MAGNET therapy might not cure your pain, but it could harm your pocket, according to new research.

Many Worcester News readers were among those who reported pain relief after buying bracelets and other devices - such as insoles and knee bands - which also contain magnets.

But American professors Leonard Finegold and Bruce Flamm say money would be better spent on evidence-based medicine.

Their research, reported in the British Medical Journal, found no proven benefits of magnetic therapies. They said experiments claiming to show the benefits of magnets in reducing pain were not reliable, because subjects in double-blind studies could tell whether they had been given real or fake magnets.

"Magnets are touted by successful athletes, allowed to be widely advertised and sold without restrictions, so it is not surprising that lay people think claims of therapeutic efficacy are reasonable," the study concluded.

It was a story about champion rally driver Pentti Airikkala overcoming severe back pain with the help of a magnetic wristband that prompted Marcelle Russell, of Callow End, to buy one in 2003. She was soon reporting relief from crippling pain in her knees, hips and lower back, prompting other readers to jam the Worcester News switchboard with enquiries. Soon, many of them were describing similar relief from their aches and pains, after buying magnetic products from Ecoflow distributor Jan Moody, of Bredicot, near Worcester.

"About five per cent returned their bracelets under our 90-day guarantee, saying it didn't work or made matters worse. Most said their quality of life had improved so much they would not want to be without their bracelet," said Mrs Moody.

Altair de Almeida, of Malvern, is a distributor of magnetic products made by the Japanese company Nikken.

"They are emulating what the Earth should be doing for us, because metal and electric wiring in modern buildings interferes with the magnetic field around us," he said.

"In Japan, our magnetic insoles are supplied on prescription to people suffering from something called Magnetic Deficiency Syn-drome. The symptoms are like the condition ME or chronic fatigue syndrome."