Terreri K., Lake D.A., Thompson A.T., Wright L.L.; Department of Physical Therapy, Armstrong Atlantic State University, Savannah, GA lakedavi@mail.armstrong.edu.

PURPOSE: The present study investigated the effect of static magnets on the pain associated with osteoarthritis of the knee. SUBJECTS: 25 arthritis patients were enrolled but only 9 completed the study (5 active magnet and 4 placebo control). METHODS: In this double blind clinical trial, patients with chronic knee pain associated with osteoarthritis were randomly given either two active 16,000 gauss therapeutic magnets or two identical placebo deactivated magnets in a band to be worn around the knee 8 hours per day, 7 days per week for 8 weeks. Patients completed the McGill Pain Questionnaire at the beginning and end of the study. ANALYSIS: A Mann-Whitney U test was used to determine if a difference existed in the initial measured pain level between experimental and control pre-test groups. A Kruskal-Wallis test was done to determine if there was any effect of the static magnets when compared to the control deactivated magnets on pain measures at the 4 and 8 week measurements. Effect sizes were determined for the change in pain levels as measured on the McGill Pain Questionnaire. Alpha level was set at .05. RESULTS: There were no initial differences in pain levels between the control and experimental groups as measured by the McGill Pain Questionnaire. There were no significant changes in the pain levels reported by the patients from either the static magnets or placebo magnets following exposure for either 4 or 8 weeks. Effect sizes for static magnets were 0.25 and 0.07 for the 4 and 8 week assessments respectively and 0.52 and 0.21 for the 4 and 8 week assessments, respectively, for the placebo magnets. CONCLUSION: A knee band with two 16,000 gauss static magnets had no significant effect on the pain associated with osteoarthritis. These results suggest that static therapeutic magnets may not be effective in treating knee pain associated with osteoarthritis. FUNDING: No external funding was used and authors have no material gain as a result of the study.