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Renewal Challenges: The Case of the Republic of Georgia
Published in Frederick J. DeMicco, Ali A. Poorani, Medical Travel Brand Management, 2023
Lali Odosashvili, Ali A. Poorani
Forest-dimming has started in the west of the country since 1928. The region was known for the cultivation of citrus trees and tea. In addition, for the first time, the benefits of magnetic sand were noticed by quarry workers who were using sand in nearby factories. Soon therapeutic properties of sand drew the attention of the community, medical professionals, and research centers. Artificially created magnetic fields are widely used in medicine. Some people use magnet therapy for treating pain, such as foot, back, or joint pain (University of Michigan Health). In-resort Ureki, you can find naturally created low-intensity magnetic field. Above that, the resort has a subtropical climate, sea, and Sun from May to October.
Alternative and Complementary Treatments
Published in Harold G. Koenig, Chronic Pain, 2013
Some scientific evidence suggests that certain pain conditions may benefit from magnet therapy. Brown presented data from a small study of eight patients with chronic pelvic pain at the annual meeting of the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology in May 2000.22 Investigators placed magnets on two trigger points on the abdomen that elicited pain when pressure was applied. Sixty percent of women treated with magnets experienced a reduction in pain compared to 33 percent of women given “sham” or inactive magnets. Whether this difference was statistically significant was not mentioned. It is not known why the application of magnets would reduce pain; however, magnets may somehow increase blood flow or interfere with nerves conducting painful stimuli.
Electromedicine
Published in Mark V. Boswell, B. Eliot Cole, Weiner's Pain Management, 2005
Magnets and acupuncture are popular modes of treating pain symptoms (Grant, Miller, Winchester, Anderson, & Faulkner, 1999; Karp, 2004). The theory behind the use of magnets in pain management is that the magnet reacts with the iron in the blood to increase blood flow and promote healing. In many recent studies, it has been shown that magnet therapy may show positive effect in certain patients and for certain conditions, but it may not show any beneficial effect in a significant number of patients (Karp, 2004). Magnet therapy has been used for many painful conditions such as foot pain, low back pain, and carpal tunnel syndrome (Karp, 2004). The placebo effect may play an important role in magnet therapy. Karp (2004) states that the decrease in pain reported by subjects wearing magnetic devices was not statistically significantly different compared with placebo-treated groups. However, in a study by Weintraub (Table 82.2), 450 Gauss multipolar magnetic insoles were used in 141 subjects and placebo insoles were used in 118 patients to treat symptomatic diabetic peripheral neuropathy, with constant symptoms for at least 6 months. The results of this study showed beneficial effect of the magnet therapy (Table 82.2 and Table 82.3).
Bio-Electro-Magnetic-Energy-Regulation (BEMER) for the treatment of type I complex regional pain syndrome: A pilot study
Published in Physiotherapy Theory and Practice, 2020
Maria Grazia Benedetti, Lorenzo Cavazzuti, Massimiliano Mosca, Isabella Fusaro, Alessandro Zati
Since CRPS-I specific etiology is supposed to be related to vascularization alterations, in this study we hypothesized, for the first, that BEMER therapy could have beneficial effects on this condition, when associated with a comprehensive rehabilitation program. Overall, the study demonstrated that the group treated with BEMER magneto-therapy combined with rehabilitation had better results in comparison to the control group, in terms of pain reduction and functional improvement. Impaired microcirculation with tissue ischemia and revascularization dysfunction, involving not only skin and subcutaneous tissues, but also underlying tissues (i.e., muscles, joints, and bone), seem to be present in CRPS-I. This has been highlighted both in animal models and in biopsies from CRPS-I patients (Varenna and Zucchi, 2015). It is reasonable to suppose that the effects demonstrated by the type of signal used by this device in improving tissue microvessel vasomotion and trophism could be beneficial also in microcirculation abnormalities present in CRPS-I.
Effects of low-level combined static and weak low-frequency alternating magnetic fields on cytokine production and tumor development in mice
Published in Electromagnetic Biology and Medicine, 2019
Elena G. Novoselova, Vadim V. Novikov, Sergey M. Lunin, Olga V. Glushkova, Tatyana V. Novoselova, Svetlana B. Parfenyuk, Sergey V. Novoselov, Maxim O. Khrenov, Evgeny E. Fesenko
The following parameters of the combined magnetic field were chosen for magnetic therapy: the intensity of the constant MF was 60 μT, the intensity of the alternating MF was 100 nT, and the frequencies of the alternating MF were 5.54, 5.7, 6.40, 6.78, 6.83, and 7.55 Hz. The criteria for assessing tumor growth were tumor size, dynamics of animal deaths and average life expectancy. Inhibition of tumor growth in exposed animals was observed throughout the experiment. Figure 1 shows the size of tumors over 35 days after cancer cell transplantation. Each of the two groups of tumor-bearing mice consisted of 30 animals. The tumor size was calculated as a square root of the sum of squares of two perpendicular diameters. The results showed that 17 days after the start of irradiation, the tumor sizes in the exposed animals were smaller than those in the unexposed mice. The inhibition of tumor growth was observed throughout the observation period up to the 35th day.
Evaluation of the influence of in vivo exposure to extremely low-frequency magnetic fields on the plasma levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines in rats
Published in International Journal of Radiation Biology, 2018
Joanna Wyszkowska, Tomasz Jędrzejewski, Jakub Piotrowski, Anna Wojciechowska, Maria Stankiewicz, Wieslaw Kozak
Obtained results demonstrate that the immune system is not affected by the conditions of typical MF exposure during magneto-therapy, simulated in our study by the exposure to MF for 1 h/day for 7 days. In contrary, however, 24 h exposure provoked a significant increase in plasma pro-inflammatory and regulatory cytokines level as well as the elevation in the blood parameters that clearly indicate an immune stimulation. Since a number of studies suggest that there is a link between immune activation manifested as inflammatory markers (cytokines, immune cells count) up-regulation and the development of neurodegenerative diseases (NDD) (Cao et al. 2011; Martorana et al. 2012; Shad et al. 2013), findings presented in our article provides an interesting angle to the discussion concerning this topic. Based on these data we postulate that exposure duration to an ELM-MF is a critical factor for the immune activation and that exceeding the exposure limits may increase the risk of developing diseases and may be considered as unsafe.