Dr. William Collinge shares some very helpful information regarding the controversial use of magnets for healing. Many people say they've gotten good results using magnets for the sorts of ailments you mention, and magnets are sometimes suggested for a variety of other conditions as well. However, very few of these claims have been tested scientifically. For the human body, this means that the magnet works somewhat like a generator, accelerating chemical and cellular activity in the part of the body where the magnet field is being applied.
Magnets have positive and negative poles.
Researchers in magnetic healing have found evidence that suggests applying the negative side toward the body, or even resting it on the body, is beneficial, but not the positive side. The reason is not understood, but geophysicists know that the charge of the earth's magnetic field is negative. A few studies on both animals and humans suggest that magnets might help healing. In experiments with rats and guinea pigs, applying magnetic fields appeared to speed the healing of soft tissue wounds and broken bones. In 1997, researchers at the Madras Institute of Magnetobiology in India used pulsing magnetic fields on plantar ulcers in 40 people with leprosy.