The Powers of Attraction: Magnetic Therapy
What is Lodestone and Why do we care?
Lodestone is a naturally derived mineral fragment that is magnetized causing attraction to iron; this mineral is known as magnetite. To make things even more mysterious, not all magnetite has these magnetic tendencies, hence why there is a different name for the ones that do!! How certain pieces of this mineral become magnetized still plagues the scientific community; however, it is theorized at this time the magnification occurs by proximity to lightning bolts and their magnetic fields, which I personally think is fascinating (Livingston, 1996).
The name Lodestone was cultivated by its ability to provide navigational help to travellers as these stones were the first magnetic compasses. In Middle English lodestone roughly translates to leading stone, the word "lode" itself roughly translates to journey or way (Merriam-Webster,2009). Today, these magnetized minerals are more commonly known by their laymen name -- magnets.
Magnets have been around for eons; it is hard to hone into when magnets were first discovered and used but there are two drastically different regions/areas of the world that have documents from BCE mentioning lodestone.
They were first documented in literature by the Greek philosopher Thales of Miletus which date back to the 600BCE. Chinese literature from the works of Lushi Chenqiu known as "The Book of the Devil Valley Master" also references this magnetism phenomenon in 400BCE (MAGNETIC PRODUCTS, INC, 2022, Brand et al., 1995).
It's safe to say that magnets have been around for a long time and that they have a very rich history in different parts of the world. Most people know that magnets have been used for navigation purposes but lesser known uses have been for healing.
Magnets and their History with Healing
Magnets were first documented for healing use in the 1600's after physicians attempted to aid wound healing of smallpox lesions. The first form of magnetic therapy was electrically charged gold leafs which were applied to patients with smallpox to prevent scarring (Robertson, 1925)!!
Over the centuries, physicians continued to seek ways that could help with wound care/healing as well as a help relieves aches, pains, and symptoms of a multitude of ailments using magnetic therapy. Just as mysterious as how the magnetic mineral is created is how they work in a healing capacity. Although there has been a lot of people who claim that magnetism works, scientifically speaking, there is difficulty conclusively stating that it fully works; however, that is not to say it doesn't.
One study I have read looked at the open wound healing times of rats with and without the use of magnetic therapy. This study found that the rats that had magnetic therapy used on them had an accelerated wound closure time of around 15.3 days compared to the sham magnetic group and control group who had on average 20.7 days. This would be around 25-27% faster healing based on the study’s numbers, which is highly statistically significant (Henry et al., 2008)!! The higher statistical significance the more confidently we can concur that magnets indeed have an influence of the body’s physiology.
With this in mind, I began my journey looking into magnetism as a form of therapy for my clients and animal companions. Doing an abundance of research, I decided to try doing clinical trials on a brand called Streamz in order to figure out based on my own data whether there was any merit to their claims. I can in good conscious say that I believe they do work, exceptionally well at that, from the results I got with my clients.
Client Trials
**For privacy purposes I will post details and pictures of only the clients I have worked with who have given me permission to do so. The others will be referenced in writing only.
For 10 weeks I performed observational trials (through look, feel and movement) on different clients with a few different aliment types as well as tried the products on myself. I recognize that I am only doing a small focus group without a control group; however, I worked within the confines of the resources I had at my disposal.
To keep this article concise I will only be talking about 3 clients.
I started testing out the Eq-Streamz bands by placing one on my own right ankle to see if I noticed anything. Back at the beginning of 2018 I was in a severe accident with one of my horses which caused significant damage and trauma to my right leg that still causes discomfort and swelling with pressure changes, weather changes and sometimes activity levels. I wore the band on my ankle 24/7 for a week and noticed that I had less aches and pains in my day to day as well as the pressure drops from summer turning to fall didn't bother my leg nearly as much as it typically does during the season change. I also found I was able to extend my daily activity tolerance.
Unfortunately, I did not think to take pictures of these inflammation changes… and I wasn’t overly eager to put them back on after they had been peed on by the horses
I then moved on to using it on certain clients with permission, all of which had all different ailments and conditions. Depending the ailments some clients had them longer but on average everyone got them for 10 days.
I will start by talking about my most impressive and substantial results on Iris. Iris is a client of mine who has injured both her front tendons and has been placed on stall rest based on this. She was also placed on anti-inflammatories by the vet due to how extensive the swelling in her back and front limbs were. For 2 months the swelling was so extensive that you would never have been able to tell that she was being treated with-anti-inflammatories already… They were that inflamed!! Her owner happened to notice one of my other clients was using the Eq-Streamz bands for my trial and asked if I would also work with her as a new client!! When I first got my hands on Iris, there was significant heat radiating off her back fetlocks and I could barely fit my hand around her fetlock joint area. I could not bend the joint areas much due the swelling restriction either. After placing the bands on her for 2 days, the results were already beginning to show significant swelling improvement and by day 10 the difference was astounding.
BEFORE: The swelling is very evident especially in her right left hind. The pictures don't do the swelling justice honestly. The swelling was the worse from the coronary bands all the way up to the stifle on both back legs but the front limbs also displayed significant swelling.
AFTER: The swelling had dissipated so significantly that I was able to rotate Iris's pastern and fetlock joint again as well as fit my hand around the fetlock area on her right back leg. Iris was able to bend the fetlock joints as you can see from the photo above and rest her foot comfortably while I evaluated. She even moved more fluidly after the 10 days. From when I first measured the swelling had gone down about 1.5 inches in diameter using the bands. The heat radiating from her limbs before using the bands was no longer there.
** Iris's vet even came out and commented on the significant results seen for the first time in 2 months of intervention and recommended they continue to use the bands as it was the only thing they noticed to have reduced inflammation and allowed joint movement.
My next client is a horse named Austin. He is a national eventing horse I have been working with who mysteriously fractured his back left fetlock area. He was very sore and put on stall rest for recovery. Based on the MRI and vet’s expertise, Austin was expected to be recovering and rehabbing for 6 months as well as unrideable for a long time, maybe never recovering enough to compete at his level again. This was a huge concern to the owner understandably, so we decided to try the bands on him.
** With the nature of Austins treatment being more about feel and internal imagining, I do not have photos for before and after the bands as they wouldn't really show anything of value.
When I first assessed Austin’s left leg there was obvious tenderness of the area; however, there was very minimal swelling or heat. The MRI did show some fluid buildup in the area but it was not easily palpable. When gently moving the hoof and leg (vet approved), it was very loose. That is the best description I can think to explain... it had too much rotation in the joint spaces, and it would make popping/clacking sounds whenever it was manipulated by myself or Austin himself. On top of the injury itself, Austin has been known to not handle inactivity very well. Due to his high-performance schedule and heavy activity levels normally, he gets bored easily when not working. Stock up was also a concern with his limited abilities during this time. So, this was a multifaceted situation for sure.
Austin wore the bands for a total of 22 days and got them off just after secondary imaging of the affected area. During that time, Austin wasn't favouring that leg as much and began moving around more in his stall. When re-assessing the area, I personally found that there was significantly less instability in that left leg from the first assessment. It felt more compact, and he was not favouring it nearly as much nor was it making cracking sounds when manipulated. He was also a lot more levelheaded than any of us expected during the time he had the bands on (once the bands were taken off for a few days, he displayed behaviours or boredom in the stall such as weaving and cribbing). Based on his imaging, the fracture had healed better and faster than the vet team expected, and they concluded that he was going to be able to continue competing in the future as well as his recovery time was halved. He is already cleared to be ridden and cantered on straight lines!! He is expected be able to compete in competition in 2 months!!
Although we can never know 100% that the bands aided in the bone healing, it can be extrapolated based on the significant shift in prognosis and timeframe that they played a role in the rapid recovery. This is also corroborated by the scientific backing and clinical acceptance of magnetic therapy aiding and promoting bone healing/fusion (Linovitz et al., 2002, Fredericks et al., 2000). Check out the references section to read further studies on bone fusion and magnetic therapy.
Lastly, I worked with a young horse going by the name of X (for the sake of this article). They had gashed open their back leg by the stifle which caused excessive proud flesh growth and inflammation. They were put on stall rest for almost 6 months with heavy medical intervention and only recently started being allowed in the pasture with others. While X’s wound had healed, there was still swelling that occurred in their back leg when moving around and they walked stiffly on that leg as well. For these reasons we put one of the bands on that back foot to wear in the pasture to see if it would help. X showed no signs of swelling after using the bands by day 2 as well as moved more fluidly with that leg.
What makes this product unique
Something that is important to mention about this product and how it differs from others on the market is its ability to stay on 24/7 without irritation due to body temperature increases in localized zones. My understanding from what I have read is, with this band being an enclosed circle, the magnetic field spins instead of pulses.
What that means is that the product’s magnetic fields don't just sit in one section of the body which can cause heat and irritation over extended periods of time but instead is constantly moving around the entire body and affected area to avoid hot zones from forming which cause irritation over time. Since these bands don't create heat like others, you are also able to use them directly after exercise!! This makes them perfect for horses of all activity levels from high level performance to rehabbing and/or stall bound ones.
For anyone interested in trying out these bands to see what your experience may be, either for yourselves, your horses or even your dog’s, here is a link for you to use to get these bands at a reduced cost:
https://ca.streamz-global.com?ref=stable_instincts
or use discount code:
STABLE_INSTINCTS
If anyone wishes to learn more about my trials, what I saw or learn if these bands could be right for your horses don't hesitate to contact me through my email, website chat box, Instagram or Facebook.
Thank you to everyone who took the time to read this, I value your time and commitment to learn with me.
References
The following references are cited in: The Veterinary Journal Format
Livingston, J.D., 1996. . Driving Force: The Natural Magic of Magnets 14–20.
Brand, M., Neaves, S., Smith, E., 1995. Lodestone [WWW Document]. Museum of Electricity and Magnetism. URL https://web.archive.org/web/20090501063207/http://www.magnet.fsu.edu/education/tutorials/museum/lodestone.html (accessed 12.2.22).
Fredericks, D.C., Nepola, J.V., Baker, J.T., Abbott, J., Simon, B., 2000. Effects of pulsed electromagnetic fields on bone healing in ... : Journal of Orthopaedic Trauma [WWW Document]. Journal of Orthopaedic Trauma. URL https://journals.lww.com/jorthotrauma/Abstract/2000/02000/Effects_of_Pulsed_Electromagnetic_Fields_on_Bone.4.aspx (accessed 12.2.22).
Henry, S.L., Concannon, M.J., Yee, G.J., 2008. The effect of magnetic fields on wound healing: Experimental study and review of the literature [WWW Document]. Eplasty. URL https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2490801/ (accessed 12.2.22).
Linovitz, R.J., Pathria, M., Bernhardt, M., Green, D., Law, M., McGuire, R.A., Montesano, P.X., Rechtine, G., Salib, R.M., Ryaby, J.T., Faden, J.S., Ponder, R., Garfin, S.A., Magee, F.P., Muenz, L.R., 2002. Combined magnetic fields accelerate and increase spine... : Spine [WWW Document]. LWW. URL https://journals.lww.com/spinejournal/Abstract/2002/07010/Combined_Magnetic_Fields_Accelerate_and_Increase.2.aspx (accessed 12.2.22).
Lodestone definition & meaning [WWW Document], 2009. [WWW Document]. Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. URL https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/lodestone (accessed 12.2.22).
MAGNETIC PRODUCTS, INC, 2022. Magnetism: History of the magnet [WWW Document]. MPI. URL https://mpimagnet.com/education-center/magnetism-history-of-the-magnet/ (accessed 12.2.22).
Robertson, W.G.A., 1925. Digby's receipts [WWW Document]. Annals of medical history. URL https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7945942/ (accessed 12.2.22).