The truth behind pain-relief gadgets

Many makers of pain-relieving gadgets use stories of miraculous recovery to lure pain sufferers in. It's tempting, especially if you're among the many whose pain isn't fully relieved by drugs and other medical treatments. But don't be fooled — get the facts first. These tips will get you started.

No. Science suggests that these pieces of metal belong on your refrigerator door, not in your medicine cabinet. For decades, magnets have been marketed for reducing the pain of foot problems, arthritis, fibromyalgia and other health problems. But when researchers from the Peninsula Medical School in England analyzed nine well-designed studies on magnets for pain, they found no significant reduction in aches and discomfort. In another study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association of 100 people with a painful foot problem called plantar fasciitis, researchers found that those who used magnetic insoles in their shoes got no extra relief.

Magnets have been touted as a pain reliever for hundreds of years. Advocates claim they boost circulation, alter nerve impulses, relax muscles and increase levels of feel-good endorphins in the body. So far there's no proof any of these claims are true.

No. Low-voltage electricity may alter pain signals to the brain, but it doesn't seem to help relieve back pain.For more than a decade, doctors have suggested that people with lower-back pain use a home transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulator (TENS) unit to "scramble" pain signals sent by nerves to the brain.

Yet studies consistently show that this low-voltage electrical therapy doesn't really work. When researchers at the University of Ottawa analyzed five randomized controlled medical studies of people with lower-back pain who used TENS units, they found no difference between people who used real units and those who used fake ones.

In another study, Canadian researchers tracked 324 people with lower-back pain who received one of three types of TENS therapy or fake TENS. None worked.

Yes. "Lateral wedge" insoles keep knee joints from twisting when you walk. For some people, these special foot cushions cut knee pain significantly. If you have medial osteoarthritis of the knee, the most common form of knee arthritis, in which the pain seems to radiate from the part of the knee near the inner thigh, a shoe insert could provide extra, drug-free pain relief. In one two-year-long study of 156 people with knee arthritis, those who wore custom-made lateral wedge insoles in their shoes took 24 percent fewer pain relievers than those who didn't wear the insoles.

These shoe inserts raise the outer edge of the foot slightly — just enough to reduce excess twisting of the bones in the knee joint. One caveat is that the insoles won't help people with two other types of knee arthritis: patella femoral osteoarthritis, in which pain comes from underneath the kneecap; and lateral knee arthritis, in which pain seems to radiate from the side of the knee near the outer thigh.

These guidelines will help you separate fact from fiction when looking for chronic pain relief.