USA TODAY: Ironclad cures for pain?
By Sal Ruibal Section: SPORTS Denver Broncos linebacker Bill Romanowski KO’s quarterbacks, then sleeps like a baby on a magnetic mattress pad. Yankees pitcher Hideki Irabu throws a wicked split-finger fastball with dozens of magnets stuck to his body. Senior PGA Tour golfer Jim Colbert swings for the green with dollar bill-sized magnets strapped to his lower back. Magnetic therapy is the hottest trend among professional athletes. But the idea of using magnetic fields to increase blood circulation in injured tissue and encourage healing by stimulating the nervous system goes back thousands of years to ancient Greece and Egypt. The original Olympic athletes might have used magnets. And in the same way that today’s top athletes influence fashion and language, their eagerness to embrace alternative healing techniques is influencing the public: U.S. consumers will spend more than $500 million this year on magnetic pads, bracelets, shoe inserts, back wraps and seat cushions, the magnet compa
