Copper bracelets and magnetic wrist straps for rheumatoid arthritis--analgesic and anti-inflammatory effects: a randomised double-blind placebo controlled crossover trial

What Was Tested

Researchers studied Copper (Supplement) in the context of rheumatoid arthritis in this randomized controlled trial publication.

Folklore remedies for pain and inflammation in rheumatoid arthritis include the application of magnets and copper to the skin.

Who Took Part

According to the abstract, 70 patients were involved.

PubMed indexes the participants as adults, middle-aged adults and older adults, both men and women.

70 patients, aged 33 to 79 years and predominantly female (n = 52), with painful rheumatoid arthritis were recruited from general practices within Yorkshire.

Participants were randomly allocated to wear four devices in a different order.

How the Study Was Run

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

Random assignment meant chance, not the researchers, decided who got Copper (Supplement) and who got the comparison, which limits bias.

Neither the patients nor the staff measuring them knew who was on Copper (Supplement), so expectations could not easily colour the readings.

A placebo (an inactive look-alike) gave the Copper (Supplement) group a baseline to be compared against.

In the crossover set-up each of the patients took both Copper (Supplement) and the comparison in turn, acting as their own control.

Randomised double-blind placebo-controlled crossover trial.

Devices tested were: a standard (1502 to 2365 gauss) magnetic wrist strap, a demagnetised (<20 gauss) wrist strap, an attenuated (250 to 350 gauss) magnetic wrist strap, and a copper bracelet.

Devices were each worn for five weeks, with treatment phases being separated by one week wash-out periods.

The primary outcome measured was pain using a 100 mm visual analogue scale.

Secondary pain measures were the McGill Pain Questionnaire and tender joint count.

What Was Measured

Inflammation was assessed using C-reactive protein and plasma viscosity blood tests and by swollen joint count.

Physical function was assessed using the Health Assessment Questionnaire (Disability Index).

Topics PubMed links to this paper include Administration, Topical, Analgesics, Anti-Inflammatory Agents, Arthritis, Rheumatoid, Copper, Magnetics and Wrist.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled study of Copper (Supplement) in 70 patients in people with rheumatoid arthritis.

Results are reported in around 3 sentences of the abstract; we leave them to the paper itself rather than summarise them.

The publication is from 2013 (PloS one), a journal based in United States.

More context: the Copper (Supplement) compound page, Rheumatoid arthritis research.