I had a knee operation about 3 months ago (arthroscopy + scraping etc). Following about a month of the bike I started cycling again, gently at first, but am now back to my normal 20 to 30 miles a day commuiting. I have tried a bit of reasonably hard offroad as well.

While riding I don’t experience too much pain (in fact none most of the time) but when walking and sitting there is a noticeable increase in pain.

Whilst at the London bike show at the weekend I spoke to some guys on one of the stands promoting Trion:Z knee magnetic supports. They are aimed at promoting blood flow to the affected area, thereby increasing the speed of recovery from inflammation. I am considering getting one but wondered if anyone has any experience of wither the brand or the technology, and what thoughts you might have. Pretty much everything I have read (except the brand websites obviously) says that there is no medical base for the claims, and that it is not worth it.

Any thoughts?

Mark

Your namesake who runs ST has a pretty clear view 🙂

It’s BS. Like those stupid balance bands.

heating the area with a microwaveable fluffy toy will increase the blood flow more than magnets ever would.

I’d try homoeopathy or reflexology instead

you would be better off with a simple ice pack.

sneezing in a westward direction whilst dangling your testes in a double eggcup is a better solution.

Quackery.

Pretty much everything I have read (except the brand websites obviously) says that there is no medical base for the claims, and that it is not worth it.

Exactly.

You’d be better off spending your money on:

It won’t fix your knee, but then again a magnet won’t either.

Ice and elevation increases bloodflow.

Actually, they might work if you wear one of those copper bracelets at the same time. But then copper’s not magnetic, so maybe not. Or maybe that’s the point.

I can’t relate this to humans but we have tried various copper and magnet fitted collars on older dogs that were starting to get a bit stiff in the back legs. The copper collar made a small difference on one dog but the magnets made a huge difference on the other which started to jump into the boot of the car instead of being lifted in or going up a ramp. It was 6 months since she had last done so. Nothing else in her life had changed and she doesn’t know she has magnets on her collar. On a current older dog it has made no difference. We have kept the various collars to try. I guess if you think it works for you and you improve then it has worked in a round about way. I guess these supports aren’t cheap?

Definitely you need to try sitting under a pyramid instead.

Its all complete BS!

+1 on the Bad Science recommendation

The magnet could induce a placebo effect, even now i’ve told you this. The colon and the ‘Z’ in the branding will help too, genuinely.

which started to jump into the boot of the car instead of being lifted in or going up a ramp.

Probably pulled into the car, try a less powerful magnet.

Thanks for all the responses. On the basis of those replies, can anybody recommend how I go about getting a disabled sticker for my bike…..

Thanks for all the responses. On the basis of those replies, can anybody recommend how I go about getting a disabled sticker for my bike…..

Probably off ebay 😉

In all seriousness, go and see a professional physio (or other similar medical practitioner if they exist). If it was my knee I’d be happy to spend some money on getting it fixed. A few £’s on professional advice could make all the difference.

How effective it is is directly proportional to the amount of money you paid for it.

Working with the right diagnosing procedures can tremendously aid the doctor recognize the reason for the knee pain. After the medical doctor has got the right prognosis, he or she will decide the easiest way on how to treat knee pain in accordance with your situation.

hmmmm I think I can smell spam approaching.

The suspense is killing me. Magnets danegerdes, it’s all about the magnets. What do you think of the magnets?

from wiki:

Perhaps the most common suggested mechanism is that magnets might improve blood flow in underlying tissues. The field surrounding magnet therapy devices is far too weak and falls off with distance far too quickly to appreciably affect hemoglobin, other blood components, muscle tissue, bones, blood vessels, or organs.[1][7] A 1991 study on humans of static field strengths up to 1 T found no effect on local blood flow.[4][8] Tissue oxygenation is similarly unaffected.[7] Some practitioners claim that the magnets can restore the body’s theorized “electromagnetic energy balance”, but no such balance is medically recognized. Even in the magnetic fields used in magnetic resonance imaging, which are many times stronger, none of the claimed effects are observed

Surely if you inject iron filings into your blood it would help?!

TJ to the forum, oh cancel my last.

By all means go for it.

But insist on seeing empirical, peer reviewed evidence explaining how and why it works before you part with any money. If they fail to provide this, or use the words “secret”, “patent pending” or “miraculous” then by all means call them a bunch of charlatans with complete abandon.

PayPal me £45 and you’ll find your knee starts to improve.
You’ll also last on average 57 seconds longer in the sack, and your bike will have 3 inches more travel…..
FACT – I’m a doctor, so can be trusted 110%.

DrP

daenegerdes

After the medical doctor has got the right prognosis

Diagnosis was what you meant to say.

They work like a dream.

i.e. anything you feel is a figment of your imagination and you’ll forget about it as soon as you wake up.

@Tom

Couldn’t you just nuke the spam post so this fell off the front page?

Credit where it’s due (though not when it’s due as drac posted months ago):

Probably pulled into the car, try a less powerful magnet.

😆

Edit: DrP – can you really double my staying power ? 😳

How effective it is is directly proportional to the amount of money you paid for it.

Indeed – and I can sell you a magnetic knee brace for twice the price of a Trion:Z one (it looks otherwise identical). Bargain of the century.

I’ve got a gallon of snake oil that has far better effects I’m open to offers on it, it’s good for all ailments ;0)

nuke the spam post

Of course, but it’s merely an inoffensive first post. And it’s an unusual post in other respects. And I’m interested to hear about the magnets.

We bin a fair bit of trash every day, and generally offer swift justice and little mercy to spammers. But seriously, if anyone has any ideas for a suitable Turing test I can implement on a post like that, I am all ears.

PayPal me £45 and you’ll find your knee starts to improve.
You’ll also last on average 57 seconds longer in the sack, and your bike will have 3 inches more travel…..
FACT – I’m a doctor, so can be trusted 110%.

DrP
Never trust these doctors, I spent 5 years in a Tibetan monastery looking at healing shizzle

Paypal my 90quid and it will get better

Is your knee pain caused by shrapnel? If so, a really powerful magnet may well resolve that.

My cat has had a magnet on her collar most of her life. Has worked a treat! She can get in the cat flap everytime 😀

We bin a fair bit of trash every day, and generally offer swift justice and little mercy to spammers. But seriously, if anyone has any ideas for a suitable Turing test I can implement on a post like that, I am all ears.

I am so sure that danegerdes is an automaton, that I bet £5 magnet would actually stick to it….or maybe make the circuits go a bit fizzy.

quasi science, v’s real science, v’s annecdotal evidence.

Quasi: Magnets work by attracting blood to the area, and encouraging it to stay in an area longer due to the iron content of blood. If blood stays in a sore area longer, mor oxygen and nutrients will pass across cell membranes, and as more is good, muscles will repair faster, toxins will be removed quicker etc etc.

Real: Cells can only hold a finite amount of nutrient/oxygen. trying to get “more” isn’t really going to help anything. The body is generally pretty good at healing its self and if blood was magnetic wouldn’t we be able to use big electro magnets to pull people around etc?

Annecdotal: It might be BS but a lot of people seem to find it works, there’s a lot we don’ understand about the body.

My opinion: Try it, if it works, great, if it doesn’t either sell it on here for a profit, attach it to other items in your body or keep it in the bak of a drawer “just in case”.

Placebo is one of the most powerful medicines we have and is as cheap as can be

We should administer it more.
Obviously if it is a serious condition we need to use a broad spectrum placebo for maximum effect

Seriously asking people whether it works or contemplating it yourself is a useless way of evaluating if something works or not hence why the snake oil sales folk can make a living selling this and other useless [ but not harmful] stuff

As a doctor and someone who has spent the last 20 years in a tibetan monestry learning the sacred art of eccy thump healing, send me 150 pounds and I’ll heal it by the divine power of thought. Ignore all the other charletans on here, they don’t know what they say.
PS I also have a good nigerian friend who needs help transferring money and will guaranty you a good return on you hard earned cash if you help him

I once used a magnet in A&E to pull an iron filing out of someone’s eye.
Also, magnets feature heavily in MRI scanners…

Ergo, a rare earth magnet shoved 10″ up your jacksie MUST do something…(I hope, else I’ve a lot of explaining to do…..)

DrP