Some scientists and practitioners also believe that the body, after a time, will accommodate to the magnetic field, thereby reducing its efficiency. To prevent such incidences (irritation and accommodation), the practitioners recommend intermittent use of the magnets. (5 days on, 2 days off or 12 hours on and 12 hours off, etc. It is logical to think, then, that it is very essential to identify the poles correctly. Suspending the magnet on a thread and waiting for its ends to point somewhere is the easiest way to identify the poles. (The north-pointing end is the North Pole and the opposite should be the South Pole.) Characteristics of magnets Flat ceramic or neodymium magnets are the best therapeutic magnets. There are some magnetic products that would often warn their customers of their use and ask them to consult their doctors, especially those with pacemakers, working with high-voltage equipment and allergic to metals. If there are people who intently believed and experienced magnetic treatment, then there would also be people who remains to be skeptical of the treatment. Use a magnetic band around the painful elbows. The same band can relieve the pain on the hand and arms. Magnets at work Put the magnet directly over the pain area. Adhesive bandages can fix the magnets in place. If they do not work the first few days, reposition the magnet over the nearest acupuncture point. Finding the Truth in Magnet Therapy In its simplest sense magnet therapy uses magnets to relieve the body of pain and cure for a variety of diseases. It is an alternative form of treatment that is more popular in China, India, Japan and in some countries in Europe. Practitioners claim that the therapy has been around for quite some time now with the early Egyptians as one of the very first who used magnets in practical applications. Rheumatoid arthritis A double blind, controlled trial of patients with rheumatoid arthritis of the knee compared the effects of strong alternating polarity magnets with the effects of a deliberately weak unipolar magnet. After a week of therapy, 68% of the participants with the strong magnet reported relief, compared to 27% in the control group.