In the Baylor study, researchers tested the ability of magnets to reduce chronic pain in patients who had previously suffered from polio. Sham magnets were given to the control group. Neither doctors nor patients knew which were the real and which were the sham magnets. The researchers found that the treatment group experienced significant and prompt relief from pain. Nearly all polio survivors experience chronic pain, and medical drugs do not provide much relief.
Drugs also can be toxic and create undesirable side-effects.
Before their work with magnets, Baylor researchers had tried other unconventional treatments for pain relief, such as hypnosis, meditation and yoga, and none provided patients with consistent pain relief.