magnets: friend or foe?

Right. Another acupuncture story for you:

My right hand has been bothering me for awhile now. No, it's not carpal tunnel - there's no numbness that extends to all but the pinky finger, which is the classic sign (I looked it up). The pain only occurs when I put pressure on my hand - when I pick up something that is heavy, or if I'm in a yoga pose, and my hand has to be on the floor, bearing some weight. The pain is above my wrist and on the top of my hand, meaning it doesn't radiate all the way through my hand. I've switched to using the computer mouse with my left hand (which actually wasn't as hard to get used to as I thought it would be, but that may be because I'm left-handed), and the pain has diminished a bit. Overall, I've no idea what caused my hand to start hurting. It just did, all of a sudden.

So my acupuncturist, Karen, has been grappling with it, trying to get it to behave. She says the odd thing about it is that the pain is not radiating from the meridian of the hand, but is slightly to the right. Two weeks ago, she tried something different. She put little magnet pellets on the pressure points on my hand. The pellets are held in place by a little circular band-aid thingy. She said to leave them on until they fell off or until my hand "felt funny," whichever came first. There was a noticeable decrease in pain with this magnet therapy, so when I went to see her today, I asked if I could have a repeat, which she agreed to do.

While she was plotting the points on my hand, I asked her what she thought of magnet therapy, especially the magnet bracelets that are so popular. She gave me a look, so I knew I was in for a treat of an explanation. She said she was of two minds about it. When magnets are placed on specific acupressure points, they seem to have remarkable effects, and she often uses them in that way, especially if there's a point on which a person might rather not have a needle, or if she wants to extend the pressure on the point for a good long time, like on my hand.

In general, though, she doesn't think vague magnet therapy, like wearing the bracelets or putting magnets on an overall area not related to a specific point, is such a good idea. This is because it interferes with the body's natural electro-magnetic field and tends to block it and keep it from moving. (And if you don't believe there is such a thing as an electro-magnetic field in and around the body, then I suggest you do a bit of research on electrocardiograms, which measure the electrical impulses that make the heart move - depolarization and repolarization and all that good stuff).

The whole point (ha!) of acupuncture is to keep chi happily moving about the body. If the chi gets stuck somewhere, you've got illness and/or pain. It can be temporarily stuck, like in the case of a cold or headache, or it can be permanently stuck, like in the case of a chronic illness or cancer or the like. Stuck, stagnating chi is bad chi. Very bad. And chi is all wrapped up with energy and blood and the immune system and the body's electro-magnetic field, among other things, so you mess with any of those, and you're messing with chi, and that's never a good idea. That's why acupuncture is the high art that it is. It's not meant to interfere with the body at all. Rather, it's meant to be a helpful sidekick and pal that keeps the conversation going.

So moral of the session: magnets on specific points = good; magnets in or near vague areas = bad. And so ends the lesson.