Flux Health Forum

Contraindications

PEMF Basics
#1

Bob what is your thought on this list of CI’s I came across on PEMF-devices.com
"In general, use of PEMF is contraindicated in the following cases:

  1. Pregnancy
  2. Epilepsy
  3. Bleeding status
  4. Having pacemaker or other electronic implants
  5. If you are under chemotherapy or radiotherapy*
  6. Being treated for high fever or infections
  7. Problems of unknown origin
  8. Overactive hormone disorders
  9. Myasthenia gravis
  10. Under immunosuppressive treatment

*In some cases, PEMF therapy is not recommended for malignancies (since it increases circulation, it can potentially promote tumor growth due to improved metabolism of tumor cells), and should be discontinued during administration of chemotherapy, but has proven to be very useful during recovery."

As I use PEMF on my patients and recommend they buy your products, just curious. I understand the pacemaker - how about an insulin delivery system? I am not sure what bleeding status is? Hemophiliac or vonWillebrands?
7, 8, 9, 10? Or are they just covering their butts just in case?
Pregnancy a no go? Epilepsy (I use it on my dog with seizures). I believe it can help so many things, so not sure if you agree with this list or are there any other CI’s?

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#2

That is an excellent (and difficult) question. My impression on the items in this list, which I have encountered many times over the years, it that most are exactly as you suspect: covering-their-asses wild guess copy-it-from-another-medical-device cautionary list. It is not based on any real information related to PEMF, since no such injuries have ever been reported so far as I can tell, so there would be no way for anyone to know.

Some of these are “abundance of caution” statements (eg. pregnancy), and many are based on a feeble understanding of the basic biological effects of PEMF (eg. bleeding).

Unfortunately the best answer I can give is that it is best to be cautious, PEMF is poorly understood but has essentially no detectable history of causing harm, and too much caution may itself be a cause of harm, like refusing to throw a life preserver because you’re afraid it might hit the drowning person in the head. The fact is, harm can be caused by inaction.

So, my opinion is that the best thing to do is start low and slow for short durations (about 10 minutes initially), check to be sure the person tolerates it well, then apply a good dose of common sense and proceed with caution.

But just based on known physics, I would also keep any PEMF device at least 6 inches away from any other medical device (pacemakers, insulin pumps, etc)

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#3

Awesome thanks, that is what I figured as well!