Science is having a hard time vetting the power of magnetic bracelets to relieve pain. Seems there’s a big placebo problem. “If you’re in a research study, and your bracelet is picking up paper clips off your desk, you’re no longer unbiased,” says James Dillard, integrative physician in New York City and author of The Chronic Pain Solution. But a new study from England that tried to account for this problem suggests that simple magnets may, indeed, bring relief.

Among 194 men and women with arthritis in the hips and knees, one group was asked to wear standard-strength magnetic bracelets during all their waking hours; another got dummy bracelets. After 12 weeks, those sporting magnets reported significantly more pain relief than the placebo group. The researchers also asked the volunteers if they knew which group they had been in, and two-thirds guessed wrong. That was factored into the analysis, and the beneficial results of the study remained unchanged.

The researchers admit the study still leaves room for doubt, if only because they can’t guarantee that volunteers were 100 percent honest (sometimes people say what they think the other person wants to hear). Still, the one-time purchase of an inexpensive bracelet could be a cost-effective alternative to Tylenol or a prescription pain reliever. That is, until designer bracelets hit the market.

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