The site suggests checking the Archives first, and then posting here, before just “Asking Cecil” and expecting an answer.
I did an Archive Search about this item, expecting to find scores of entries dissecting the hype about the alleged health benefits of wearing something I first heard of last night called “Q-Ray Ionized Bracelet”. Finding none, I am wondering if anyone might have a link to anything of a scientific nature (preferably refereed journals) either substantiating or disproving the claims.
Normally, of course, these things tend to find their way rapidly into the pile of ludicrous, discredited or questionable remedies. The only reason I’m even posting is that among their enthusiastic customers they name both the Chicago Blackhawks and Dallas Stars hockey teams of the NHL. This was actually broadcast on television in a 30-minute informercial. (“Only 3 Payments of $49.95, but if you call RIGHT NOW, we’ll reduce it to only 2 Payments.” A hundred bucks, plus the absolute profit–a non-refundable shipping & handling charge that’s about the cost of a decent lunch.) They then proceed to show tape of a person at a hockey rink who is identified as a staff member (either trainer or equipment mgr.) of the Dallas Stars, saying that the players wore these “Q-Ray” bracelets, experienced immediate and profound relief of a variety of pains, and that when the bracelets were taken away, the players requested them back. The ad also features lots of mainstream-looking, credible-sounding elderly folk, insisting with misty-eyed amazement that the agony and restricted motion they have suffered for so long has finally been miraculously washed away–in an instant. Immediacy and permanency of pain relief is highlighted with extreme repetition.
The National Hockey League is populated mostly by players from Canada. I’m a huge hockey fan in the US who daily conducts business across the border with the Canadian public. Generally, there is nobody more careful and cautious, skeptical and conservative–as a bold part of their proud national identity–than Canadians. Like any athletes, hockey players can sometimes be superstitious, but they wouldn’t top any list of The Ideal Tame Gullible Suckers to Test a New Scam On. If Missouri is the Show-Me State, Canada is the Show-Me Country.
So, if anyone has testimonials or other credible information about the bracelets, please pass it along that either (a) they work/don’t work, or (b) that the offices of the NHL and the Stars need to be notified that their names are being used illicitly and a staff member is being impersonated on a TV ad.
Thanks in advance
h