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Sat, 31 May 2010 17:55:07
EMF FIELDS
Magnetic Field Deficiency Syndrome and Magnetic Treatment part-2
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Kyoichi Nakagawa, M. D.
Director, Isuzu Hospital
Tokyo, Jap
I. Advocation of the Magnetic Field Deficiency Syndrome
b) Research Abroad
Magneto-therapy has a long history abroad, and the titles with a brief explanation of literature from past days are listed in the Bibliography of the Biological Effects of Magnetic Fields(24).
In this publication, We find the thesis Eydam I. of 1843 on the application of a magnetic field to the human body for therapeutic purposes. I believe I can say that with the exception of Paracelas (25) or Gilbert(26) this is the oldest thesis on magneto-therapy. Following this in 1969, Maggiorani(27) reported that he gained effective and non-effective results in applying magnetism to the human body and that hysteria, ataxia and diabetes patients were most sensitive.
. In 1879, Benedictand Drosdov reported that the application of a magnetic field reduced pain stemming from various causes. A thesis forwarded by Benedict, M. in 1885 used the word Magneto-therapie, and in 1886 Quinan, J.R. announced a general history of the application of magnetism in medical science.
As mentioned above, much interest was shown in the relationship between the magnetic field and the human body and it is thought that magnetism was actually used in clinical medicine as treatment.
However, the application of magnetic fields in medicine had gradually faded, probably because of reports such as that of Peterson, F. and A.E. Kennelly of the then influential Edison Laboratory who advocated that magnetism had no effect on the human body, and that of Hermann, L. who reported finding no change in experiments using human beings and frogs.
In 1902, Kurella, H. published a report on treatment using magnetism, and Kuehn, W. made public another on Heilmagnetismus. Also in 1902, Fere, C. made public a report on the effect of magnetism on human physiological functions. Following that, under the title of "Heilmagnetismus", Moll, A.(24) forwarded his thesis on magneto-therapy. Payr, E.(24) in 1915 also wrote a thesis on the application of strong electromagnets in the medical field, and Kahame, M.(24) forwarded a thesis titled Magnetotherapie.
As the above mentioned theses from abroad are very old, they are difficult to get in Japan and we have never read the originals only knowing them indirectly. However, judging from the titles of the theses, I believe we can safely presume magneto-therapy was tried and that it had quite a long history.
Following this, during the 1920s, as far as I can ascertain only a few theses on magneto-therapy were forwarded. However, in 1928, Rosenberg(27) stated that "We must admit that until now no basis for acknowledging the effect of a constant magnetic field has been obtained." This appeared to become the established theory in western countries, and also appears to have been accepted in Japan. I believe it was because of this that research on magnetism in the medical and biological fields was deemed meaningless.
In 1938, Hansen, K.M.(32) reported that patients suffering from subjective symptoms of sciatica, lumbago, joint pains, etc. but showing no findings in an X-ray examination, found relief when the constant field from an electromagnet was applied. The report further stated that magnetism was also effective in treating acute inflammatory illnesses and chronic gingivitis. It does not give the strength of the field used, but we can assume it to be quite strong. With this therapy, the S-pole was applied to the body for periods of 10-40 minutes, this being repeated several or in some cases over 10 times.
Hansen, in 1944(33) and 1949(34) also forwarded her research on magnetic fields applied to the human body, but as this has no direct relationship to therapy I will not elaborate here. She states that from those studies it is found that magnetism applied to the human body functions mainly on the autonomic nervous system.
During the 1950s, research on the removal of strongly magnetic objects from the human body was made (35)(36), but as this also does not fall into the category of magneto-therapy I will not elaborate.
In 1960, Freeman, M.W.(37) forwarded his thesis on "Magnetism in Medicine", however this also does not deal with the therapeutic effects of magnetism. Sinkarera, L.F. et al.(38) reported in 1970 that a constant magnetic field was found effective in treating inflammatory illnesses of the female genital organs.
In 1972, Degan, I.L.(39) experimented with applying a constant magnetic field of 450-530 gauss to the hands of patients suffering from Dupuytrens contracture incurable by drugs. the treatment lasted for 15-40 minutes at a time, this being repeated from 5-40 times depending on the case. The treatment was found effective on first-degree symptoms, and also considerable improvement was noticed as well in cases with second degree symptoms.