Osteoarthritis and Bioflow
What is Osteoarthritis?
Osteoarthritis is the most common type of arthritis, affecting around 8.5 million people in the UK. It is caused by the inflammation and breakdown of cartilage in the joints, which eventually wears away completely. It usually affects the hands, hips, knees, lower back and neck, but can affect any joints in the body.
Osteoarthritis gradually worsens over time and there is currently no cure. Some widely available therapies can help to reduce both the swelling and the associated pain, as well as allowing the patient to maintain a relatively active and mobile lifestyle. According to experts, patients that take steps to manage their osteoarthritis are much more likely to gain control over their symptoms.
The British Medical Foundation Trial
In 2002 the Arthritis Research Campaign sponsored a two year medical trial of the affects of Bioflow’s key magnetic bracelets on osteoarthritis of the knee and hip.
The results of this peer reviewed clinical trial were published by the British Medical Journal in 2004. The study reported that:
Static magnets are widely used for the relief of pain and evidence about their efficacy in osteoarthritis can be contradictory.
Placebo effects are particularly difficult to control (because of the easy detection of magnetism) ... "Bracelets with static magnets decrease the pain from osteoarthritis of the hip and knee, over and above the effects of placebo" and that these "benefits are supplementary to those from usual treatments".
Trials published by the British Medical Journal are carried out with a high level of integrity, so the findings of this trial are significant. This was the first trial in the world to be peer reviewed that directly related to specialist static magnets (including Bioflow) with regard to pain relief.
You can read the findings of the medical trial here on the British Medical Journal website.
