Magnetotherapy-a brief excursion though the centuries

The study and observation of electromagnetic phenomena have followed the evolution of human thought from the dawn of civilization to the present day; also magnetotherapy has followed a similar path. Magnetotherapy has been applied and continues to be applied in many branches and fields of medicine, as it accelerates the healing of fractures, has analgesic and anti-inflammatory properties that can help in inflammatory or degenerative diseases of bones, joints and the peripheral nervous system, and stimulates the healing of open skin lesions (such as bed sores, diabetic ulcers) etc. If magnetotherapy has so many fields of application in medicine, we may therefore ask why doubts, prejudice and limitations to its therapeutic use still exist. This brief historical excursion wants to give a small contribution to answer the question. © 2009 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC.