Magnets have been used for health purposes for centuries. Their use does not infer effectiveness, particularly for pain management. Their use simply acknowledges their unique physical properties and the tendencies humans to be attracted to, and to often ascribe special powers to that which is “different”.

“Medical magnets” are found in products such as magnetic patches and disks, shoe insoles, bracelets, and mattress pads and their use has been prescribed for pain in the feet, wrists, back, and other parts of the body. Overall, there is no convincing scientific evidence to support claims that magnets can relieve pain of any type.

Magnets are generally considered safe (innocuous), even if not effective, when applied to the skin. However, they may not be safe for people who use medical devices like pacemakers or defibrillators, as magnets may interfere with the device.

As with many alternative medicine interventions, those who use them are either asked to simply “believe” that they work or they are offered a theoretical explanation for the potential benefit. The most common explanation of effectiveness offered by the proponents of these products is generally that of increasing local circulation via the attraction of blood hemoglobin iron to the magnets. However, the commercial magnets sold as patches and disks, shoe insoles, bracelets, mattress pads, and similar products do not generate a strong enough magnetic field (force) to be of physiological significance. Thereby, you cannot expect for them to have a measurable effect on local circulation.

Other theories of function proposed include:

• Changing how nerve cells function and blocking pain signals to the brain
• Restoring the balance between cell death and growth
• Increasing the temperature of the area of the body being treated.

In the vast majority of cases there has yet to be large enough local groups of patients reporting successful application of magnets to yield meaningful, statistically significant studies. For now, it is highly probable that you will be better served by pursuing a different intervention.

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Balneotherapy is an ancient form of pain relief. “Balneo” is derived from the Latin word, balneum, meaning bath. Balneotherapy is water therapy via bathing in warm mineral water. Investigations of this type of intervention have repeatedly demonstrated that mineral water containing sulphur is superior in reducing pain and improving mobility compared with plain tap water.

Magnesium & Sulfates

Magnesium is a very abundant mineral. Magnesium is an essential mineral used by the body for a variety of functions including muscle contraction and relaxation, proper nerve functioning, and others. It also helps maintain the levels of other nutrients in the body such as calcium and vitamin D. A deficiency of magnesium can produce symptoms such as twitching muscles, sleepiness and excitability.

Magnesium does not occur in nature by itself; it is always combined with other elements as compounds. Epsom salt consists of the mineral magnesium in combination with a sulfate (sulfur) compound and water. Epsom salt, also called epsomite, is a translucent white, colorless or gray compound, depending on the type and amount of impurity present. Sulfates are needed by the body for development of certain tissues and proteins, and to stimulate the pancreas to produce digestive enzymes.
Jointly, magnesium and sulfates as Epsom salts can be absorbed through the skin, used externally as a compress for achy muscles or added to a tub for the same benefit. As such, you may address muscular elements of back pain with Balneotherapy (warm Epsom salts baths).

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Steroid injections are a common choice to address local inflammation, local muscle groups believed to be both in spasm and inflamed, inflamed joints, bulging disc-related pain, and others. These are not innocuous procedures, without potential side effects. Possible adverse reactions depending upon the product used and type, volume and frequency of injection to be performed include:

1. Local immediate pain- piercing the skin.
2. Local delayed pain – flare or adverse local tissue/nerve to the steroid.
3. Diffuse pain, perspiration, insomnia, rash (rare) – true allergic response.
4. Superficial injections – shrinkage of subcutaneous fat; a dimpling effect.
5. Superficial injections – depigmentation of skin locally.
6. Soft tissue degeneration – too many injections in close proximity in same year.
7. Increased blood sugar – brief, but potentially problematic for diabetics.
8. Multiple effects (wt gain, thinning of skin, facial puffiness, acne, increased BP, bruising, bone thinning) – if used in high volume with frequent administration.
9. Arachnoiditis – Corticosteroids used for injection contain preservatives. The preservative are recognized to be irritants to numerous tissues, in spite of which they are used to perform epidural steroid injections.
10. CVA (Stroke) – some steroids are not liquids, rather suspensions of micro-particles. If an injection of micro-particles is accidentally introduced into a blood vessel and the particles reach tiny vessels in the brain before dissolving, the result is micro-occlusion (a mini-stroke).

The use of steroid injections in pain management is increasing in American medicine. Make sure that both you and your doctor understand the benefits versus risks if you are considering this treatment approach.

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Prescription Oxycodone already ranks as the top or second most common cause of accidental death in the American population depending upon where you live. As powerful an analgesic as it is, why are at least four pharmaceutical companies racing to produce a product that may be ten time more potent?  The product is pure Hydrocodone.

Oxycodone and Hydrocodone are already the number 1 and 2 most common drugs of abuse in the United States according to the Federal DEA. These products persist not only for their legitimate uses generating in excess of $10B per year in legal sales (think jobs and tax revenue from pharmaceutical companies, mid-level distributors, pharmacies and lobbyists), rather they also drive a relentless underground market (think employment for DEA, police, correctional facilities employees, retail arms dealers). Physicians play an interesting role in the process by providing access and attending to those who become addicts or who are injured due to legal use or untoward behavior by someone engaged in the illicit trade and/or acquisition of these products.

Emergency room visits related to Hydrocodone use have more than quadrupled since 2000 according to the DEA. Do we really need such a powerful drug at your local pharmacy and on the street?

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Many cannabinoids act primarily to inhibit prostaglandins and COX-2, while providing powerful anti-oxidant properties to salvage free radicals, and inhibit macrophage and TNF (tissue necrosis factor) activity. All of this means that cannabis is an excellent anti-inflammatory-analgesic that lacks the side effects of steroids, the NSAIDs, and the COX-2 inhibitors like Celecoxib.This anti-inflammatory action may help quell some of the arterial inflammation common in numerous diseases and joint inflammation of arthritis that induces pain.

If medical marijuana is legal in your State, pursue a physician consultation regarding its use.

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Please note the significant numbers of side effects associated with use of traditional prescription muscle relaxants and anti-spasmodics and anti-convulsants. If medical marijuana is legal in your State, pursue a consultation regarding its use.

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Do any of you one time gridiron athletes remember the neck collar, the head rest, the cowboy collars and neck rolls?  Much as the back braces in industrial environments fail to directly avert “heavy-lifting” related lumbar spine injuries, the neck rolls are just as ineffective.

The rolls and collars primarily remind players to not use their heads as battering rams and may provide very limited additional padding over the muscles and nerves at the lateral base of the neck.  They primarily just look good.  They make the players wearing them look bigger, meaner, giving the opposition the impression that this larger-than-life puffed up guy might need the extra protection given how hard he is going to hit others.

It turns out that there is actually no data available to support the hypothesis that the equipment protects the cervical spine, preventing injury.  These equipment adorned too numerous to count numbers of players between 1970 and 2000. However, they have all but disappeared, having been relegated to the fashion heap along with the notion that black stripes or strips under the eyes decreases visual glare. Like peacocks, they were puffed up and painted for show.

The best way to cure (preventively) these cervical spine injuries is to avoid them by not using your head as a battering ram.

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Prognostic indicators (predictive factors) are those which suggest an expectation of a particular outcome. Regarding low back pain (LBP), the issue in prediction is the persistence of pain LBP into a chronic state.

There are often significant differences between the acute and chronic LBP groups in characteristics and clinical course. Determination of associations between potential predictive indicators and pain/disability persistence has been studied. The final outcomes of data analyses tend to point to being unemployed (and otherwise meaningfully inactive), having widespread pain, a high level pain grade, and believing the pain to be a life-catastrophe as the strongest predictors of persistence of disability at 12 months after an acute injury. However, fear of pain is most significant indicator associated with disability in chronic low back pain.

In response, consider the following as a comprehensive approach to engage as best and early as is possible:

• Stay employed in some function and/or fully engaged in life’s activities.
• Address pain assertively so that if not alleviated, it is localized as much as is possible.
• A multiple intervention approach is generally more effective than a single intervention at diminishing the pain grade (i.e., reducing in from a 7/10 to 4/10 level).
• Do not accept pain (or its causal factors) to be a life-catastrophe, rather a hurdle to surmount.
• Do not “fear” and “own” pain, rather acknowledge and address it as an unwelcome interloper.

Factors causal of indicators will either persist or not. However, while addressing these factors as you are able to yourself, to cure back pain, you must dissociate from the pain (it is not “your” pain), acknowledging but not embracing or fearing it.

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•  Medical practitioner delivered passive treatment would be anything that a health professional delivers without your assistance.
• Medical practitioner delivered active treatment would be anything that a health professional delivers with your active participation.
• Non-clinician delivered passive treatment would be anything that a non-professional delivers without your active participation.
• Non-clinician delivered active treatment would be anything that a non-professional delivers with your active participation.

The decision regarding whether a patient should pursue an active or passive treatment program is often made by medical practitioners. However, well informed patients should be involved in the decision process. Some examples of alternative treatment for low back pain from the above described intervention categories are:

• A medical practitioner directed active treatment – Physical therapy-based exercise programs, such as core stabilization, may be performed independently. However, they often require therapist direction.
• Acupuncture is a medical practitioner delivered passive treatment that has been shown to be a good adjunct treatment for many. Often you can determine if it will work for you within three sessions.
• Current literature suggests that yoga is the most effective non-physician delivered active treatment approach to non-specific low back pain compared to other CAM treatments.
• Current literature suggests that massage is a very effective non-physician delivered passive treatment approach to non-specific low back pain compared to prescription medication.

There are various forms of passive and active, complementary and alternative treatment for low back pain; consider them.

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1. laughter appears to increase pain tolerance and the level of painful stimulus needed to cause pain.
2. laughter appears to effectively increase microcirculation thereby decreasing painful events of all types that are related to local diminished circulation.
3. laughter tends to increase your overall sense of well-being
4. laughter tends to parallel periods of lower blood pressure and relaxation.

Laughter and the well-being associated with it are often found in circumstances of diminished pain. So, I will laugh to cure my low back pain.