PEMFSITE

Posts Tagged ‘Curatron’

Magnetotron (Circa 1974)

Sometime ago I was reading a letter from a satisfied Curatron customer who had upgraded from an older technology PEMF machine called the Magnetotron. I was amazed to find out that this device may still be in production. There are and have been several machines over the years that require the user to sit inside a coil rather than on a simple flat pad or mattress. These arcane devices are difficult to use and tend to generate weak magnic fields.

Simple Coil Field Lines

The patient needs to be inside the cylinder, which is often a cumbersome process, especially for elderly people.  The body cylinder was developed decades ago and was the only solution to generate sufficient magnetic field energy in order to be effective since the electronics available during the 80’s were unable to drive sufficient energy into surface coils. These types of cylinders have become obsolete and are still sold only in combination with obsolete PEMFT devices. “ You can read more at http://www.pemft.com/PEMF-coils.

The older coil system such as that used by the Magnetotron coil generate localized fields inside the coil itself. Full body coverage without moving the coil is impossible.

The Curatron 2000 Full Body Mattress - Comfortable and easy to use.

Heavier folks find the coils to be difficult to get into and they can make one feel a little clausterophobic. Even MRI systems today are moving to Open MRI to reduce the feeling of being closed in and allow their systems to fit those wider folks who simply just don’t fit in the older MRI tunnels.

Modern Flat Coil Technology (Circa 2009) - Imagine up to 400 Gauss in a 20" x 28" pad.

The Curatron is also available with high energy pad about 20″ x 28″ that delivers a 300 Gauss (400 Gauss in the PC model) induction level. This is unparalleled performance and is not available with any other system on the market today.

From a white paper by Ben Philipson, the inventor of the Curatron Systems.

Only Pulsed electromagnetic fields (PEMF) influence cell behavior by inducing electrical changes around and within the cell

The magnetic field strength of a magnet is related to its size and composition, which determines the depth of penetration of the magnetic fields. There are many therapeutic systems on the market which use permanent magnets made of different materials. These manufacturers often claim field strengths of 4,000 gauss and higher. These values are however not relevant at all, since the measured field strengths of these magnets range from 310 gauss to 2,200 gauss at the surface, at 1-inch distance around 10 Gauss at 3-inch distance absolutely nothing! [1]

To obtain any electrical induction at all, permanent magnets have to be mechanically moved. Static magnetic fields do not cause any electrical induction! [2]

Pulsed electromagnetic fields (PEMF) influence cell behavior by inducing electrical changes around and within the cell. Improved blood supply increases the oxygen pressure, activating and regenerating cells. Increased calcium transport stimulates the repair of cartilage.

In order to obtain a real therapeutic effect the induced field strength has to be sufficient to penetrate deep inside the body. This condition can only be met if the electromagnetic flux generated at each individual coil is in excess of 100 Gauss (10 milli-Tesla).

Battery operated systems for whole body use are unable to generate these necessary multiple high energy electromagnetic fields simultaneously, at each individual coil, since the battery would be empty in just a very short time.

This technology has undergone many scientific clinical trials world-wide. Hundreds of thousands of people have experienced the benefits of pulsed electromagnetic field technology. Are you going to be one of them?

[1] Most “therapeutic” magnets will not harm pacemakers: Measurements by Paul van Lake, St. Jude Medical and Dr. Thomas Mattioni, Arizona Heart Institute, Phoenix.

[2] Free energy with wires and magnets - can you come out ahead? Tom Napier: The basics of magnets.

One of the things that our competitors fail to discuss openly on their websites is power or energy levels generated by their systems. When we measure magnetism, we measure “magnetic induction” or “magnetic flux density” 

It’s unfortunate that the industry uses both terms Gauss and Tesla and these two measurement systems are different. Both Nikola Tesla and Carl Friedrich Gauss contributed significantly to the world of science and each is honored with the use of his name as a unit of measuement.

Tesla has replaced Gauss as the primary measurement of magnetic induction and one Tesla equals 10 gauss. Ben Philipson, the creator of the Curatron has done a great job of trying do de-myth the world at his www.pemft.com website which was created solely to explain the technology of PEMF Therapy.

We also need to understand our decimal system, we talk about milli Tesla “mT” and micro Telsa “μT” and some makers use the terms interchangeably. Let’s just say that there are 1,000,000  μT in a Tesla and there are 1,000 mT in a Tesla so one mT is 1000 times larger than 1 μT. If we were talking dollars, we’d take more care in the terms we use.

Briefly let me talk about the energy levels from the major brands of PEMF sytems

* Measured with full sized mattress. The Curatron 2000 PC when using at full power with a High Energy Coil generates up to 100 mT (1,000  μT)

To see the range of Curatron 2000 models << Click Here >>. It’s important to note that the Curatron 2000 is a family of products including the:

• C-2000-HT (Home Therapy System)
• C-2000-XP (Advanced/Premium Home or simple Clinical system) 
• C-2000-PC (Professional Therapist PC Controlled System)

Our competitors seem to fail to mention the huge capability and range of capability of the Curatron family of products.

Simply put the Curatron is in an entirely separate class.

Important Links:
Wikipedia: Carl Friedrich Gauss
Wikipedia: Nikola Tesla

Confusing, confusing, confusing. Permanent Magnets do not generate Pulsed ElectroMagnetic Fields and the sites that say this out there are just wrong, either because the site creator does not have clue about technology or more probably is trying to mislead his audience.

There has been a growing trend of late among some sompanies to use very aggressive marketing techniques which sometimes offer false and misleading information. This is clearly done to get you to buy their systems which for the most part offer no MEASURABLE benefit but to the person who is expecting relief, the placebo effect can be very great.

At this blog, I will do my best to help you uncover what you need to uncover to make the optimal choice for your PEMF system. Like all sales folks, I do have a bias towards the Curatron system, after all, I’ve been selling it for over nine years and I only have one customer return! Yes only one customer return. I know that none of our competitors can make that statement!

Static Magnetism versus Pulsed Magnetic Therapy in Medical and Veterinary Use
Author: Dr. D.C. Laycock PhD, BEd(Hons) Member of the International Society for Bioelectromagnetism

This article is written to try to answer some of the questions posed about the efficacy and use of static magnets versus pulsed magnetic fields in both medical and veterinary use.

Magnetism is a product of moving charged particles. This can be within a conductor, such as a length of wire carrying an electric current, or found around certain types of materials where the crystal structure is such that a current is formed by electrons, sharing the orbits around the atoms making up the structure in an orderly direction. In a conducting wire a source of energy, i.e. a battery, is required to sustain the flow of electrons in order to overcome the natural resistance, whereas in a magnet, electrons freely orbit their atomic crystal structure, unaffected by any resistance. The flow of electrons in a magnet requires no external input of energy but the field produced is constant and as such has no dynamic component and is therefore not a source of energy in itself. When a constant flow of electrons through the wire is sustained, then the fields produced are identical in nature between the static magnet and the ‘induced’ field.

Pulsating magnetic fields differ in that they rise and fall around the conductors or coils as the current through them is varied. Static magnets are widely available for use in both the medical and veterinary fields with many claims made for their efficacy, but are such magnets of any real use? How do they work and where and when should they be applied?

From a purely physics point of view, any effect from magnetic interactions with soft tissue or bone requires a dynamic component. If a static magnet is brought into close proximity to a conductor, i.e. a piece of wire, then there is only an effect whilst the field or the wire are in motion relative to each other, i.e. an electric current is established during this dynamic period. Soft tissue is made up of billions of cells each of which is surrounded by a semi-permeable membrane. Through this membrane pass certain types of ions known as ‘cations’, which flow into the cells, and ‘anions’, which flow out. These different types of cations and anions provide the essential nutrients to sustain each cell to perform its designated function. These flows of ions constitute small electric currents in their own right, driven by a small charge that gives a similar effect to having a battery applied across the membrane. The flow of ions would produce a miniscule but virtually undetectable magnetic field. If cells are damaged by accident or disease then the ‘battery’ that drives the cell’s currents may be reduced in its ability to sustain the flow of ions and hence the cell either is reduced in its function, or dies. Magnetic fields applied to the area of injured cells need some dynamic interaction to have an effect on the anionic and cationic flows across their membranes. Since a magnetic field is a product of moving ions or electrons, then a dynamic field applied externally will have the effect of inducing movement of ions. The generation of electricity is based on this principle. If the generator is stationary and the armatures not in motion, then no electricity is produced. When the armature rotates, electricity will be produced.

Manufacturers that claim to have static magnets which can mimic the motion of pulsating magnetic fields are, therefore, making untrue statements since the magnetic fields, however shaped by positions of other static magnets, will never have a dynamic component. If they could achieve such dynamism from a static source then the world’s energy and pollution problems would be solved.
So are static magnets of any real use? Well perhaps the dynamic interactions may come from within the soft tissue itself. If a static field is applied to an area of injury then several possible factors may induce ionic movement.

These are:

Thermal agitation, - under normal conditions soft tissue is fluidic in nature and there may be some Brownian motion i.e. random vibrations of cells due to heat. These slightly moving cells may cut across the static field and as such aid some ionic movement through their membranes.
Pulsating vibrations, - from the heart as blood pulses through the tissue.
Muscle twitch - since muscles are never completely static, a magnet attached loosely to an affected area may interact this way. Normal muscular motion will also contribute to this effect.
Since the interactions are very small and in consistent, it follows that static magnets would need to be applied over a long term in order to achieve any benefit. This contrasts with pulsating fields that, by their very nature, interact as they rise and fall, cutting through the cells and aiding ionic flow. The frequencies at which the fields switch are also an important factor affecting different cells and conditions.

Other claims arise as to the question of the significance of magnetic polarity. Different effects from the north pole of a static magnet are claimed as opposed to the effects produced by the south pole. This has to be viewed with some skepticism, since a magnetic field is formed around the flow of ions or electrons causing it. This makes, in effect, a continuous field loop. The terms

If we apply the above logic to the case where a static field is applied to the skin surface, the field forms a continuous loop from which there is no net outflow. That entering the skin surface exactly equals that leaving it. If entering the skin, the field is taken as north on the outside, south on the inside, then as the field loops around and emerges from the skin, the north pole could now be said to be on the inside of the skin surface and the south on the outside. Since the net polarity effectively cancels out it is difficult to justify any claims for polarity.

Claims for the existence of monopole magnets and their increased efficacy are in the realms of ‘Pseudo Science’. A magnetic field is established around a flow of charged particles. The field orientation is as discussed above. The idea that somehow there could be only one polarity is a physical impossibility. The magnetic field emanating from the north pole of a magnet or coil is part of a continuous loop that cannot exist in an incomplete form. Such devices are a physical impossibility therefore the claims attributed to them are invalid.

Another claim made about static magnets is that of ‘magnetic energy’. This is given the terms positive and negative with the north-south orientation. North pole is said to have negative energy and the south pole to have positive. To understand what energy is we have to look at its definition. Energy simply means ‘the ability to do work’. How can this simple statement be applied to magnets? If energy is divided into its basic components it either exists as potential (stored) energy or as kinetic (dynamic) energy. Static magnets have neither potential nor kinetic, as explained previously. The only way any magnetic induction effect can be derived is by interacting with an external dynamic source of energy. Energy can therefore only be taken out of a system if it has been put there beforehand. Magnetism existing as negative or positive energy becomes meaningless in this context.

Pulsed magnetism requires that energy be put into the system to establish the magnetic field. When the source of energy is removed, the field collapses back into the wire. Used therapeutically, it is during the time that the field is being established or collapsed that energy is being used to drive cellular ionic flows. In other words, this is only during the dynamic periods. There is no concept of negative or positive energy that can be applied since the moving field causes ionic flow dependent upon the direction, angular interaction and electrostatic charges of the ions. The nature of cell membranes is such that they will generally only allow the cations to flow inwards and the anions outwards. The dynamic magnetic field has in effect a push-pull action on ionic flow, aiding both inward and outward movement of ions as it rises and collapses through the membranes.

In writing this short article I have not made reference to, or quoted, specific research. There are volumes available to those interested in a deeper study of therapeutic magnetism. But also, there are many reports of successful usage that are anecdotal rather than scientific in nature. I would suggest that these ‘successes’ are often the only ones reported but failures do not get a mention. In evaluating recovery, we should also not overlook the body’s own ability to help itself under certain conditions. Placebo effects are known to work in at least 25% of cases and as much as 50% are also possible. With animals, the placebo effects are generally missing. However a case was reported to me about racing greyhounds. These seemed to improve their performance over a period of a few weeks from the onset of treatment with pulsed magnetic therapy.  It was later found that the magnetic field applicators were faulty and the device had never functioned correctly. The ‘improvement’ of the animals may have occurred because the trainers had expected them to and possibly treated them differently to normal.

Pulsed magnetic therapy used in the correct manner, where the correct frequency and  pulse rate is selected, can be a useful aid to treatment of a variety of conditions. The use of static magnets is harder to justify scientifically, but may have some place, although limited, when applied over long periods of time.

north or south pole indicate which end the magnetic field appears to orientate itself. Since magnetic field poles either oppose or attract each other, depending upon their orientation, they tend to be given a perceived direction although no movement actually occurs. Where this direction of the field appears to emerge from the magnetic material then this is termed the north pole and where the field appears to re-enter the magnet this is the south pole. It follows therefore that at any position along the line of the field there is a north south orientation. Where it appears to come from is the north, where it flows to is the south’.