Richard C. Senelick, M.D.

Almost every sporting goods store, pro-shop or web page has an advertisement for therapeutic magnets with claims of pain relief and a better golf game. There are magnetic bracelets, necklaces, shoes inserts, mattress covers, head bands and, yes, dog collars. It certainly isn't new. But, is there any scientific evidence to support all of these claims?

We can go back to 16th century Switzerland and find Greta who is beyond worried about her teenage son. She works the fields every day, keeping a watchful eye on her son as he digs at the stubborn ground just two rows to her right. Will he have another one of his "fits" today: falling to the ground, muscles tightened and mouth clenched shut? She had heard a rumor that the alchemist, Paracelsus, was taking the "magical" lodestone, a type of ore that could attract iron, and grinding it into a powder, placing it into a salve and applying it to the bodies of sick people with miraculous results. Would the lodestone pull out the poisons that possess her son? She was willing to try anything.

Paracelsus' salves worked on a wide variety of maladies. It didn't matter to Greta that William Gilbert, physician to Queen Elizabeth I, had pointed out that grinding the lodestone destroyed its...Click Here to Read On...