The main author, in fact, stated he didn't understand why the some patients felt improvement in areas of the body far away from the application site. Another fundamental question is that all these reference concern relief of pain, not about healing injuries. A shot of novocain will stop a toothache, but does nothing to cure the problem. A comparison of magnets to asprin for curing headaches is ignoring the very real data of dose-response that is completely lacking in magnet studies. I have a couple articles in front of me about how magnets are successfully used in treating injuries in horses.
Horses are too dumb to have a placebo effect.
So are some runners. Magnets may just be worth a try. Horses are not only too dumb to have a placebo effect, they're also too dumb to discuss their condition with a scientist. While pain is subjective, swelling and healing can be observed objectively. I don't know about the effects of static magnetic fields, but I do recall reading articles in the IEEE journals a few years ago about the use of electromagnetic stimulation being effective in the treatment of broken bones.