Olivia Simpson 5:01pm 09/26/13
The copper bracelets and magnetic
wrist straps people have been using to alleviate the pain of arthritis have
been declared useless by British researchers. In their randomized, double-blinded,
placebo-controlled study, the researchers randomized patients to receive four
treatments. These were wearing a powerful magnetic strap, a weak magnetic
strap, a nonmagnetic strap, and a copper bracelet. The patients wore the
bracelets for 5 weeks and reported pain levels using a visual scale and
recorded how often their joints felt tender and swollen. The researchers used
questionnaires and tested for inflammation. They found no significant
differences in any of the measures regardless of what the patients were
wearing. As placebos, the bracelets have some benefits but, as treatments, they
do no good.
This
article is interesting because the research completely disproves the medical
use of these bracelets. It brings about the question of whether we should allow
patients that swear by these products to live in blissful ignorance or if we
should provide them with the facts. On one hand, I think that the ethical thing
to do is provide these patients with the facts. It would keep them from buying
useless products but would put whatever corporation makes them out of business.
If we let these arthritis patients believe that these bracelets are helping
them, however, it could benefit their health via the placebo effect. Ultimately,
the research was published so I guess the researchers asking this question
decided to provide the public with the truth that these customary bracelets are
not working.
-NY Times (Science Times) article by Nicholas Bakalar 09/24/13
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