magnetic field applied (p. 153).While energy transmitted from the magnets is reported to produce both thermal and non-thermal physiological effects within injured soft tissue (Livingston, 1999; Borsa, p. 153) is possible, in order to get a significant thermal effect from the magnetic field, the strength must be between 150 G and 15,000 G. Since most commercially available flexible magnets have strengths below 1000 G (Borsa, pp. 153-4), they would naturally be a significantly lower gain of thermal heat due to their lack of magnetic power.This thermal heat is a result of Hall voltage, and is caused by a magnetic field of sufficient strength that passes through a conductive fluid such as blood, produces an electromotive force (the Hall voltage). A significant amount of this voltage can cause blood ions to become active and dynamic, colliding with each other, and thus producing heat and vasodilation. This is called the magnetohydrodynamic effect (see Fig. 1). This effect has the capability to mimic heating agents used therapeutically, but it is hard to attain that level of heat due to a lack of approval by the Food and Drug Administration to use such high powered magnets (Borsa, p. 153; Barnothy, p. 128; Meyer, 1997).However, this does not seem concordant with the Baylor study. And, this discrepancy is actually something fairly consistent between findings in magnetic research. In this situation, it could merely be a matter of different magnets used for different ailments. In the Baylor study, the magnets were used on postpolio patients over both muscular and arthritic pain, while in Borsa's study, the magnets were worn over muscular microinjuries for a longer period of time with greater potency (in gauss). However, this is not a matter of different studies using different variables. These two studies actually represent magnetic therapy research well in that most of the conclusions are fairly inconsistent with each other. Since the...
