AUGUST 1996 BACK ISSUE
Part of Horse Previews Magazine website. Posted on 8/1/96; 10:00:00 AM.
Animal Magnetism
Biomagnetism is what they call the use of magnetism to aid and treat animal ills. It seems to be attracting my wallet. I've had people tell me magnets can help the pain I got in my back from lifting hay bales. I've had salesmen drive their rigs up to the house and tell the wife that magnets strapped around the pipes can soften our water. Trail riding buddies say magnetic blankets improve horse problems. So far doubt has guarded my wallet, until the article in this magazine about muscles and magnets (written by a DVM) got me to wondering about magnetic therapy for horse injuries. It is Equinetics. Might my mare, Venus, want a magnetic horse blanket someday? I started reading up on Nikken USA, an industry leader in Equinetic products (referenced below). Several of their dealers service our Spokane, Washington area. Nikken is a private company and holds their business revenue statistics closely, but I think they attract plenty of money from horse industry customers. They promote a new revolution in the world of equine technology and their dealer brochures would have the horse owner believe their products integrate a qualitative approach to equine wellness. In the wildest sense I could imagine, Nikken, for a price, would lay a magnetic blanket across my horse's aura. Yet I still doubted Venus could pick up staples if I covered her with magnets.
Biomagnetism is on real shakey scientific grounds. It might better be considered for the field of naturopathy than any medical branch of science. Naturopathy is the system of treating diseases by largely employing natural agencies, such as air, water, and sunshine, thereby rejecting the heavy use of drugs and medicines. When Nikken claims their products are beneficial to horses by increasing blood circulation closer to the trauma through magnets, I think they have found an absolutely wonderful economic niche. Similar concepts are already being sold as viable for their human customers, who, presumably, can think and evaluate. Venus has never heard of the placebo effect and she can't talk economics. If I thought a magnetic blanket was good for her, it probably would be. If it's natural, how could it be bad?
Before my hand jerked for my wallet, I wanted to know just exactly how the increased circulation of the blood was achieved by magnets and what mechanism afforded penetration to the trauma. I was curious: it's a sign of our times. Since I didn't have the lingo or the knowledge, in the proper terms, to substantiate my doubts, I decided to read up on magnetism, talk to some professionals (some MD's, some PhD's, and some DVM's), and contact some local Veterinary Clinics. Was the magnet a medicine, an agent, or just serendipitous? Should there be an Equine Surgeon General's Warning: Caution, Magnets May Be Silly to Your Horse's Health?
Don't get me started on magnetism. It's just one of those things that is, and that is "The Way Things Are!" Nobody really knows much about it. There is no acceptable scientific explanation of just what a magnetic field is, period. Karl F. Gauss was the father of magnetic measurement (giving science the "gauss" unit) and the inventor of the Gaussian Distribution Curve, also known popularly as "The Bell Curve." That's about as far as science gets. Effectively, there has never been a better scientific climate toward magnetism because it has nothing to do with science. Zip. It is a part of that large mumbo jumbo out there which doesn't register scientifically. It is this ambiguity which makes magnetism all the more attractive to humans. This assures more business in the Nikken niche.
When science attempts to explain magnetism, there is trouble. Unfortunately, I just happened to borrow the Albert Roy Davis book Magnetism (referenced below) from the Schwartz Family library. It attempts to explain Biomagnetism in scientific terms. There is trouble. Let me say first that the authors have gone completely looney-crackers. It is the worst writing of preposterous content by a couple of crackpots in any book I have seen since I learned how to read in 1950. KEEP OUT should be stamped on the book cover and the publishers ought to be horse whipped.
The authors claim a new "law" of physics which says a division of magnetic energies exists at the separate poles of magnets. Both poles of any magnet are not the same. Depending upon which pole of a magnet you subject a living organism to, you can affect how it lives. They claim they can control acid content in tomato plant growth by seed exposure to the N pole of a magnet. Larger plants will grow from seeds exposed to the S pole. Mental and psychological attitudes of chickens can be determined by separate pole magnetic radiation of eggs. They say mice radiated by magnetic S poles will be sexier; by N poles, smarter. The crackpot authors contend that atoms themselves are just tiny little magnets, and BECAUSE gravitational forces of Newtonian physics cause tidal movement in the oceans, LIKEWISE, magnets can modify the circulation of the blood. Their basic credo is: Whatever happens, magnets cause it. Their preposterous theory just picks a magnetic pole and applies it to whatever needs healing. They don't promise specific results or how they will occur, where or when. Philosophically, they would direct the forces of magnetism, as in Jujitsu, to turn away from heavier, chemical or medical antidotes. Certainly reading their book was comical and outrageous, but I was no closer to believing that magnets can increase the circulation of the blood or penetrate any deeper than common liniment.
Before I surveyed the veterinarians hereabouts, I talked to a couple of MD's who shared my doubts about magnetic action on the circulation of the blood. They were skeptical. "I have seen nothing that really worked in controlled studies." "Time and a heating pad might work equally well." "Bottom line is that magnets promoting healing through any mechanism is a bunch of crap!" Their remarks were based upon the bad science and lack of "controlled studies," which are failures to properly reproduce many of the experiments time after time with the same success. One MD said if magnetic healing could take place, "we would all feel better after an MRI." Doctors must use scientific tools.
That approach applied to the phenomenon of magnetism fails investigation. It is not objective (commending itself to human knowers generally); it is not predictive (confident in what will happen); it is not controllable (as in applied technology) ; and it can not be numbered (it's ambiguous). Scientists seek that which, at some level of amplification, can connect with our senses. The reality of magnetism exceeds what science registers. It is nonsensical. Crack scientists can't measure its effects. Crackpot scientists like Davis and Rawls only draw trouble and resentment from the scientific medical community.
It is well known that there are medically appropriate scientific ways to describe the electrical configuration of charges across a cell. This is real, not just Terminator and Bionic Man fantasy. When the blood cells arrive at a traumatic cellular event, there is a change in ion charge on the outside of the membrane walls of the blood cells. In all cases of animal biological stages of internal repair, a change in electrical potential on the surface of the affected section occurs. When normal healing and recovery results, this potential returns to normal. This is the natural sequence of events. Nature, itself, can be thought of as directing this changing electrical field to a broken bone or other damaged segment of the living system under attack. Circulation of the blood defends the attack. That's "The Way Things Are!"
It is well known that an electrical current can have varying effects upon biological systems. That's why the Frankenstein movies are popular, electric chairs are unpopular, and the wife wants me to convert all our barbed wire to electric fence. I talked to a PhD in physics and he put it simply. "It is true and can be readily demonstrated that an electrically charged rod will easily bend a thin stream of water, H2O. (Visualize yourself at the kitchen sink with a cattle prod.) This is because water is a polar molecule. Since blood is essentially red H2O, a charged rod will do the same to blood. I have been unable to accomplish this demonstration with a magnet. Even if a magnet could produce some sort of action on polarized molecules, eg. increased circulation of the blood, how would we know that it is only beneficial? What guarantee would we have against harmful effects?" The PhD suspects that action caused by magnets across a polar molecule such as blood is scientifically bogus. Of course, there are other approaches to knowledge which are valid, although not scientific, but it is difficult to commit my wallet to them.
I was still suspicious about magnetic effects on the circulation of the blood when I got to surveying local Veterinarians. Over a two day period in mid-July 1996, 16 Veterinary offices local to the Spokane, Washington area servicing large animals were contacted by telephone; 22 Doctors of Veterinary Medicine (DVM's) responded individually to the
QUESTION: "Do you prescribe the application of magnets as an appropriate therapy for horse injuries?"
ANSWER: Yes--3 No--19
I personally called all the clinics myself, and, I'll tell you, I got great cooperation from all the businesses. Some of the Veterinarians I talked to I knew, and some I didn't. All were polite and professional, none hedged their answers, and some were glad to elaborate their reasons for Yes or No answers. One said that he "could neither prescribe nor condone" the magnetic approach. A few mentioned that the subject of magnetism is not taught in Veterinary Schools. Several mentioned the electrical technology of applying a low electric current across a bone fracture to increase healing. None said that a magnet would do the same job. Several mentioned the absence of "controlled studies" on magnetic therapy, and one encouraged a "controlled study" describing it as easy to do and wondering why it hasn't been done. All spoke from the scientific point of view.
But "The Way Things Are" isn't always scientific. There is a part of the body of medicine that just works, nobody has the slightest idea of why. It's not scientific, it just works. In talking to the Veterinarians, I sensed that if I modified the survey question by changing the word "prescribe" to "recommend" the structure of the question would change from scientific to non-scientific, from quantitative to qualitative, from treatment to aid, from broken bones and severed tendons to sore muscles. From the "should" to the "can." This would couch the question more to the side of care and prevention than actual prescriptive treatment. When I asked some of the Veterinarians about the word change, they had a tendency to change their answers from No to Yes. From the literature on the subject of magnetic therapy, the Veterinarians are not left with a solid enough opinion to prescribe it, but the trend is toward more research. Whereas, as one put it, there have been no controlled studies that have shown benefits from these biomagnetic products, there still may be benefits (beyond the scientific register), and there have been no studies showing harm.
Magnets aren't medicine. They could be naturopathic secret agents. Their effects on horse injuries have never been measured scientifically. They have not been proven capable of performing any action whatsoever on the blood. They have not been proven able to penetrate any farther than common liniment. They have not been proven either helpful or harmful in terms of therapeutic value to horse injuries. Sort of like faith, magnetism might be the substance of things hoped for.
My opinion is that magnetic products are a hat act at the very best; George Strait ain't Buck Owens. As such, their purchase is the prerogative of the horse owner. It just comes down to an economic issue. Can you afford a product for your horse which almost all our local Veterinarians won't prescribe, but some will recommend? If you think a magnetic horse blanket will help, buy one. I can't afford one, but if you gave me one, Venus might try it. They rock my boat, not my cradle.
Bob Howdy, PhD
REFERENCES: (1) Magnetism And Its Effects On The Living System
by Albert Roy Davis and Walter C. Rawls, Jr.
Exposition Press, Smithtown, New York
1974, 132 pages, all nonsense * ISBN 0-682-48087-8
(2) Nikken U.S.A.
10800 Wilshire Boulevard, Suite 250
Los Angeles, CA 90024
Telephone: 1-800-669-8859
Internet--www.nikken.com
