It is absolutely vital for anyone who is currently using or contemplating using magnetic therapy to thoroughly understand how magnetic strength is measured and what is the appropriate strength of magnet to use for healing purposes. Magnets are perfectly safe and do not have adverse side effects; so users should not worry about overdosing on magnetic strength. However it is possible to under dose on strength. A minimum strength per magnet is required to ensure that the magnetic field is powerful enough to penetrate through the skin and into the blood stream.
There are 2 scientists from the 18th and 19th centuries that are responsible for the magnetic measurement system that is used today.
Firstly the most renowned is Carl Friedrich Gauss (1777-1855). Gauss was Germany?s greatest mathematician of the time, he started to study magnetism in 1836 and by 1841 he had devised the world?s first magnetic telegraph. His work revolved around locating the earth?s magnetic poles (north and south), once this was achieved he wrote a calculations table that allows people, to this day, to calculate the strength of a magnet.
The first unit of magnetic measurement was called gauss, named after the great man. The unit gauss has been replaced in industry with a more up to date measurement the Tesla. However in medicine magnets are still rated in gauss as the gauss measurement allows for a more precise calculation of lower strengths, than those used in industry.
Nikola Tesla (1856-1943) was a Croatian scientist who, after emigrating to the USA, worked closely with Thomas Edison. After parting company with Thomas Edison , Tesla went on to invent alternating current (AC).
Tesla has numerous inventions to his credit and his work has led to many of the modern day technology. Tesla was also the man who re invented the magnetic measurement system. The new SI (international system of units) measurement of magnetic flux (strength) was named after Tesla.
The new measurement of magnetism the Tesla is a much larger unit than that of gauss. It is predominantly used in industry, where very high strength magnets are used. Tesla is not an appropriate measuring system for medical magnets as the calculation of strength has to be converted to milli tesla (1 thousandth of a tesla)
However medicine has been encouraged to adopt the SI system of measurement so it becoming more common to find magnetic strengths listed in tesla units.
Debbie Shimadry is qualified magnetic therapist and pain nurse specialist. She appears on several BBC radio stations as an expert guest on magnetic therapy and is also the managing director of leading magnetic therapy company worldofmagnets.co.uk. To find out more on how magnetic therapy can help you, visit magnetictherapyfacts.org. If you are interested in other natural pain relief visit the magnetic article directory for a wide collection of free health articles. | |
