Therapeutic effects of magnetic and copper bracelets in osteoarthritis: a randomised placebo-controlled crossover trial

What Was Tested

The paper reports a study of Copper (Supplement), published as a randomized controlled trial.

Who Took Part

By PubMed's age tags, the people studied were middle-aged adults, older adults and people over 80, both men and women.

Each participant wore four devices over a 16-week period.

Forty five patients with osteoarthritis were recruited from general practices in rural and urban areas of Yorkshire.

How the Study Was Run

The researchers set it up as a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled and crossover study.

The participants were allocated by chance, so the Copper (Supplement) group and the comparison group should start out alike.

Blinding on both sides kept the participants and researchers unaware of who received Copper (Supplement).

Some participants received a placebo instead of Copper (Supplement), giving a reference point.

Each person switched between Copper (Supplement) and the comparison at some point, usually with a gap in between.

The timeline in the abstract includes 16 weeks.

A randomised double-blind placebo-controlled crossover trial.

Experimental device: a commercially available magnetic wrist strap.

Control devices: a weak magnetic wrist strap, a demagnetised wrist strap, and a copper bracelet.

What Was Measured

PubMed files the paper under topics including Complementary Therapies, Copper, England, Jewelry, Magnetics, Osteoarthritis and Pain Management.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled study of Copper (Supplement) over 16 weeks.

The abstract goes on to report its results in about 9 sentences; this page does not restate them, so read the paper for the findings and their limits.

The publication is from 2009 (Complementary therapies in medicine), a journal based in Scotland.

More context: the Copper (Supplement) compound page, all human trials.