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Magnetic therapy, also known as magnet therapy, or magnotherapy is a form of alternative medicine involving magnetic fields. Margnetic therapists claim that by subjecting certain parts of the body to doses of magnetic fields they may positively influence a person's health.

Like many alternative and complimentary forms of medicine, magnetic therapy is scientifically unproven. This means there is no certainty that it has any effect at all. Even though some people may still strongly feel magnetic therapy has helped them, this could merely be due to the "placebo effect" (the positive psychological effect of doing something which you firmly believe is beneficial for you.)

If it does not do any good, does magnotherapy do any harm?

There are two ways in which magnetic therapy can be harmful. First of all, it may prevent people who are seriously ill from being properly treated and / or diagnosed. Magnetic therapists are not doctors. If a patient is having symptoms that point to a serious health risk, a magnetic therapist may not realise this. The more extreme claims of magnetic therapy, such as curing cancer by hanging supermagnets around your neck, are not only nonsense but quite dangerous, since they may divert patients from seeking appropriate treatment from mainstream medicine. The patient, meanwhile, will have a sense of false security believing that the problems are being treated. In some cases, people may die from illnesses that could have been prevented.

A second danger is that magnotherapy has been very much commercialized. Magnotherapy has turned into an industry involving the sale of magnetic-based products for "healing" purposes, such as magnetic bracelets and jewelry, magnetic straps for wrists and ankles, shoe insoles, mattresses and even water that has been "magnetized". These items are usually much more expensive than their actual value would suggest. Magnetic jewelry and most other magnetic-therapy products probably are most likely a waste of money. Effectively, the magnotherapy industry is making a considerable profit exploiting people who are not aware that magnet therapy lacks any scientific confirmation.

Scientific evidence about magnetic therapy

Explanations of magnetic therapy are ambiguous, vague and often in conflict with actual scientific evidence. Advocates of magnet therapy claim that magnets can help decrease pain levels but they fail to explain exactly how this occurs. Some supporters suggest the magnetic field

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