News
By Laura Hoffman
|
January 18, 2008
Magnets could be the best thing since ice packs in reducing inflammation from injury, according to research by University Biomedical Engineering Chair Thomas Skalak and former doctoral student Cassandra Morris.
The study shows that applying a fairly strong static magnet, which has about 10 times the strength of a refrigerator magnet, to soft tissue immediately after injury for 15 to 20 minutes could limit swelling significantly, Skalak said, adding that the magnet constricts small blood vessels to ultimately reduce swelling.
Skalak said the source of the University's research on magnetic healing dates back to ancient Greece and China.
"This is a breakthrough in an age-old medicine," he said, noting researchers believed traditional methods of magnetic healing had a scientific basis.
"We had this feeling that static magnetic fields do change some biophysical properties of cell membranes and the ion channels," said Ann Gill Taylor, director of the Center for the Study of Complementary and Alternative Therapies.