Here's a review of a product people are seeing more frequently today. It's called Miracle Foot Acupuncture, and it sells for about $100 in various gadget retailers. It looks like a small platform on which you place your bare feet. It has a couple of digital readouts on it, and it claims to be based on 12 years of research and development in Japan and Taiwan with leading acupuncture and acupressure doctors. It claims to enhance your entire body health as well as improve blood circulation.
What was my experience with this product? I paid the $100, had it shipped in, set it on medium intensity, put my feet on it, turned it on, and it just about shocked the bejeezus out of me. I thought something had gone wrong with the product, so I turned the intensity down to the lowest level, put my feet back on it and tried it again, but it still shocked the bejeezus out of me.
So, first off, the electricity that this thing puts out is far too strong. Secondly, this product doesn't seem to locate those electrical impulses at any particular point on your feet; it just seems to shock the bejeezus out of the entire bottom of your foot. Even if you continue to use the product, the location of the shocks doesn't change; it just keeps shocking your entire foot for as long as you can stand it.
The manual for this product is interesting. It contains a diagram of all the acupuncture points on the feet, sort of like a reflexology diagram, but the diagram has no apparent relevance to the product because the product doesn't follow these particular points. In other words, it doesn't move through these points like it's stimulating your spine area for one minute, and then your liver for another minute. It just shocks the heck out of the bottom of your feet for as long as you can stand it; that's all it does. It feels a lot like getting shocked by 12V current from a large solar panel on a sunny day (if you've ever had that eye-opening experience...)
In my opinion, this machine is a disgrace to the word "acupuncture." I think it's a stretch to call this acupuncture or electro-acupuncture at all. It certainly isn't acupressure, and it's definitely not a miracle. The only miracle is that people are buying this thing. This product, in my view, should be avoided. And even though I’m a huge proponent of acupuncture, reflexology and acupressure, this machine does none of those.
This machine is a joke, actually -- a cruel joke. It's painful to use, and I can only think of one medical use for it and that would be for diabetic patients whose feet are numb and who need some very aggressive stimulation to help blood flow return to those extremities. This machine could be very helpful for those diabetics -- that is, people who are about to have their legs amputated. But for all others who actually have feeling left in their feet, using this machine will probably be quite painful, and I strongly recommend that you avoid it. It definitely earns a strong thumbs-down review.
Normally I don't submit negative reviews for publication, but in this case, this product is so widely publicized that I consider it a public service to warn people. Also, as you may have guessed, I'm not paid anything by the manufacturer of this product to write this review.
About the author: Mike Adams is a natural health author and award-winning journalist with a mission to teach personal and planetary health to the public He has authored and published thousands of articles, interviews, consumers guides, and books on topics like health and the environment, reaching millions of readers with information that is saving lives and improving personal health around the world. Adams is an honest, independent journalist and accepts no money or commissions on the third-party products he writes about or the companies he promotes. In mid 2010, Adams produced NaturalNews.TV, a natural health video sharing website offering user-generated videos on nutrition, green living, fitness and more. He also launched an online retailer of environmentally-friendly products (BetterLifeGoods.com) and uses a portion of its profits to help fund non-profit endeavors. He's also the founder of a well known HTML email software company whose 'Email Marketing Director' software currently runs the NaturalNews subscription database. Adams also serves as the executive director of the Consumer Wellness Center, a non-profit consumer protection group, and practices nature photography, Capoeira, martial arts and organic gardening. Known on the 'net as 'the Health Ranger,' Adams shares his ethics, mission statements and personal health statistics at www.HealthRanger.org
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Sunday, January 08, 2006
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