Kerry Baker comments:
----------
>
> Thank you for your enquiry regarding magnet therapy. There has been a
move
> towards the use of randomized controlled trials as the ultimate test of
> efficacy of treatment modalities. I am sure you are aware that controlled
> trials are superior to uncontrolled trials, and that clinical observation
> most closely approximates the latter. Therefore, I hope you treat any
> clinical reports of efficacy of magnetic therapy with the contempt they
> deserve.
>
> However, despite the obvious advantages of controlled trials over
clinical
> observation, there may be efficacy criteria superior to randomized
> controlled trials. That is logical possibility. Is it logically
conceivable
> that magnets could be of therapeutic benefit? Consideration of the
> pathophysiological lack of response to the most powerful magnetic field
in
> use in medicine today, MRI, lends us to suppose that that magnets are
> extremely unlikely to be of therapeutic benefit. Nevertheless, please do
> not let me dissuade you from conducting a high quality randomized
> controlled trial of magnetic therapy (little else will suffice if your
> enquiry is more than a joke) despite the poor chance of a positive result
> from such an effort.
>
> Kind Regards,
>
> Kerry G. Baker
> ____________________________________
> Kerry Baker
> Lecturer
> School of Physiotherapy
> Cumberland Campus
> The University of Sydney
> East Street
> LIDCOMBE NSW 2141
> ph: 9351 9706
> fax: 9351 9278
You would certainly have come across as less pedantical if you had simply
said that you believe magnets don't work. Your close-mindedness is self
evident.
It is unfortunate that in your academic life you ignore what is occuring in
the real world. Patients are asking - and in some cases, demanding -
providers to offer alternatives, including magnet therapy, to surgery and
drugs. Some patients are experiencing measurable results from these
modalities. Consider the recent studies at Baylor College of Medicine
("Study on Using Magnets to Treat Pain Surprises Skeptics," Lawrence K.
Altman, MD, original article from New York Times, December 9, 1997, and
"Magnets Attracting Attention for Pain," HealthNews, January 9, 1998) and
Vanderbilt University Medical Center ("Magnets for Pain #1238," Medical
Breakthroughs, Ivanhoe Broadcast News, 1998).
Where would we be if we listened to the skeptics and ignored each new
discovery with potential to help reduce the pain and heal our patients? You
may disbelieve the clinical environment, but it is here where the provider
and the patient must interact and find a way to improve the patient's
quality of life.
Jon Leer
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