since there is no material scientific backing to the benefits or risks of north versus south polarity, accepting this concept and basing treatment solely on this is an act of faith. If a user can’t assess the scientific validity of claims, their acceptance of what is written becomes a matter of faith, not science, that the proponent is correct. Most people would like their doctors to have some basis in science to back their recommendations. I am open to non-substantiated treatments where there is no evidence, as long as there is a high likelihood of no harm. Where experience and evidence exist, they have to be given some credit. If the evidence, other than hearsay or anecdote becomes available, as any good physician or scientist would, I will integrate the information and adjust my position and therapy recommendations. 

Since I have spent considerable effort and traditional professional risk to learn and analyze many cross-disciplinary concepts and information, I have a unique perspective, straddling conventional medical processes and non-conventional, healing tradition-based systems. The expectations of a healer, any healer, will still create benefits, even if the conceptual basis is not correct. This applies to me too. While I have very traditional medical training and post-medical, Master’s level training in medical research methods, I have always believed that a human being is much bigger and plenipotentiary than perceived or conceived by conventional scientific methods. Scientific knowledge is limited by the evidence gathered. Do we know more than we don’t?  Humility is necessary when facing the realities of the universe and creation.

Another reason I became interested in and supported MF therapy is because it had the capacity to allow people to become independent in self-care. I will usually recommend self-empowerment or self-reliance over frequent visits to professionals. If a system has the ability to allow safe long term, home-based use, I would normally recommend this type of system over office-based professional systems, as long as benefits are expected to be comparable. Office-based professional systems, if they have some risk and should be best managed by a well-trained professional, have their place too. This is not frequent. Office-based treatments can be very expensive and offer no more benefit than self-treatment systems. Sometimes this option is not available. With magnets it usually is.

Go to the next topic: Using Magnetized Water

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