Books about the healing and therapeutic effects of magnets can be found in libraries, in bookstores, and on various consumer websites.¹^–⁵ Magnetic therapy includes a variety of approaches, which can be divided into electromagnetic or pulsed fields (PEMF) and static magnetic fields (SMF). PEMF requires an electronic circuit or power source to alter electromagnetic fields and has been demonstrated to facilitate a variety of biological effects.² SMFs are produced by strong static magnets of varying size, polarity, and strength, which do not require an electrical current. In Susan’s case the therapist added static magnets to her plan of care, so the preliminary readings and literature reviews will focus on this type of magnet therapy.

History

The history of magnet therapy dates back thousands of years, although the use of static magnets for health and healing is classified as a complementary approach of energy medicine by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM). The Yellow Emperor’s Book of Internal Medicine,⁶ recorded around 2000 bc and considered to be the world’s earliest medical textbook, describes the application of lodestone, the Earth’s only natural magnet, to the body’s energy channels or meridians to treat imbalances. Vedas, the religious scriptures of the Hindus, is another ancient text that includes descriptions of using instruments such as a siktavati or ashmana for healing. Both devices are thought to have been made of lodestone.^3,⁴ Ancient Greeks and Egyptians also have provided evidence through their writings and drawings of their belief in the healing properties of magnets and their use of magnets in treating a variety of disorders.²

In the sixteenth century, a Swiss physician by the name of Paracelsus proposed an interconnectedness between the mind and body through a life force that he called “archaeus.” According to Paracelsus, this life force or energy was influenced by the forces found in magnets. Magnets could therefore be used to treat illness and promote self-healing. Paracelsus used magnets to treat a wide range of ailments, including inflammation, bleeding, diarrhea, and epilepsy. He also had developed ways of preparing lodestones for different client applications and conditions.^3,⁴

During the next century, William Gilbert, physician to Queen Elizabeth I, perpetuated the use of magnets to promote health and treat illness. He described in his book, De Magnete, the differences between static electricity, magnetism, and electricity.⁷ Gilbert suggested that the Earth is a giant magnet, and within his text explained the directions of the Earth’s magnetic lines of force and the compass variations they create.⁷

By the middle of the eighteenth century, carbon-steel magnets were readily available in Europe, and the public’s interest in the healing properties of magnets grew. Maximilian Hell, a Hungarian-born Jesuit priest and astronomer, shaped magnets to resemble structures of the body that needed treatment and offered magnetism to clients with good results. Hell’s ideas and work significantly influenced Franz Anton Mesmer, a colorful physician and scientist who was trained in medicine, mathematics, and law. Like Paracelsus, Mesmer believed in a universal life force and coined the term “animal magnetism” to describe this force in living creatures. Energy concentrated in magnets was defined as mineral magnetism. Mesmer suggested that bodily fluids possessed polarity and that misalignment of these negatively and positively charged poles could result in illness.⁸ Mesmer used external magnetic (mineral) forces in addition to animal magnetism emitted from his hands to cure clients from a variety of ailments, including deafness and seizures. Mesmer also believed he could “magnetize” water, wood, almost anything, with his own animal magnetism and that mineral magnets enhanced conduction of universal energy from his hands to the client.⁴ Although Mesmer was popular with the general public and treated many clients, the medical community was critical of his work and findings. They successfully portrayed animal and mineral magnetism as nothing more than a sham. Medical authorities advised the public that magnetic healing was due simply to the power of suggestion and was not the result of an observable or measurable biological process.

As Mesmer’s popularity in Europe faded, interest in magnet therapy grew in the United States. In 1795 Elisha Perkins, a physician from Connecticut, got a patent for his “magnetic tractor,” a magnetic device that could remove the cause of an illness by drawing out noxious energy.⁴ Perkins was able to convince three medical facilities in the United States and surgeons of the Royal Frederick Hospital in Copenhagen that the magnetic tractor had healing properties and eventually reported 5000 cured cases. The Connecticut Medical Society, however, determined the tractors to be nothing more than a sham.⁹ Proponents of magnet therapy and makers of magnetic products including hats, belts, and insoles continued into the early twentieth century with little support from the established medical community (Figure 16-1). After the successes of antibiotic therapy and advances of surgical procedures, magnet therapy moved even further into the shadows of quackery. Now, in the twenty-first century, magnet therapy has once again gained some interest, mainly for chronic conditions and disorders that have not been addressed adequately by standard medical interventions.