Since maggots and leeches have both squirmed their way back into accepted medical use, it probably shouldn’t be surprising that magnets have become a common treatment for various pains and ailments.

And even though magnets haven’t received official medical approval (as maggots and leeches have), an awful lot of people out there swear by them – and spend a lot of money on them.

It’s estimated that $150 million per year is spent on therapeutic magnets in the United States. Worldwide, people are dropping about half-a-billion bucks annually on magnets.

While many claim magnets can improve circulation and help bones heal faster, the most popular use of magnet therapy is pain relief.

Several professional athletes – including golfer John Huston, football player Dan Marino, and tennis player Lindsay Davenport – credit magnets with relieving their pains, and improving their games.

So, does it work?

Paul Ritter spent his younger days engaged in what he calls “a less than stellar high school football career.” Now he’s settled down to a less painful office job in Tulsa, and occasionally plays bass guitar.

He says he’s worn a magnetic bracelet for several years to relieve wrist and finger pain caused by his former “less than stellar” football days and his current musical hobby.

“I started out with a copper bracelet because my sister told me it was good for arthritis,” he said. “I don’t know if I have arthritis yet, but my hands can hurt a lot, especially after I play – maybe that’s arthritis, I don’t know. I started wearing the magnets instead of copper, to be perfectly honest, because it looked cooler. But it actually does seem to keep my fingers from aching so much.”

Ritter’s testimonial is similar to those of many other magnet wearers.

But the medical research on the effectiveness of magnets is still inconclusive.

The Baylor College of Medicine in Houston conducted a study that compared the effects of magnets and fake magnets on the knee pain of 50 post-polio patients. Those wearing the real magnets reported significantly more pain relief than the control group.

But another study at the New York College of Podiatric Medicine found that, over a four-week period, 19 patients who wore molded insoles with magnets in them reported the same improvement of heel pain as a control group who wore insoles without the magnets – 60 percent.

Despite the inconclusive medical studies, magnetic products abound, including bracelets, arm- and leg-bands, insoles, back braces, mattresses, and even a few home-made products.

“We became convinced that magnets worked by a patient of ours who was a logger,” said Shirley Nicholson, who along with her husband, Jeff, operates an acupuncture clinic in Tahlequah.

“He had been using a chainsaw, and a tree limb had bounced back and hit him on the leg. His whole upper leg was black and blue, except for one little square right in the middle. He had gone to Hobby Lobby and bought some of those magnets that are used on the back of photographs and put them on his leg. Where he had put the magnets, there wasn’t any bruising.”

Shirley and her husband now use magnets regularly in their practice, placing them on the same points of the body used in acupuncture.

“They can be used in the ears to treat different things, like eating disorders and addictions,” said Jeff. “I use them to treat bones that won’t heal, and for bruises that won’t go away.”

Jeff doesn’t have any definite answers about why magnets may work for certain ailments, but he does have some theories.

“Every electron in the body that’s spinning has a north and south pole, and every proton in our body that’s spinning has a north and south pole, so we already have a lot of magnetic nature to our bodies,” he said. “Also, the hemoglobin in our blood has a lot of iron in it, and that may be why it helps improve the circulation of the blood.”

As for Ritter, he doesn’t really care what the research says. If it works for him, he’s going to keep doing it.

“Sure, it might just be a placebo effect. Just knowing that I’m wearing something to keep my fingers from aching might be telling my brain to pass the message on to my hand: ‘Don’t hurt!’” he said. “But that doesn’t mean it’s not working. Drugs work on your brain, too. At least I can wear my bracelet and still operate heavy equipment – if I operated heavy equipment.”