HEALING
&
Pulsed Electromagnetic Fields (PEMFs).

 


HEALING
&
Pulsed Electromagnetic Fields (PEMFs).


Just imagine, reaching into the body and healing an imbalance without touching anything. This is what magnetic fields do. This is the essence of energy medicine. These “waves” are the future medicine. Magnetic field devices that are even now becoming available to the public deliver medical fields that are “like a breeze in the trees”. The branches and leaves are moving but nothing is seen to be doing it. The body is like air to a magnetic field. The body is transparent to these fields. This is the magic potential of magnetic fields.

The earth is a giant magnet, the soil and rocks are magnetized and normally there are strong magnetic fields in the atmosphere. Human biology, which developed and matures in this natural magnetic environment, is totally dependent on it. Magnetic fields have been found by accident over the eons, to help people. Rocks were reputed to be used by Hippocrates, the Father of Western Medicine, to relieve headaches. The Chinese wrote about how to use magnetic stones on acupuncture points in 200 BC. D’Arsonval in France used pulsed electric magnetic fields in the 1700’s to stimulate the body. In the 1970’s and 80’s in the west, scientists began to study the magnetic fields produced by the body itself. This new field is called bioelectromagnetics. We now know definitively that the body itself is a large electromagnet. We also know the body produces electric fields.

Ask any engineer and you will be told that where there is electricity there is a magnetic field. You will also be told that when a magnet moves past an object capable of reacting electrically, you will generate electricity. The opposite is also true. When an object capable of reacting electrically is moved past a magnet, electricity will also be generated. What this means is that when the body, which is very magnetically active, interacts with specific medically designed magnetic fields, tiny therapeutically beneficial electric charges are generated.

What does mean to you? It means that you will see magnetic fields that are energy medicine, being used more and more in the future to heal problems that medicines can’t or haven’t been able to do. Most medicines are used to relieve symptoms but don’t remove or heal the cause of the problem. They don’t help the tissues heal themselves. Most medicines were developed to deal with problems far along in their course. They can be very effective at this stage but often carry significant risks. Doctors and consumers must continuously weigh the potential risks and benefits. The risks of these medicines are greater than the benefits for preventing problems or when the problems are very early in their development. If this is so, what alternatives do we have?

Let’s take an example. When you have a skin infection, and damage has already been done to the tissues, antibiotics will typically be prescribed to halt the spread of the bacteria. The antibiotics don’t heal the infection; they only stop the bacteria from multiplying further and doing more damage. The infection has progressed because the body wasn’t able to handle it completely by itself. When the bacteria stop growing the body then has a fighting chance to heal the tissues and kill the remaining bacteria. What does medicine do to help the body to heal? Most of the time, nothing. The doctor relies on the body doing the rest of the job by itself. What can you do to speed recovery and assure better repair? Traditionally, herbals, vitamins and minerals, rest, good nutrition and moist heat will help. Also, now magnetic fields can be used.

Magnetic fields have been found in extensive research in Europe, in humans and all kinds of animal species, to have many positive actions in the body. The medical magnetic fields work by stimulating the acupuncture system, the immune system of the body, improving circulation and oxygen levels in tissues, relaxing muscles, stimulating tissue healing, healing fractures and strengthening bones faster, decreasing nerve irritability, removing swelling, decreasing clotting and improving cell metabolism. Some very strong magnetic fields can actually stimulate muscles and nerves – used for incontinence, rebuilding muscles, nerves and depression.

How can something do all these seemingly different actions? The primary reason is because magnetic fields affect the movement of calcium ions and nitric oxide, recently awarded the title of the molecule of the decade. Calcium is not just in bones. It is involved in a large number of cellular chemical processes that are impaired tissue injuries. There are many other actions, too numerous to list here.

PEMFs are produced by special machines that generate specific electromagnetic signals found to have beneficial medical effects. Important distinctions among them are how much of the body they cover, the strength of the field(s), the configuration of the field, flexibility and usefulness, length of time to be used, frequencies and waveform. PEMFs can produce actions in the body even with fields that are much weaker than the earth. Actions of PEMFs can be expected to happen faster than with static magnets. These wave-like or resonance fields act like “throwing pebbles in a pond”. The action continues long after the field is removed. These fields were the first ones to be approved by the FDA in the 1980’s. The first were for healing fractures that didn’t unite after 6 months. New ones are used to stimulate muscles and nerves. Others are very high frequency and have been used to decrease pain, swelling and heal wounds.

Magnetic fields are very safe. Even the strongest magnetic fields, generated by MRI machines, have been found to be safe, except for very limited circumstances. Do not use medical magnetic fields, except under expert advice, when people have implanted electrical devices, like pacemakers and defibrillators. They are not advised to be used in pregnancy either, since safety has not been conclusively established.

To summarize, more and more medical care will include magnetic fields in all sorts of applications to heal the body. They will be used in conjunction with conventional medicine and other complementary health techniques. Many magnetic fields will be able to be applied by people themselves with or without direction or order by a physician or other practitioner. This is possible today because more and more information about this new technology and more equipment are becoming readily available at affordable prices.
William Pawluk, MD, MSc


Effects of Pulsed Electromagnetic fields on Pain
Effects of Pulsed Electromagnetic Fields on Cancer
Effects of Pulsed Electromagnetic Fields on Parkinsons
Effects of Pulsed Electromagnetic Fields on Osteoporosis
Effects of Pulsed Electromagnetic Fields on Alzhiemers
Effects of Pulsed Electromagnetic Fields on Arthritis
Effects of Pulsed Electromagnetic Fields on Fibromyalgia
Effects of Pulsed Electromagnetic Fields on CFS
Effects of Pulsed Electromagnetic Fields on The immune system
Effects of Pulsed Electromagnetic Fields on Pain
Effects of Pulsed Electromagnetic Fields on MS
Effects of Pulsed Electromagnetic Fields on Depression
Effects of Pulsed Electromagnetic Fields on Heart Dis-ease
Effects of Pulsed Electromagnetic Fields on Migraine
Effects of Pulsed Electromagnetic Fields on Sleep
Effects of Pulsed Electromagnetic Fields on Wounds
Effects of Pulsed Electromagnetic Fields on Stroke
Effects of Pulsed Electromagnetic Fields on Incontinance
Effects of Pulsed Electromagnetic Fields on Neurolgical

Effects of Pulsed Electromagnetic Fields on Stress


The earth's magnetic field is essential to all life

The earth's natural magnetic field plays an important role in maintaining proper electromagnetic balance of the body's internal systems. Currently, the earth's magnetic field measures 0.4 gauss. Several thousand years ago the earth's magnetic field measured 4 gauss, which was 1000% stronger than it is today.

Why is this happening?

Scientists are able to determine the alignment of the earth's magnetic poles, as well as the strength of the earth's magnetic field through measurements of iron-rich minerals in sediment samples taken from deep within the earth. Samples dating back 3 billion years have shown that the earth's magnetic poles reverse approximately every 200,000 years, which is believed to be the result of directional shifts in the earth's molten core.

Recently, a team of researchers at UCLA used super computers to analyze data from 33 of these samples, and re-create a history of the earth's magnetic field dating back 800,000 years. The computer model clearly showed that the earth's magnetic field declines dramatically over a several thousand-year period preceding a magnetic pole reversal. This data has lead many scientists believe that the rapid decline in the earth's magnetic field over the past several thousand years is a clear indication that a pole reversal is underway.

How does this affect us?

Scientists are now certain that the declining magnetic field detrimentally affects life on earth. In addition, many scientists believe that modern technology, such as steel structure buildings, cars, and trains absorb the earth's magnetic field, causing a further reduction in its strength.

Since these conditions are very recent developments in the history of man's existence on earth, it seems logical that the human body has not had time to adapt to the earth's rapidly decreasing magnetic field; hence the rapid increase in the rate of chronic illnesses worldwide. Following 20 years of research, Dr. Kyoichi Nagawa, a leading scientist in the field of biomagnetics, concluded that the much weaker magnetic field of modern times has caused what he has termed magnetic deficiency syndrome. The symptoms include stiffness in the shoulders, back and neck; insomnia; chest pains; headaches; and dizziness. The long-term consequences of magnetic deficiency syndrome include the development of chronic and degenerative diseases; the loss of normal healing ability; and increased susceptibility to infections and the effects of environmental toxins.

 

A middle-aged, previously healthy woman suddenly started having epileptic fits. Going from specialist to specialist, she was fortunate to find another doctor specialising in complementary medicine and particularly magnet-therapy (sometimes called magneto-therapy). Using state of the art computerised equipment, Dr David Dowson discovered that this woman’s house was in the proximity of her local fire station. The onset of her epilepsy coincided with the installation by the local fire service of a bleeper system to rouse its part-time crews. The 80 MHz signal from the fire station had triggered her fits. She has since been desensitised, lessening her chances of this particular signal wave-length affecting her again.
To Measure your home look here

We live in a polluted environment with our water and food tainted by chemicals; the air we breathe contains waste and smoke. Our electro-magnetic (EM) environment is also polluted.
The earth’s surface has a natural electro-magnetic (EM) field (negative polarity) of around 7.8–15 cycles per second (cps) or Hz (after discoverer Heinrich Hertz), in which natural life prospers. But the EM environment in towns and cities is usually fouled by electronic and chemical smog from a myriad of engines and electrical machinery; by photo-copiers, printers, computers, radio and television broadcast frequencies, portable phones and bleeps. And radar. Many of these gadgets work on 50–60Hz (positive polarity), sometimes more. How do the waste-products of Am-European progress affect your lifestyle?

Life expectancy has increased this century but now we have a rash of degenerative diseases such as cancers, leukaemia, arthritis, rheumatism, heart and vascular disease. Skeletal problems such as crumbling hips and knees requiring replacement surgery: it’s as if Britain is losing bone.
The list of degenerative adaptations is long; repetitive strain injury; stress; insomnia; back pain; mental illness; epilepsy; schizophrenia; depression; diabetes; IBS; diverticulosis; allergies; PMS, ME. etc. Conventional medicine has a dismal record with these problems.
This has prompted more research in, and practice of complementary disciplines such as acupuncture, osteopathy, chiropractic, herbalism, nutrition, hypnosis and yoga.

Magnet therapy appears to share three specific areas with these traditions, cleansing and nutrition at cellular level and balancing of electrical and magnetic fields.

Keith, a middle aged executive needed two hip replacements. He could barely walk 25 feet. He had to have his office moved to the room nearest the front door. He had already booked 2 hip replacements; whilst waiting for the operations, he was introduced to electro-magnetic therapy and recovered in a few months using a negative polarity (north-pole) pulsed electromagnetic field (PEMF) therapy unit. He has just finished painting his house, clipping a 120’ five foot high hedge and mowing the lawn. He avoided the operations.Effects of Pulsed Electromagnetic Fields on Arthritis

One of the most consistent medical uses of PEMF therapy has been with speeding the healing of bone fractures, particularly with non-union fractures that will not knit and join. Mr R. Lightwood of the Department of Surgery, Clinical Research Unit, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Edgbaston, Birmingham recounts the successes he has had with PEMF therapy over many years. These include circulatory disease of the lower limbs, oedema, bronchial oedema, pain relief, dental pain and deep vein thrombosis. Bone fractures were sometimes healing in half the normal time.1
Mr W.J.W. Sharrard MD, ChM. FRCS, from the Royal Hallamshire Hospital, Sheffield ran a double-blind trial from 1981 - 1987 on fractures of the tibial shaft. These cases were picked for clinical and radiological signs of delayed union. The effect of treatment was shown to be highly significant

In 1990 It was estimated that in America over 100,000 operations were conducted annually using PEMF therapy for assisting healing times.3

Units have been designed specifically for horses, and are now being used widely in stables around the world for soft tissue wounds or sprains, and for healing fractures.14,5
Dr Sergei Gerasimov from the State Medical University, Lvov, Ukraine at the 1996 World Congress on Magneto-therapy, held at the Royal Society of Medicine in May. He brought good news for asthmatic children, describing the use of PEMFs treatment of asthma. In a controlled study with 98 children he found improvement in 70%, compared with only 32% of the controls.8 This congress brought experts from all over the world to discuss 2 decades of PEMF therapy in clinical practice.6
As well as large commercial PEMF units there have in recent years been smaller, simpler therapy units available for home use. These come in a variety of forms.

1 Portable units giving off PEMFS. These may be north pole fields (- negative fields – safe, calming, restful); or south pole (+ positive fields – stimulating over short periods of time only, followed by long periods of negative field frequencies). Then there are bi-polar fields (negative and positive mixed). These units come with capacities of various magnetic strengths (guass) and frequencies to suit varying problems (and pockets).
See our new MagnaCoil multi polarity Adapter Here

Whilst EM fields with low frequencies which mimic the natural frequencies (negative polarity) of the earth’s surface are beneficial, heavy plant like radar, power-lines, X-rays almost certainly create unhealthy fields. America has legislated against erecting high voltage lines near dwellings: to many peoples’ disappointment the UK has not.

However, even 60 Hz can be problematical, which is the frequency of many domestic appliances. George Washnis and Richard Hricak’s electric and eclectic book Discovery of Magnetic Health, a Health Care Alternative3 is a boundary mover. They recall many doctors’ and practitioners’ research over the past decade.

One researcher discovered that cancer cells exposed to 60 Hz (positive polarity) field for 24 hours underwent 6 times normal growth within a week.3 Could portable telephones working on high 80m Hz with south pole (positive fields) be hazardous?

Happily the opposite appears also to apply. 18 years of American research on cancers in animals showed north pole (negative) treatments resulted in tumour development reduced or stopped, in 90% of cases. South pole (positive) fields reversed this, showing aggravation of pathological conditions and advancement of tumours.4,3
See our new MagnaCoil multi polarity Adapter Here

Medical doctors in America are using magnet therapy for patients with certain tumours. Dr Harry Park of Vancouver, Washington successfully treats breast cancer patients with PEMF therapy (and herbal drinks which speed up [X ten] detoxification symptoms): there are many more examples in this important book.

British magno-therapist Malcolm Cummings, spent a large proportion of his working life as a successful executive for a large oil company, when catastrophe struck in 1982. He was hit by a viral infection of the glandular system, which led to years of chronic fatigue. He recalls how he could hardly walk 50 yards, and used to spend at least 16 hours a day in bed. This went on for 8 miserable years, with all the symptoms of ME (which then was not recognised by medicine), as he sampled all the latest drugs and their side-effects.

Hearing about magnet therapy he ordered a magnetic mattress, pillows, cushion, shoe insoles, and a mains powered PEMF unit. The first few days were bad, he admits, but improvement rapidly followed, and in as little as three months he was back to normal.

Cummings went on to develop the first pocket portable PEMF home treatment unit – the Mini-Bio.5 This is the first portable PEMFs machine which gives off twin north pole fields. Patented in 1995, it has recently been awarded the highest CE mark of European certification. He has now invented the Maxi-bio, a larger unit for clinicians and veterinarians.
Malcolm Cummings is to be congratulated on being invited to address the American Institute of Stress (AIS) 1997 at their annual conference in Montreux, Switzerland to demonstrate his therapy, and outline successful clinical applications of magno-therapy on stress. AIS pride themselves on being at the cutting edge of science.
Effects of Pulsed Electromagnetic Fields (PEMFs) on Stress

Testimonials include a man who had been suffering for 15 years from sinusitis and tinnitus was cured in ten days. A lady in a wheel chair lost the oedema in her legs, and ‘at last’ found sitting more comfortable. A son, so impressed by the ‘remarkable improvement’ of his mother (who suffered from depression and lethargy, a painful knee and neck), that he ‘borrowed’ the unit and tried it on his long-standing eczema and was completely cured in 12 days. Recovery from Jet-lag was found to be more rapid. All these people treated themselves at home, using the Mini-bio mentioned above, or were treated by David Smith at the Leicester Therapy Centre (0116 263 8880), one of the few clinics specialising in PEMF treatment.10 He also advises business clients on matters of EM pollution.
So it seems that the question in 1996 is not ‘Does magnet therapy work?’ but ‘How does it work?’

Mirroring the planet and the atom, each human cell has a positive charge inside and a negative charge on the outside (of the cell membrane; there is a difference in voltage of about 70 millivolts).
There seems general agreement among clinicians that beneficial magnetic fields:-
1 – increase blood flow and improve the oxygen carrying abilities of haemoglobin. As 4% of the latter is iron, beneficial low frequency magnetic fields make molecules spin into vortices (the Hall Effect). Greater oxygenation in tissues increases resistance to micro-organism invasion as such organisms tolerate oxygen less than human cells.

2 – affect the calcium bicarbonate bonds, stretching, bending and breaking them, converting calcium bicarbonate to calcium hydroxide (+ carbon dioxide);11 thus increasing alkalinity in extra-cellular fluids – capable of absorbing more oxygen than a low pH fluid. Micro-organisms thrive in more acid conditions.3,12
Calcium ions10,12 can now migrate to where they should be: not getting stacked against cell walls, but winging their way electrically to feed or mend bone, or to withdraw from a painfully arthritic hand or knee. Improved transportation of ions of calcium, magnesium, potassium, zinc, chromium, etc, means better cell nutrition (and excretion).

3 – stimulate the pineal gland in the brain encouraging the production of melatonin. Melatonin prevents production of free-radicals: It has been described as ‘a central governing neuro-hormone, having anti-stress, anti-ageing, anti-infectious and anti-cancerous effects’. (Semm, P., Nature. 1980.9) Perhaps it should not be surprising therefore to find that magnet therapy has helped with psychoneuroimmunological problems such as ME, depression, Seasonally Adjusted Depression, lethargy, epilepsy, and schizophrenia.3 Do happy people have lots of melatonin?

4 – can increase or decrease hormone production of the endocrine glands. At this stage I refer any gallant reader who may still be with me to the medical textbooks and the internet for more stimulating reading.
There are critics of course, and in plenty among medical and scientific professionals. They are right in saying more research needs to be done. Many perhaps will have had neither time for research, nor the use of a PEMF unit for their own practice. Let’s hope change comes soon, and that research is well-funded.
Magnet therapy appears to be complementary to many types of medicine, preventive and curative.

Caution
Whilst some cures are swift, others are more drawn out and sadly not all conditions will respond to magnet-therapy.
PEMF therapy should not be applied to those with pace-makers, if pregnant, in dialysis or it they have had recent cases of chicken pox.
Always ask your doctor first.

References
1. R. Lightwood, Department of Surgery, Clinical Research Unit, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Edgbaston, Birmingham BIS OTH. J.Blomed.Eng. 1989, Vol 11, September.
2. W.J.W. Sharrard MD, ChM, FRCS, the Royal Hallamshire Hospital, Sheffield Professor Associate of Orthopaedic Surgery, University of Sheffield, and Emeritus Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon, 140 Manchester Road, Sheffield S1O SDL; (J Bone Joint Surgery [Br] 1990; 72-B; 347 – 55, May)
3. Discovery of Magnetic Health, A Health Care Alternative, Washnis G.J. & Hricak R.Z., Nova Publishing Company, Rockville, Maryland, USA, 1993). (Fax 301 816 0816). Available in the UK from 15 Argyll Mansions, Hammersmith Road, London W14 8QG.
4. Davids A.R. & Rawis W. Magnetic Blueprint of Life. 1979, (in 3) above).
5. Zenith Marketing Ltd. (all magnetic products). 6 Langton Green, Woolston. Warrington, Cheshire WAl 4BU
6. For information concerning the publication of The Proceedings of the 1996 Congress on Magneto-therapy, please send A5 SAE plus £1.00 stamps to 15 Argyll Mansions, Hammersmith Road, London W14 8QG
7. Shakti Chakra. PO Box 3984, London SE12 OEJ tel 0956 233694 fax 020 8304 3949
8. Gerasimov, Dr, Sergei, Tkachenko S. Coghil R. Extra high frequency EMF in supplemental management in childhood asthma.
9. Semm, P., Nature, ref 8, 228 (1980) 206. Magnetic Sensitivity of the Pineal Gland.
10. David J. Smith, Magnatherapist. The Leicester Therapy Clinic, Alternative & Complementary Healthcare Counselling & Advisory Centre, 94 Cyprus Road, Leicester LE2 8QS tel/fax 0116 2838880
11. When an atom or molecule becomes electrically charged, it is called an Ion.
12. When water is passed through a magnetic field, It becomes more alkaline (higher pH).
14. Equestrian Innovations. Phil Scott. Equestrian Innovations Ltd, Mount Ballan Manor, Crick, Gwent, NP6 4XP. tel 01291 424 710

 

More Info

Technical Jargon

Fundamental and practical aspects of therapeutic uses of pulsed electromagnetic fields (PEMFs).

The beneficial therapeutic effects of selected low-energy, time-varying magnetic fields, called PEMFs, have been documented with increasing frequency since 1973. Initially, this form of athermal energy was used mainly as a salvage for patients with long-standing juvenile and adult nonunions. Many of these individuals were candidates for amputation. Their clearly documented resistance to the usual forms of surgical treatment, including bone grafting, served as a reasonable control in judging the efficacy of this new therapeutic method, particularly when PEMFs were the sole change in patient management. More recently, the biological effectiveness of this approach in augmenting bone healing has been confirmed by several highly significant double-blind and controlled prospective studies in less challenging clinical circumstances. Furthermore, double-blind evidence of therapeutic effects in other clinical disorders has emerged. These data, coupled with well-controlled laboratory findings on pertinent mechanisms of action, have begun to place PEMFs on a therapeutic par with surgically invasive methods but at considerably less risk and cost. As a result of these clinical observations and concerns about electromagnetic "pollution", interactions of nonionizing electromagnetic fields with biological processes have been the subject of increasing investigational activity. Over the past decade, the number of publications on these topics has risen exponentially. They now include textbooks, speciality journals, regular reviews by government agencies, in addition to individual articles, appearing in the wide spectrum of peer-reviewed, scientific sources. In a recent editorial in Current Contents, the editor reviews the frontiers of biomedical engineering focusing on Science Citation Index methods for identifying core research endeavors. Dr. Garfield chose PEMFs from among other biomedical engineering efforts as an example of a rapidly emerging discipline. Three new societies in the bioelectromagnetics, bioelectrochemistry, and bioelectrical growth and repair have been organized during this time, along with a number of national and international committees and conferences. These activities augment a continuing interest by the IEEE in the U.S. and the IEE in the U.K. This review focuses on the principles and practice behind the therapeutic use of "PEMFs". This term is restricted to time-varying magnetic field characteristics that induce voltage waveform patterns in bone similar to those resulting from mechanical deformation. These asymmetric, broad-band pulses affect a number of biologic processes athermally. Many of these processes appear to have the ability to modify selected pathologic states in the musculoskeletal and other systems.
Bassett C. Dep. Orthopedic Surgery, Columbia University, New York. Crit Rev Biomed Eng

 

Pulsed electromagnetic fields promote collagen production in bone marrow fibroblasts via athermal mechanisms.

Primary and passaged cultures of fibroblasts (RBMFs) raised from the bone marrow stroma of young rabbits were treated with pulsed electromagnetic fields (PEMFs) from the start of each culture until 1 week after they became confluent. The PEMF treatment had no effect on cell proliferation, estimated by phase contrast microscopy, by 3H-thymidine incorporation into DNA, or by total DNA assay. Collagen production, estimated by conversion of 3H-proline to 3H-hydroxyproline in nondialyzable material was markedly elevated in postconfluent cultures, but not in cultures that had only just reached confluence. About 65 of 3H-hydroxyproline was in low molecular weight form, and a correlation between collagen breakdown and cyclic AMP (cAMP) levels in RBMFs was demonstrated by adding dibutyryl cAMP or prostaglandin E3 (PGE2) to the culture medium concurrently with 3H-proline. The PEMF apparatus caused an insufficient temperature rise (less than 0.1 degree C) to account for these results. We propose that the rise in collagen production is consistent with the hypothesis that PEMFs act by reducing cAMP levels in RBMFs, and that thermal effects are insignificant.
Farndale R. et.al Calcif Tissue Int

Modulation of collagen production in cultured fibroblasts by a low-frequency pulsed magnetic field.

Primary cultures of chicken tendon fibroblasts have been exposed for various periods to a low-frequency, pulsed magnetic field, and the effects on protein and collagen synthesis have been examined by radioisotopic incorporation. Total protein synthesis was increased in confluent cells treated with a pulsed magnetic field for the last 24 h of culture as well as in cells treated for a total of 6 days. However, in 6 day-treated cultures, collagen accumulation was specifically enhanced as compared to total protein, whereas after short-term exposure, collagen production was increased only to the same extent as total protein. Levels of cyclic AMP were significantly decreased after 6-day pulsed magnetic field treatment, probably as a consequence of diminished adenylate cyclase activity. Exposure to pulsed magnetic field had no effect on cell proliferation or collagen phenotype. These results indicate that a pulsed magnetic field can specifically increase production of collagen, the major differentiated function of fibroblasts, possibly by altering cyclic-AMP metabolism.
Murray J. et.al. Biochim Biophys Acta

 

Results of pulsed electromagnetic fields (PEMFs) in ununited fractures after external skeletal fixation.

Of 147 patients with fractures of the tibia, femur and humerus, in whom an average of 3.3 operations had failed to produce union, all were treated with external skeletal fixation in situ and pulsed electromagnetic fields (PEMFs). Of the 147, 107 patients united for an overall success rate of 73%. Union of the femur occurred in 81% and the tibia in 75%. Only five of 13 humeri united. Failure to achieve union with PEMFs was most closely associated with very wide fracture gaps and insecure skeletal fixation devices.
Marcer M. et.al. Clin Orthop

Osteonecrosis of the femoral head treated by pulsed electromagnetic fields (PEMFs): a preliminary report.

This has been a preliminary report with a short-term follow-up of a small number of observations (28 hips of 24 patients). The follow-ups ranged from 6 to 36 months, with an average of 17.8 months. Only eleven hips (in eleven patients) were followed an average of 8 months after cessation of the treatment. It should be emphasized that this was a "pilot" study, in which no control series was used to determine the natural course of the disease in a comparable clinical setting. Of note was the pain relief, in 19 of 23 patients with moderate to severe pretreatment pain. Also there was an improved function, which suggests that at least in approximately two thirds of the patients there was some clinical benefit from this mode of treatment. In eight hips, clinical conditions did not change; and in two they worsened, requiring further treatment. Eighteen remaining hips were thought to have benefited by the treatment. Six femoral heads that had already developed varying degrees of collapse (Ficat Type III) collapsed further (1 to 2 mm), and two round heads (Ficat II) progressed to off-round (Ficat III). This preliminary study suggests that further exploration of pulsed electromagnetic fields (PEMFs) is warranted in the treatment of osteonecrosis of the femoral head.
Eftekhar N. et.al. Hip

Treatment of therapeutically resistant non-unions with bone grafts and pulsing electromagnetic fields.

This study reviews the cases of eighty-three adults with ununited fractures who were treated concomitantly with bone-grafting and pulsed electromagnetic fields. An average of 1.5 years had elapsed since fracture and the use of this combined approach. Nearly one-third of the patients had a history of infection, and an average of 2.4 prior operations had failed to produce bone union. Thirty-eight patients who were initially treated with grafts and pulsed electromagnetic fields for ununited fractures with wide gaps, synovial pseudarthrosis, and malalignment achieved a rate of successful healing of 87 per cent. Forty-five patients who had initially been treated unsuccessfully with pulsing electromagnetic fields alone had bone-grafting and were re-treated with pulsing electromagnetic fields. Ninety-three per cent of these fractures healed. The residual failure rate after two therapeutic attempts, one of which was operative, was 1.5 per cent. The median time to union for both groups of patients was four months.
Bassett C. Et.al. J Bone Joint Surg Am

Effects of a pulsed electromagnetic field on a mixed chondroblastic tissue culture.

A mixed tissue culture predominantly composed of chondroblastic tissue was perturbed by a pulsed electromagnetic field (PEMF). Some cultures were nonconfluent, and purposely retarded in growth to resemble an atrophic nonunion, while others were grown to confluence in about one-half the time as a model for a hypertrophic nonunion. These two groups tested the effect of growth rate upon the products of cell proliferation and differentiation. The slowly growing cultures were stimulated to synthesize hydroxyproline. The rapidly growing cultures showed a large increase in lysozyme activity, and increase in hyaluronate and DNA, and a decrease in glycosaminoglycan. Exogenous lysozyme further decreased the glycosaminoglycan synthesis in the presence of PEMF. Chitotriose, a specific lysozyme inhibitor abolished this effect. Cycloheximide, a protein synthesis inhibitor, did not abolish the activation of lysozyme found in the matrix. Thus lysozyme appears to be activated by PEMF. These observations of the rapidly growing confluent cultures are consistent with events described in the normal healing of a bone fracture or endochrondral growth. Thus, PEMF appears to promote normal healing, probably by altering cartilaginous lysozyme activity in the matrix, and possibly the sequence of events leading to calcification.
Norton LA Clin Orthop

Biological effects of magnetic fields: studies with microorganisms.

Five bacteria and one yeast were grown in magnetic fields of 50-900 gauss with frequencies of 0-0.3 HZ and square, triangular, or sine waveform. Growth of these microorganisms could be stimulated or inhibited depending upon the field strength and frequency of the pulsed magnetic field. Spore germination and mutation frequency were unaffected by the magnetic fields used in this study.
Moore R. Can J Microbiol

Influence of magnetic fields on calcium salts crystal formation: an explanation of the 'pulsed electromagnetic field' technique for bone healing.

In the search for a mechanism by means of which a magnetic field deparalyses non-unions and enhances bone tissue formation, the influence of continuous magnetic fields on the formation of calcium phosphate crystal seeds has been investigated. From this perspective, an explanation is given of a working mode in conventional equipment for pulsed electromagnetic field treatment; this is compared with multifunction equipment.
Madronero A J Biomed Eng