This topic is probably too long for a short video, so here it is in print: (I may try to boil it down later for a video if I can keep it light)
Competition: I discuss this all the time. It is a moving target (as all scams are), so you need general tools, not specific condemnation of one product. Even if successful, they just slap a new sticker on it, rebrand it, and you start all over again. Its like playing whack-a-mole. So, no one can spoon feed the PEMF consumer: “This one is good, this one is not.”
The main tools you need will allow you to see more clearly to make an informed decision:
1 - Anything that feels like high-pressure sales or is cult-like, it probably is.
2 - Anyone who bases their sales on user testimonials: these are cherry-picked. Keep in mind: about 30% of positive responses are placebo. Combine that with other incentives and biases, and the math is pretty easy: If you want 10 great testimonials, all you need to do is ask for 30 testimonials and then just post the best ones. Unless you hear both the good and the bad aspects of a product, don’t believe testimonials.
3 - When a company posts hundreds or thousands of “scientific papers” to prove that their product works, this is misleading. These papers never relate to the actual product being sold. Real research on a relevant PEMF product may show, at most, a few peer-reviewed scientific papers. Most PEMF products have zero scientific basis.
4 - Any company that shows smiling elderly couples walking on a golf-course or a beach, free from pain: assume it is just the tip of the iceberg of marketing tripe.
5 - Glossy products, Bluetooth, iPad interface - more tripe
6 - FDA “listing”, check closely, they usually use loop-holes such as claiming their product is FDA-exempt as a “massage device”
7 - Claims to NASA technology, the International Space Station, space shuttle research, etc. - this is all fraud. I get paid royalties from NASA for every license granted for their TVEMF/PEMF technology, and I can prove it. Currently the only person with rights to this NASA technology for consumer use is me, the inventor.
8 - Claims of special, secret frequencies that you have to pay for - fraud.
9 - Claims of the use of precise frequencies. I have demonstrated many times that a range of frequencies works as well, and sometimes better, than one precise frequency.
10 - Claims of Schumann resonance having some special biological effect are also fraud. The guy who really started these claims is currently in prison in Chicago on unrelated criminal convictions. You will note that Micro-Pulse devices such as the M1 and C5 include Schumann frequencies so that people can experiment with them, but I make no claim that they have special resonant biological effects.
11 - Any claims related to quantum coupling, zero-point energy, dark energy, “scanning your genome”, tachyons, spooky action at a distance, mystical energies, and similar claims are fraud. These things exist in the universe (most of them), but they are not features of any PEMF product.
12 - “100% money-back guarantee!” This typically involves sending a heavy metal box back to Serbia, where you are responsible for all shipping and other expenses and fees. Read the fine print. Caveat Emptor.
13 - Claims that their product cures every disease condition. While this may have a kernel of truth, because PEMF really is amazingly beneficial in many ways that we do not yet understand, these companies should not make these claims because they simply can not prove them.
14 - Does the company have a real scientist that you can talk to? (almost none of them do). Does the company hire a stable of kids or chat-bots to tell you whatever you want to hear just to make a sale? (many of them do). Do they operate off-shore, in lawless areas of global commerce? Almost all PEMF marketers make representations that simply are not true, with no basis in science, on the fringe of the law.
If, at this point, you are thinking “this is all just common sense”, well, yes, I think it is.
I am not asserting that products marketed with one or more of the above fraudulent methods do not work. Many of the products work reasonably well. Most are pirated and/or cheap, out-dated technology. If the integrity of the people selling it to you matters, consider these factors. Their integrity, or lack of it, leaks into their products.
So, lets say you don’t care about marketer integrity, you are just in pain and you need something that works. Well, here are a few things really do not work, so you can steer clear of these pretty easily:
1 - DIY PEMF using a smart-phone
2 - Anything using sine waves below 1000 Hz
The remaining PEMF products are based on different technologies, and many of them do work. Before purchase, I suggest you get:
- Recommendations from friends and colleagues: have they tried it, does it work?
- Try before you buy.
- Is it reasonably priced? Portable or wearable PEMF should be a few hundred dollars at most.
Next question: PEMF + red light? or laser? They can be used together. Many people say their combined use has been very helpful for them. It does not help me much, but I think other people with different injuries may benefit from them when used together.
Teraherz: As I understand it, these were wildly popular in China until a few years ago when they were debunked by popular outrage and subsequently cracked down by the central government. Several of my Chinese business colleagues have told me about this over the past few years. My understanding is that the company has been forced to do a re-brand and then to do business outside of China, so they are looking to North America as their next target market. I have never tested these devices, so I could have an inaccurate impression.
