Magnets- a load of rubbish or something in it?

scats

scats

Well-Known Member
Joined
11 September 2007
Messages
12,104
Location
Wherever it is I’ll be limping
Visit site
I tried magnetic boots years and years ago when they first really became a thing. I had a horse with ringbone and sidebone so gave them a try. I thought I saw a difference at first but may well have been a placebo effect from my end.

I know there’s no scientific evidence to back it up, but I have a friend who swears by his magnetic bracelet for his arthritic hand.

I’ve noticed a few adverts appearing on my FB recently for Equ StreamZ.
What’s the consensus on them and Magnetic wraps in general?
 
My horse used to wear the Bioflow wraps sporadically, they seemed to make a difference.
I’ve started wearing my magnetic bracelet again, probably had it on a month, I’m feeling more pain not less! I wore it for a year last time, can’t think it helped.

Edited to add that the magnets definitely disrupt my sleep for a while.
 
I’m also not sure as there is limited scientific proof, however my old retired eventer seems to really benefit from Equi streamz product. They were so successful for her that I purchased another set for myself and wear them to bed at night if my arthritis in my feet is bad. Wake up with zero pain the next day.

As a human I won’t wear them during the day as having a strap around your ankle makes you look like you have a police tracking bracket on.

Also have the magnetic wraps which seems to make a difference in winter for one that gets a touch of winter laminitis. Could just be benefiting from the warmth though.
 
I had Equ Steamz for my mare and the difference was amazing. They totally stopped her legs filling overnight and I'd say they did the same as 1/2 Bute a day that she was on previously. She wore them 24/7 on her hinds only. I wore a bracelet for a while, which didn't seem to do anything, but I may try again with that.

HopOnTrot said:
It’s likely to be keeping the joint/area warm that causes any perceived changes, not the magnets.
Click to expand...

The ones I had were only straps, so I don't think enough to create warmth.
 
My vet said they’re a load of tosh. I got some anyway, they gave my boy a massive skin reaction after one wear and I sold them. I emailed the company and they said “ah that can happen some times”
 
I really like them. I had premier equine ones when mine was recovering from laminitis, I wanted the hooves to get more blood flow to encourage healing and new growth. Whether they worked or not I don’t know, but he grew lovely hooves. I bought the straps and I think they work. I bought another brand of straps as they looked easier to clean but unfortunately they either rubbed or burnt through his hair left him with an open sore so they swiftly went away. I still use the others from time to time.
 
Bailey wore Bioflow boots overnight for ten or twelve years, they really helped reduce swelling but that may have been the compression effect.

Bioflow offer a 90 day money back guarantee or did at one time.

They use neodymium magnets I think there called that are laid in such a unique way called 'central reverse polarity' that stirs up the blood vessels thus creating warmth and healing. All their products are patented.

I bought a load of neodymium magnets off Ebay (the world's strongest magnets) and laid them in an old rug and used it as a magnetic rug following the normal placement of these magnets from products already on the market.
 
Last edited:
I put the equiStreamz bands on my old TB. I don’t think I noticed any difference when I put them on but I took them off to clean and didn’t put them back on for a few days and I definitely noticed her looking stiffer. I was a sceptic so not really sure why I bought them other than I didn’t think it’d hurt but I’m pretty sure they did something.
 
My canine and equine chiropractor recommended a magnetic collar for our old dog who suffered with arthritis. She had tried it on her own lab who had done a soft tissue injury to his leg, she had used a thermal imagery camera before and while using the magnets to see the effect it was having. Before using it had shown decreased blood flow to his injured leg, while using the blood flow was vastly improved. We felt that our old dog benefited from it so it was worth the one off cost.
 
My old boy had ringbone and sidebone. He wore magnetic over reach boots every night, and they did help.

This was over 20 years ago, so I would imagine they have improved since then.
 
I read some research that said there was no diference between boots with static magnets and non-magentic boots - in other words it was the warming effect which helped. I believe there is some evidence that pulsed magnets can have a beneficial effect.

I've found a paper on magentic rugs:

Does a magnetic blanket induce chan​

ges in muscular blood flow, skin temperature and muscular tension in horses?​

A Edner 1, L-G Lindberg, H Broström, A Bergh
Affiliations Expand

Abstract​

Reasons for performing study: Static magnetic blankets are often claimed to induce increases in blood flow, reduce muscle tension and tenderness, and be beneficial in both prevention and treatment of musculoskeletal injuries in horses. However, there are no studies that confirm alleged beneficial effects of magnets on muscles of the back in healthy horses.
Objectives: To investigate whether static magnets sewn into a blanket affect back muscle blood flow, skin temperature, mechanical nociceptive threshold (MNT) and behaviour in healthy horses.

Results: Blood flow in muscle, skin temperatures, MNTs and behavioural traits did not differ between active and placebo magnetic blankets. Skin temperature increased similarly during both active and placebo blanket treatment.

Conclusions: In healthy horses, magnetic blankets did not induce additional significant effects on muscle blood flow, skin temperature, MNTs and behaviour when compared with nonmagnetic blankets.
 
Last edited:
myheartinahoofbeat said:
How does the placebo effect work with horses? I get that the Rider might think/feel the horse is going better but why would the horse?
Click to expand...

It doesn't. The rider / vet / observer perceives that the horse is better, due to the placebo effect. The horse appears to them to have improved. This is why medical and veterinary studies are double blind - otherwise the medics report improvements that aren't real.


I'm not going into magnets - there's loads of research out there on them, it pretty much all says the same thing. Eqstreamz are just a bit of rubber and a marketing department who use big words to make them sound more photosynthesis.
 
i had had eczema for years (one elbow, hands and eye lids mainly) (it was one in a series of reactions to having a general anesthetic) , bought a bioflow on a wim - we had gone to an air show at old warden - i got a bit bored and wandered off round the stands - someone was selling bioflow bracelets and i thought i would give it a go - my eczema completely disappeared within days and has never come back. i bought a new bioflow last year as my original one had lost its strength (i bought it the day jenson button won his first grand prix in Hungary),
 
Think about it logically, if a magnet increased the blood flow then that would in turn have an affect on your heart rate (to increase the blood flow the heart would have to beat faster) - that would inherently be a bad thing.
 
Magnets are one thing. Equ streamz are not magnet boots, they are just rubber bands backed up by nonsense science, wild claims and heavy marketing.

I wonder if @Matt at streamz still works for the company? He joined the forum to post about his products. Old thread but…

Equ-Streamz - Your Experiences?

http://www.streamz-global.com/equ-streamz/ Has anyone brought/used/trialled or been given a pair of these bands? I'm seriously tempted to buy them for my girl (No ailments as such, just a small splint on her near fore) but the outlay is quite large for something that might not be even...
forums.horseandhound.co.uk forums.horseandhound.co.uk
 
Thanks for the thread link TP. Matt was doing ok until post 76 😂 and then when David showed up. And all the new posters claiming the exact same thing, not to judge a product they hadn’t tried.

I hadn’t read the “science” behind them or a might not have bought them. I just thought they were magnet bands. (I think, it was years ago I bought them)

I’ve been having trouble with my bad knee when trying to run and there is no amount of placebo that could hide the pain I’ve been whilst running. Also my carpal tunnel has been bothering me quite bad at nights so I’m kinda tempted to wear them myself and see if anything happens. Annoyingly they are the horse ones so pretty clumpy and still hairy and muddy even after washing after Peggy Sue had them on so don’t know if they would be too uncomfortable.

I stand by thinking I saw a difference in my TB when I hadn’t put them back on. I hadn’t rushed to put them on as I didn’t think they were doing anything but of course I can’t deny it was placebo, colder weather, full moon etc. I won’t be binning them yet anyway.
 
EqStreamz went through a phase of liking my posts on social media. God knows why, as I never tagged them, because I (obviously) never used them.

I did think they would've been less inclined to do it if they remembered that thread!


(And god I was a sanctimonious knob at times, but honestly - he made so many absurd and unsubstantiated claims!)
 
scats said:
I have a brain that doesn’t understand science stuff. I look at words and it’s like a foreign language.
In simple terms, how are Equ streamz meant to be different from magnetic bands?
Click to expand...

They don't have magnets in them. They're just a band of rubber covered by material / velcro.

There are no simple terms for how they're alleged to function, because it's designed to be impenetrable scientific sounding nonsense. A bit like when they describe how the warp engines work on an episode of Star Trek, but less sensible.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top