8 out of 10 patients need no further treatment.
What does Magnetic Resonance Therapy (MRT) treat?
Arthritis, joint pain and damage to ligaments, tendons, cartilage and bones anywhere in the body. This innovative therapy, unique in Spain to the Bodyworks Clinic in Marbella can help with a wide range of complaints as it treats the main types of tissue found in all joints:
- Cartilage – the rubbery “cushion” between bones and in each disc in your spine
- Tendons – the sinews that join muscles onto bone
- Ligaments – the little “strings” that join one bone to another
- Bones
By strengthening and regenerating each of these tissue types Magnetic Resonance Therapy (MRT) can help with a huge variety of pain. From speeding up healing of broken bones to reducing pain and increasing movement for long term arthritis sufferers, MRT can have a huge impact.
Slipped discs, Achilles Tendonitis, Tennis and Golfers Elbow, frozen shoulder, meniscus damage . . . as our diagram shows MRT can be used to help with difficulties in any joint in the body.
For many types of joint damage Magnetic Resonance Therapy can be a viable alternative to surgery, injections or long term medication.
Magnetic Resonance Therapy can also be used to increase bone mass and treat Osteoporosis.
How does it work?
One of the most important discoveries in recent medical history is the ability to “see” inside the body in incredible detail using an MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) scan. This works by sending strong magnetic and radio waves into the body. The powerful magnets pull on the protons of the hydrogen atoms in your body so that they line up in the direction of the magnetic field (normally the protons point in random directions). As the scanner switches the magnetic waves on and off these protons move, it is the energy from this movement that the scanner reads and sends to the computer to be converted into a picture. The whole procedure is completely safe and painless (although the old scanners could be a bit claustrophobic!) and has no radiation.
A group of German scientists noticed that a few patients felt better after having an MRI scan, without any other treatment at all. They investigated these few anecdotal reports and found that there were many more. Following this path they looked to see if there was a clinical reason this was happening. They found that the energy from the movement of the protons that the scanner was reading was also being passed into the nearby tissue, and that this was having a regenerative effect on this tissue.
The many different frequencies used by an MRI scanner were refined to only those that have a useful, provable effect on the surrounding tissue. And this development became MRT, using pulsing magnetic waves to pass energy from the movement of hydrogen atoms to damaged tissue within the joints.
What happens during treatment?
Each and every treatment starts with a full consultation with our Consultant Physiotherapist at our physiotherapy clinic in Marbella. This detailed and thorough examination of your history, symptoms and current condition will answer 3 important questions:
- Are you a good candidate for MRT? While an amazing piece of technology this is not a magic wand. It has limitations and not everybody is suitable. Our Consultant Physiotherapist will always be completely honest about what you can expect if you go ahead with treatment.
- Which joint to treat. One of the most common side effects of improper diagnosis is that the symptoms are treated but not the true problem. For example, hip pain can often cause pain in the knee with the patient experiencing little or no pain in the hip, but if you only treat the knee the pain never gets better! A waste of time, money and effort for everyone. It is important to take the time at the beginning to truly understand the problem so that you get quick, efficient results.
- How best to treat it. MRT alone gets good results. MRT in combination with other treatments gets GREAT results. These combinations vary depending on which joint needs treatment and your personal situation. We will clearly explain these and ensure they are part of the “package” we design for you.
If MRT is the right treatment for you then you get to sit, or lie, back and relax! The treatment itself is very simple for the patient, you relax on the bed of our machine for 1 or 2 hours every day for 3-9 days at our custom physiotherapy clinic in Marbella. We need 3 consecutive days of treatment before a break for the weekend so treatment can start no later than a Wednesday.
Any other treatments required will be scheduled to coincide with these appointments.
We work hard to make this as easy and pleasant for you as possible. Throughout your treatment trained staff will be available at all times to answer any questions and provide any additional support that you require.
There is more detail about the cost of treatment and the packages available here
Does it work?
The short answer is yes. As you can see from this list of clinical studies, Magnetic Resonance Therapy (MRT) has been thoroughly researched. The results from these trials demonstrate an overall success rate of about 75%. Compare this with the 3% success rate for keyhole knee surgery and you can understand why we are so excited by this!
In our clinic in Marbella, with the personalisation and combination of treatments we have a success rate closer to 90%.
You can read what our patients say on our testimonials page as well as more detailed reports on our blog.