BEMER stands for Bio-Electro-Magnetic-Energy-Regulation. BEMER is an FDA Class II cleared consumer medical device that, during an 8-minute session, sends a low-intensity pulsed electromagnetic field to the body in order to safely stimulate healthy muscles which temporarily enhances local blood flow, resulting in better disbursement of oxygen within the target tissues while supporting the elimination of CO2. Additional benefits from regular use of BEMER may include reduced stress, improved relaxation, optimized physical performance, enhanced muscle conditioning and physical fitness, and a better overall feeling of wellbeing.
I am skeptical, but since my parents have just spent $7,500 on one, I thought it would be interesting to hear the opinions of others on this device.
Honestly, I have no idea how it works or if it works. I was surprised to see that there is some buy-in from traditional medical practitioners (Mayo Clinic, e.g.), but… as I said, I’m skeptical.
Has anyone experienced this or heard anything about it?
Yes it’s a magnetic pad you lay on and tiny pulses are sent thru to stimulate blood flow. Maybe, big maybe to help with pain.
Careful with implanted devices or screws.
I thought you meant a “Bremer” device.
That’s that halo thing you have to wear to stabilize a broken neck. I could not imagine they sold those to use at home. Ooof.
My reaction has two parts: the first part is that it claims to do things to your body that are already happening without it, e.g. your blood flows, your oxygen is disbursed, CO2 is eliminated. They just claim to make these “better,” which is a claim that no-one will ever be able to test actually happened.
The second part is the “additional benefits” – when it says “may include” I assume that they do not include that. Reduced stress, improved relaxation, and overall wellbeing are immensely subject to the placebo effect, or the power of suggestion (or, “by golly, I spent a lot of money on this thing, so I’m sure it works!”). Physical performance, muscle conditioning and physical fitness are slightly more objective, but they are unlikely to show significant change in any short period of time.
In short, OP’s parents spent the money, I hope they get some pleasure out of it, but I think they could achieve the same effects (if any) much cheaper.
Well, the theory behind BEMER devices is more plausible-sounding than homeopathic magic water, but my go-to source dealing with this sort of thing is not impressed.
What studies have been done are, to say the least, unimpressive. It doesn’t even work on horses.
This by itself is a pretty big red flag. Marketers say it because it sounds good to consumers, but basically all “cleared” means is “it doesn’t do anything that the FDA thinks has any chance whatsoever of hurting someone” (usually because it doesn’t really do anything meaningful). They’re banking on people confusing it for “FDA approved” which means (roughly) “demonstrated in clinical trials to treat a given condition”.
Your comments very much reflect my opinion on these. My parents are prone to woo and “I wore green socks and caught the flu, ergo…” thinking, so that they purchased one isn’t surprising.
My stepmom bought it because she received a couple of treatments somewhere that had one. She had a medically-diagnosed blockage to a vein behind her knee. Her symptoms were numbing in her leg.
The symptoms disappeared, so she attributed this to using the magic machine. I told her to please follow up with her doctor. She shared that she had, and her doctor had said that that if the symptoms return, they will do some follow-up tests. Otherwise, don’t worry about it.
This technology is actually pretty well known in the horse world for both horses and humans, and while there is no way in hell I’m spending that kind of cash on something that made me feel a little better, I can’t totally discount it.
Every year I go to a top-of-the-sport, international level horse show in KY. (Kentucky Three Day Event, for any eventing enthusiasts here). It’s 4 days of LOTS of walking for spectators. Last year I tweaked my knee badly the week before going, and all that hiking, much of it over hilly and uneven terrain, was pretty painful. BEMER usually has a booth in the trade fair where they show people how it works by giving “treatments”. Every day, sometimes twice, I’d go sit for 10 minutes or so with the unit’s knee wrap on, and I swear t’god I’d walk in there feeling like my knee was full of cements and thumbtacks, and afterward the ache and stabbing were almost totally gone and I could walk freely. And it wasn’t just the sit-and-rest part, or the small warmth, because I did a lot of sit and rest and used heat/ice all weekend and the reprieve after the Bemer treatment was much better and longer than for the standard treatments.
I’m not generally into woo, but there is a little something to this I think.
Thanks for a dissenting point of view, @saje. I appreciate hearing about your experience.
I’m not about to tell my parents how to spend their retirement money, but I’d like to feel like there might be some benefit to these treatments.
I detest woo also, and unfortunately, my parents gravitate to it. More so as they age and seek quick fixes to the physical indignities and pitfalls that eventually visit us all.
I extracted a promise from my stepmom that she make sure to have her traditional doctors double-check that her medical issues are properly resolved and that she not rely exclusively on the Bemer device to “cure” her ills. Now I just hope she keeps that promise.
Thanks again for sharing your personal experience with the Bemer.
The thing about “effective” placebo treatments is that effectiveness characteristically wanes over time. People wind up paying for a succession of placebo therapies which all eventually fail. Snake Oil Science by Barker Bausell goes into this in detail.
If victims of health scammery have plenty of money to throw away on it, are using evidence-based therapies at the same time and want to credit improvement to the woo, no real harm is being done, other than risks of harm from woo, encouraging others to waste their own dough and to avoid treatments that actually work.
This where I run into red hot hate of homeopathic devices, or recipes or creams, salves and junk science.
It gets thrown at me everyday. These are people who say they want to “help” me find a cure.
There is no cure!
No drinking apple cider vinegar is not gonna make the diabetes magically leave. “Oh you can’t tolerate the taste? Oh look they have these capsules, and eat lots of garlic” from strangers, nurses(yes) and anyone with a mouth that talks
Yeah, not gonna work.
Dropping $7500 on a device is quite cringy, to me.
It’s their money tho’.
I do hope they get some relief from what ails them. At least the pocket book ain’t so heavy.
