Magnetic attraction: A therapy that oughtn’t to work, but does– in defiance of rationality – Times of India

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Magnet therapy? What’s that? We asked the two friends of ours who suggested we try this as a means of relieving Bunny of the excruciating leg pain she’d endured for over three months.

During our summer trip to foreign parts, Bunny had become so energised by the prospect of pavements which – unlike their potholed counterparts in Gurgaon where we live – were actually walkable, that she overdid it, clocking up as much as nine or 10 km daily.

The result was severely strained muscles and tendons in her leg causing persistent pain. Ayurvedic oil massages didn’t help, neither did allopathy or homoeopathy.

In despair, Bunny sought any remedy that might work. That’s when our friends suggested magnet therapy.

Apparently, on our bodily extremities, hands and feet, there are nerve centres which, when stimulated by acupressure generated by tiny magnets positioned there, have a therapeutic effect on all kinds of injuries and chronic ailments.

Bunny and I like to think of ourselves as rationalists. We give short shrift to horoscopes, astrology, palmistry, healing crystals, and the like, which our rationality would have us dismiss as superstitious mumbo-jumbo.

Magnet therapy sounded like a mumbo of jumbo size. But in our desperation to find a cure, we were ready to try anything. So Bunny fixed an appointment with a magnet acupressure therapist. The therapist asked his assistant to attach with surgical tape a number of small, round magnets on her fingers, hands and one foot.

Bunny was to wear them six days a week, for eight to 10 hours a day. The therapist said that in a week’s time she’d feel better, and in a month, be on the way to recovery. So Bunny began her magnet therapy, combining it with conventional physiotherapy.

Whether it’s the physio, or the magnets, or the combo, that’s done the trick, in three weeks the agonising pain of over three months’ duration has disappeared and Bunny can walk again without discomfort.

Our rational minds tell us that things like magnet therapy cannot work. Fortunately, our non-rational body does not know this and allows itself to be worked on, rationality be damned.

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