In October, numerous media outlets reported how aluminum foil could be useful for pain relief, placing an inaccurate claim about research that allegedly supports one of the theories that aluminum foil relieves pain.
The article, claiming that “aluminum foil” cures various diseases or helps relieve pain after limb amputation, is several years old and was updated again last month. Aluminum foil is presented as an “excellent substitute for harmful and expensive drugs”, which can eliminate various health problems and even “alleviate the pain that occurs after limb amputation”, which is not true.
According to some research, the pain that occurs after limb amputation (phantom pain) can be alleviated with the help of aluminum foil. The British Journal of Pain published the results of a study conducted on people with amputated body parts. It confirmed that in the group of people whose limbs were wrapped in aluminum foil during the treatment, the pain was far less compared to the group in which this therapy was not applied.
In 2013, the British Journal of Pain published a study conducted by a group of authors from the Netherlands, most of whom work at Onze Lieve Vrouwe Gasthuis Hospital in Amsterdam. In the introductory part of the research, the authors state that in their practice, they met with patients who claimed that the foil relieved their “phantom pain” after amputation and that such claims are also present on the Internet.
So far, experiments have shown that only opioids reduce pain. Two tests showed a positive effect of using EMS [electromagnetically shielding] socks interwoven with metal.
Anecdotally, patients with “phantom limb pain” apply self-help measures that sometimes include “wrapping” or rubbing the stump with aluminum foil to reduce pain. In our practice, we have met with several patients who claim that this method has helped them. Also, entering the term “tin foil and phantom pain” or “aluminum foil and phantom pain” in an Internet search engine, gives more results from blogs and personal websites that describe both positive and disappointing experiences of patients with wrapping the stump with aluminum foil. The mechanisms leading to this putative effect are unclear. Unlike the metal socks used in the two previous tests, the aluminum foil does not have any ferromagnetic properties.
Our hypothesis is based on the experience of patients with established phantom limb pain who use aluminum foil wrapping to reduce pain. We hypothesized that wrapping the amputation with aluminum foil would perioperatively prevent or reduce phantom pain in the postoperative period.
The authors, therefore, started from the hypothesis that aluminum foil can alleviate “phantom pain”, but the research did not confirm the initial hypothesis:
Patients who used aluminum foil bandages did not experience less pain in the “phantom limb” than those who received a placebo.
In the aforementioned study, conducted between September 2007 and September 2009, 32 patients were included in a clinical trial where the use of a bandage with a piece of aluminum foil was compared to a placebo made of paper. For two weeks, patients would be given a bandage with aluminum foil and then given a placebo and vice versa. The research points out that the results were recorded on a daily basis.
At the end of the study, it was found that pain measurements did not show any differences between the observed groups, which is contrary to the statement published by media outlets: Slobodna Bosna, Alternativa za vas, Novi, Totalinfo, Haber, Lijekizprirode, Moj artritis, Pcnen, Zdravo i Prirodno, Azra, Priroda-Zdravlje, Porodica Zdravlje i Mi smo za stvar.
Claims about a scientist who, after all, is not a scientist
Another claim that appears in these articles relates to the alleged principle of the “healing effect” of aluminum foil. The explanation is attributed to a certain “Russian scientist”, who described the “miraculous power” of aluminum foil:
Russian scientist A.V. Skvortsov describes its miraculous power in the following words: In healing, special energy-structuring agents are often used, such as aluminum foil products. There are special stem cells in the human body, which are constantly permeated with the Earth’s mother field.
There is no scientifically substantiated data on “light vibration technologies” and their use. There are no details in the articles about the full name and surname or which scientific discipline he comes from. The search showed that it was probably Albert Vasilievich Skvorcov, because he is the only “scientist” who can be reached by searching “A.V. Skvortsov” and “foil”.
A.V. Skvortsov was born in 1934, as stated in his biography on the website of Zdravie Skvortsov, which sells various products and services. A.V. Skvortsov was presented as “a Russian physicist, an ingenious inventor, who developed a unique way of restoring and maintaining health with the help of light vibration technologies”.
The site sells different products such as “protective blanket Skvortsova A.V. for exhaustion and headaches, to restore health” or a “knee protector that relieves pain, pressure and fatigue”. The description of these products states that they are made of aluminum foil, which is the case with the rest of the “energy structuring” line of Skvortsov’s products. Interestingly, the site claims that “aluminum has an energy memory”, and that “in case two people use the same product, negative programs can be amplified due to their resonance (…) which will not alleviate your problems, but increase them”.
The earliest appearance of this article can be found on the media outlet called Alternativa za vas, in January 2015, and it was also published by: Slobodna Bosna, Novi, Totalinfo, Haber, Lijek iz prirode, Moj artritis, Pcnen, Zdravo i Prirodno, Azra, Priroda-Zdravlje, Porodica Zdravlje i Mi smo za stvar. Only a quote by a “Russian scientist” is given in the second version of the text, but without mentioning the research results. This version of the text was published by 11 media outlets: Body, Olovo, Hayat, Svjetlo dunjaluka, BH dijaspora, Blicnews, Infosvijet, Perspektiva, Lifestyle Recepti, Infopress i 24h.
The claim that the research results showed the effectiveness of aluminum foil in reducing the pain of the “phantom limb” is rated as fake news, while the explanation of the “Russian scientist” about the alleged action of the foil is rated as pseudoscience. After we contacted them, the Pcnen portal published a retraction of the article, for which they are rated as refuted.
NOTE:
26.11.2019: After the publication of this analysis, the editorial staff of the Alternativa za vas responded to Raskrinkavanje’s inquiry.Â
The incorrect statement about the research results was removed from the Alternativa za vas article, which we evaluated in this analysis. However, the article still exists and contains other pseudo-scientific claims about the healing properties of aluminum foil and quotes from the alleged “Russian scientist”. In this regard, the article still bears the ratings assigned to it in this analysis, as the partial removal of incorrect claims is not sufficient for the article to be rated as retracted.
(Author: Mladen Lakić, Raskrinkavanje.ba)
