BMJ  2006;332:180 (21 January), doi:10.1136/bmj.332.7534.180-c

Letter

Don't discount magnet therapy

The first 100% of the full text of this article appears below.

Editor—Not all magnetic devices are equally non-efficacious.¹ Magnetic fields from bracelets and such may have little effect on human tissue, but it would be wrong to discount all effect on human tissue, even theoretically.

There is a strong research literature using transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to induce neuronal firing in the brain and spinal cord.² Small pilot studies have been done using this technique in, for example, stroke,³ and Parkinson's disease,⁴ as well as many other neurological and psychiatric conditions. A neglect-like syndrome can be transiently induced in health subjects,⁵ shedding light on physiological and cognitive processes. While no large clinical trials have been done yet, it is crucial that not all magnetic therapy should be discounted.

Sobell Department of Motor Neuroscience, Institute of Neurology, London WC1N BG jteo@ion.ucl.ac.uk

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Competing interests: JTHT is a clinical researcher working in neurophysiology.

1. Finegold L, Flamm BL. Magnet therapy. BMJ 2006;332: 4. (7 January.)[Free Full Text]
2. Liepert J; Transcranial magnetic stimulation in neurorehabilitation; Acta Neurochir 2005;93(suppl): 71-4.
3. Mansur CG, Fregni F, Boggio PS, Riberto M, Gallucci-Neto J, Santos CM, et al. A sham stimulation-controlled trial of rTMS of the unaffected hemisphere in stroke patients. Neurology 2005;64: 1802-4.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
4. Khedr EM, Farweez HM, Islam H. Therapeutic effect of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation on motor function in Parkinson's disease patients. Eur J Neurol 2003;10: 567-72.[CrossRef][ISI][Medline]
5. Fierro B, Brighina F, Oliveri M, Piazza A, La Bua V, Buffa D, Bisiach E. Contralateral neglect induced by right posterior parietal rTMS in healthy subjects. Neuroreport 2000;11: 1519-21.[ISI][Medline]

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Magnet therapy

Leonard Finegold and Bruce L Flamm
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