Health experts talk about it

Therapeutic magnets are attracting renewed interest from the medical profession because of their effectiveness and safety, and also because of the discovery of their mechanisms of action on pain in human and animal pathology. Therapeutic magnets are effective because they combine three effects:

They reduce the action potential of the C fibres of peripheral nerves, which means that they reduce the transmission to the brain of pain messages carried by the nerves in the painful area. They induce a very weak electric current (not perceptible to the consciousness of the person being treated) in the vessels under the skin in the area where they are applied. This is the principle of magnetic conduction (Faraday's law). The brain locates this ‘aggressor’ signal, geo-locates it and in response produces endorphins (our strongest natural painkillers) which it directs via the bloodstream to the area of the electromagnetic signal. Medical magnets therefore stimulate the secretion of our powerful endogenous opioids to give us relief.

Also since the discovery of magnetic fields for diagnostic purposes, we know from magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) that a diseased area has its magnetic field disturbed, resulting in an abnormal image. Therapeutic magnets enable the original magnetic field of the damaged area to be re-established, which can only contribute to a return to normal of the diseased area and therefore help it to heal. This is known as the return to a state of magnetic homeostasis. In terms of tolerance, it is exceptional. Continuous-field magnetic waves have no harmful effects, there is no irradiation as with X-rays, and no risk of burns as with electrotherapy. At the very most, for some people, magnets in direct contact with the skin may cause some benign local skin reactions that are reversible when the magnets are stopped. This is never the case with magnets embedded in textiles.

Japanese researchers Y. Satow, K. Matsnami and T. Kawashima have demonstrated that under the effect of a continuous magnetic field, the tension of muscle fibres decreases, which leads to relaxation and facilitates muscle relaxation. Continuous magnetic fields create a ‘magnetic bubble’ of uniform intensity, conducive to relaxation. When your body is immersed in this magnetic field, it is protected from electro-magnetic waves and the natural fluctuations of the Hartmann terrestrial network, giving you both physical and psychological well-being.

Pain affects everyone, and it's no great surprise that it mainly affects the back, shoulder, knee, wrist and hand. Until very recently, immobilisation of the painful joint was widely recommended.

But it is movement that recycles the synovial fluid that gives joints their viscoelastic properties and provides them with nutrients. In other words, it is movement that ‘greases and nourishes’ the joints.

As a preventive or curative measure, therapeutic magnets help with movement and thus nourish the cartilage.

Since the American study by R Tao and K Huang, we've known that continuous magnetic fields promote veno-lymphatic drainage through a blood-thinning, ‘aspirin-like’ effect.

Magnetic fields align red blood cells in the direction of flow by polarising intra-cellular iron, thereby reducing friction in the vessels.

Magnetic fields also change the shape of the red blood cells, grouping them into strings.

All these mechanisms work together to reduce blood viscosity, which, when excessive, can lead to cardiovascular accidents.