More Bad News for New Age Spiritualists: Copper and Magnetic Bracelets Don’t Work

New Age spiritualists, like those who are more than willing to shell out thousands of bucks to follow around guys like soon-to-be-convicted-murderer James Ray, often wear hokey new-age bracelets made from copper or magnets. They claim that it promotes concentration and healing. Medical science reports that they do nothing at all.

From USAToday here:

New research indicates that copper bracelets and magnetic wrist straps are ineffective in relieving arthritis pain.

The study, which appears in the British journal Complementary Therapies in Medicine, finds that reported therapeutic benefits from such items “are most likely attributable to non-specific placebo effects.”

Stewart Richmond, a research fellow in the Department of Health Sciences at the University of York, led the study and explains the findings on the university’s website.

“People tend to buy them when they are in a lot of pain, then when the pain eases off over time they attribute this to the device,” he says. “However, our findings suggest that such devices have no real advantage over placebo wrist straps that are not magnetic and do not contain copper.”

So all you loonies that wear crystals and magnetic copper bracelets, you are being stupid. Us normal people laugh at you, while others will just keep taking your money.