The dangers regarding overdose of prescription medications in the US is now becoming critical. According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 27,000 people died from prescription drug overdose in 2007, a 5 fold increase since 1990 with the main culprit being pain medications.

Even the cosy relationship between medical schools and pharmaceutical companies is coming under closer scrutiny. The University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health which has been criticized for its advocacy of controversial uses of narcotic painkillers said it will no longer take money from the drug industry. The university had taken $2.5 million over a decade from companies that make opioids with a clear conflict of interest for their “independent” advocacy for the use of narcotic painkillers for chronic pain.

Meanwhile, ground-breaking therapies with little or no risk for patients such as neuromagnetics are practically ignored by doctors. Despite good evidence for this unique type of magnetic therapy, it still struggles for recognition. Principle physiotherapist Dianne Hermans has treated thousands of patients using quadrapolar magnets since 1999 with an 80% success rate, you can read some of the chronic pain case studies here. This supports the neurologist, Dr Robert Holcomb who pioneered this work with over 2,000 chronic and complex pain patients treated at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center in the 1990’s also with an 80% success rate.
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Researcher and professor of psychiatry, Dr. Mark George said “We have settled a fundamental question about [transcranial magnetic stimulation, or TMS] therapy, which is: ‘Does it work?’” And “The answer is ‘yes.’”

Just like the MRI, TMS is another innovative use for magnetic therapy that relies on the unique properties of magnetic field gradients.  Just like Q magnets and their powerful pain relieving abilities, magnetic field gradients are at the cutting edge of science and health care.

TMS machines work by passing short bursts of electricity through coils, which produce very dense and defined magnetic fields and small shifts or turns in the coils generate strong magnetic field gradients. The field gradients induce currents in the adjacent nerves within underactive areas of the brain which are related to depression, which is thought to be how they work.

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A growing challenge for the Australian health system is the growing cost of the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) which subsidises the costs of approved drugs.

Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disease which causes chronic inflammation of the joints and as an example,  the annual cost of these drugs to the Australian tax payer increased three-fold from about $46 million to almost $134 million between 2003 and 2007. Clearly this is unsustainable.

Lifestyle Therapies offers drug free treatments such as neuromagnetic therapy that can dramatically reduce the costs and the side effects on your body. In fact, this case study presented by principal physiotherapist, Dianne Hermans at an International Physiotherapy Conference showed a gradual decrease in pain medication of over $700 per year to almost nothing after a 20 year chronic pain history.

Reduction in cost of pain medication