Episode 82: PEMF Therapy Device/ Mat Buyer's Guide 2026
By Joshua Roberts - Updated on 11th February 2026
In this episode of The PEMF Podcast, we sat down for one of our most requested episodes: a complete PEMF Buyer’s Guide.
With the market flooded with devices claiming to do it all, we break down what actually matters when choosing a PEMF system from intensity and waveform to coil design, frequency ranges, polarity and dirty electricity.
This episode strips away the marketing noise and gives you the tools to confidently evaluate a device for yourself. If you’ve ever wondered what Gauss really means, whether higher intensity is better, or how to avoid buying a multi-therapy mat that doesn’t deliver real PEMF, this is the episode.
Key Points
• What to look for in a PEMF device/ mat
• The four intensity ranges explained and why medium intensity is the sweet spot for home use
• Why waveform and slew rate matter more than most people realise
• The physics behind PEMF and how Faraday’s Law drives effectiveness
• Bipolar vs unipolar systems and why polarity switching matters
• The truth about “magical frequencies” and how to use brainwave states instead
• Why coil design is the most overlooked but critical component
• How to spot dirty electricity and electro-smog issues
• Why we strongly advise against most multi-therapy mats
• The penetration myth, does higher Gauss really mean deeper reach?
• What “medical grade” and FDA registration actually mean (and don’t mean)
• Warranty red flags and why buying used devices is risky
About us
We’ve spent over a decade specialising in PEMF therapy, it’s not just part of what we do, it’s all we do. Our mission is to make PEMF accessible and understandable through honest education, transparent comparisons, and independent insights.
Meet Our Host - Andy Smith
Andy Smith is the founder of NewMed and CELLER8, and the driving force behind The PEMF Podcast. After more than a decade working at the forefront of Pulsed Electromagnetic Field (PEMF) therapy, Andy wanted to create a space that went beyond marketing, somewhere to explore the real conversations happening in wellness, longevity, and recovery. His passion for the podcast comes from years of seeing how much confusion and curiosity surrounds new technologies like PEMF. Through open, science-led discussions with researchers, athletes, and innovators, Andy aims to make complex topics accessible helping listeners understand what’s hype, what’s real, and how these tools can support a balanced approach to better health and performance.
Meet Our Co-host - Joshua Roberts
Josh Roberts is the producer and creative mind behind The PEMF Podcast. Having worked in the PEMF industry for over three years, Josh saw early on how much conflicting information surrounded the technology and wanted to create a space where people could learn about it in a clear, engaging way. That idea became the foundation for The PEMF Podcast, turning complex science into honest, accessible conversations about wellness, recovery, and longevity. Behind the scenes, Josh handles research, editing, and guest coordination, and occasionally joins Andy on-air for condition-focused episodes. A curious learner and lifelong wellness enthusiast, he also manages the CELLER8 and NewMed websites, ensuring every piece of information shared is accurate, engaging, and easy to understand.
The Audio
Prefer to tune in on the go? The PEMF Podcast is available on all major audio platforms, including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Google Podcasts. See all here.
The Video
Catch the full conversation on our 2026 PEMF buyer's guide over on our YouTube channel. Subscribe to The PEMF Podcast to see every new episode as it drops, along with behind-the-scenes clips and highlights.
The Transcript
Andy Smith 00:00
A quick disclaimer before we begin, the PEMF podcast does not contain any medical advice and the content provided is for informational purposes only. If you have any health concerns, please visit a healthcare professional. Welcome back to the PEMF podcast.
Joshua Roberts 00:22
And today we'll be doing a bit of a buyer's guide to help you find the right PEMF device for you and your needs with so many PEMF devices on the market and so many marketing claims, including everything from frequency to power to application, we'll be cutting through all that noise and looking at the research and real world application to help find the right, the right PEMF device for you.
Andy Smith 00:44
We cover the specifications behind PEMF, including intensity, waveform, slew rate, polarity, and frequency, and explain why bigger numbers don't always mean better results. We'll also talk about application, coil design, portability, and consistency, as well as common myths around medical versus wellness registration, pricing and value, and the aim is to give you a clear, practical framework so you can make more informed decision and choose a PEMF device that actually fits your life and supports long-term use. I've been in this industry now for over 13 years, and we see the good, the bad, and the ugly when it comes to PEMF, and more recently, these next 30 minutes, if you are new to PEMF, are gonna be so, so important and such a good investment of your time, because finding the right PEMF device or finding an effective PEMF device can be the difference between getting results and not getting results. We're seeing so many brands entering the market now, and with the internet and the way that it's so easy to set up a brand, a wellness brand, you can jump on Alibaba, you can get products from China now, and throw your label on them, and you can get products that aren't necessarily effective or maybe you don't really know what you're selling, and this is where we're trying to clean up that market and make sure people that listen to these podcasts, people that enter the PEMF market are gonna get a device that really works for them, so let's hit it.
Joshua Roberts 02:13
And today you will be kind of a full comprehensive guide, whether this is your first time ever hearing about PEMF or you've listened to every single one of our podcast episodes. You should be able to understand every single section. And we'll actually start with intensity. And that is not because intensity is the most important, but that is because we'll probably be referencing intensity ranges quite a lot throughout this episode. So it's just a good place to start. So what actually is intensity and what are some of the common ranges of intensities?
Andy Smith 02:42
Yes, a good place to start because what we're seeing a lot of the time is comparison sites or people clarifying PEMF by the intensity range and that throws in some initial confusion straight from the start. So we're looking at Gauss, which is the strength, commonly measured in Gauss, but also measured in Milly Tesla or Micro Tesla or Milly Gauss. So there's a lot of different formulations, but we tend to stick to Gauss, makes it a bit easier. And if you can convert everything to the Gauss levels, then it can make things be understood a bit better. Looking at Gauss, usually between one Gauss and less is known as a super low intensity device. And again, not necessarily not effective, but we'll get into that. And then you've got ones like about 10 Gauss to 100 Gauss, which are kind of class as low to medium intensity. Then you've got up to about 1000 Gauss, which moves into the higher intensity range. Then it goes from about 3000 Gauss upwards, which is more known as like your high and super high intensity. If you've seen the measured in Tesla, just Tesla, so one Tesla, two Tesla, that is 10,000 or 20,000 Gauss. So they are in the super high intensity range.
Joshua Roberts 04:03
So yeah, intensity is literally just the strength of the magnetic field that the device is emitting. As Andy says, there's kind of four main ranges, but where would we kind of see each range?
Andy Smith 04:13
This isn't one size fits all, but as a general rule of thumb, high intensity, super high intensity devices are much better suited in a professional setting, so you don't need to invest in a really high intensity device for your home. We tend to see more of the one Gauss to 10 Gauss to 100 Gauss, those sorts of devices are much better suited to be used consistently on a daily basis in the home setting.
Joshua Roberts 04:41
And yeah, as Andy says, that's kind of more of just like a general rule. You can sometimes see high intensity at home, or you can even see kind of low intensity in clinics and kind of, but it all just depends on what kind of the goals or desired outcomes really are. Um, but we kind of said we're going to speak about research and real world application in this episode. So now let's look at the research. What does the research say about intensity?
Andy Smith 05:04
What's interesting is that medium intensity doesn't just dominate in terms of quantity, it also shows up across the widest range of biological effects. This is the range that's been studied in relation to bone cartilage, tendons, ligaments, joints, nerve tissue, connective tissue and inflammatory pathways. In other words, it's not just about pain relief or stimulation, it's the range most consistently linked with cellular repair and regeneration across different tissue types. High intensity PEMF does have research behind it, but it tends to be far more narrow, things like short term pain relief, muscle stimulation or specific clinical applications. Low intensity can be very useful for regulation and relaxation, but the research suggests it's more often indirect in its effects. That said, intensity on its own still doesn't tell the full story. Saying intensity is the most important factor in PEMF is a bit like saying volume is the most important part of music. You need enough volume for it to work, but beyond that, it's the quality of the signal that really matters. That's where things like waveform and how the field changes over time come into play and when the right waveform is paired with the right intensity. We can relate this to other modalities like ice baths for example, something quite common. We had Laura from Munk on one of the previous episodes and if you listened to that episode, what Laura was saying that most of the studies are actually in the 8 to 10 degrees Celsius range, that's where all the benefits are found. Yet people are obsessed with going down to 3 degrees, 1 degrees, even 0.5 degrees in the rice bath because they don't really know why. They think the colder is better when not necessarily always the case.
Joshua Roberts 06:52
And if you want a discount on a Monk ice bath, use our code PEMFPOD, it will give you 10% off. But yeah, going back to the episode, a great episode to go back and listen to if you really kind of want a deep dive on intensity, we really covered myths, misconceptions, literally everything in between is our last one with Bryant Meyers. Yeah, really good one to listen to if you just want something kind of really that goes deep about intensity and yeah, everything really on that subject. But now I'll say someone's looking to get a PEMF device for maybe home, for example, what intensities should they kind of be looking at?
Andy Smith 07:27
It really comes down to what you're trying to achieve with PEMF really. In an ideal world you'd have access to both a medium intensity system for daily use and a high intensity system for very specific applications but that's not realistic or necessary and it's often too expensive for most people. For around 90% of people a medium intensity PEMF device is going to be the most practical and effective choice. That typically sits in the range of 10 to 100 gauss range. As we've already touched on this is the intensity range with by far the most research behind it and it's the range that has been shown to produce the widest set of biological effects across different tissue types. Medium intensity is where we see effects linked to inflammation balance tissue repair and longer term healing processes. It may not always feel as dramatic straight away but the research suggests this is because it's working more at a cellular level and a regulatory level rather than simply masking symptoms like with high intensity PEMF. But high intensity PEMF does have a place for some people. It can be particularly useful for chronic pain where they go with short term pain reduction because high intensity can have a more media pain blocking effect. It can also be useful for athletes looking for rapid reductions in muscle soreness or stiffness. That said the research doesn't show high intensity PEMF producing the same level of regenerative or healing effects as the medium intensity but in many cases it appears to be addressing the symptom for example the pain rather than supporting the underlying repair process is in the same way although it still does repair. On top of that high intensity systems are significantly more expensive would make some more well sorry less realistic option for everyday long term use at home. Low intensity PEMF also deserves to mention lower intensities can be very helpful for things like relaxation nervous system regulation brainwave entrainment they can also play a role in mental and emotional states. However when it comes to biological effects the tissue repair and the inflammation they haven't been shown to be as consistently effective as a medium intensity systems. So if someone's trying to be or make a sensible evidence-based choice medium intensity tends to sit the sweet spot for broad biological impact strong research support and far more accessible for most people. But let me also add the feeling of PEMF systems because that is something that we've gone in way more detail in our whole episode on intensity so if you want to take a really deep dive into this we have done a whole intensity and we have done a whole session on intensity but you will feel a PEMF device from 3000 gauss and upwards and what I mean by feeling it is it's a little bit like a tens machine it will contract the muscles and people will have an effect that they can feel.
Andy Smith 10:13
That's again another reason why they sit so much better in a professional setting because there's therapists that are using the PEMF devices want to actually get their clients to feel something you know then you've got the placebo effect happening as well because the client feels something they can walk away knowing that something happened during that session. Lower intensity devices are way more relaxing and you know you can really zone out you can put a face mask on and forget the world and you won't feel anything happening but the effects are working in the background. But what this also means is that lower to medium intensity devices are really perfect to stack with other therapies like red light therapy or using them you know at the same time as other therapies like HBOT obviously you have to check with HBOT and yeah whether they work together. But stacking low to medium intensity devices with red light for example super effective two therapies at once and that works perfectly well. You cannot stack a super high intensity device with other electrical devices because it almost works as like an EMP and it's more of a danger to the other electronic devices than anything else. So again think about your application do you want to use PEMF therapy with other modalities like red light then you want to make sure you're going for a low to medium intensity device or do you want to use it solely on its own for very short sessions and get immediate results then you'll be looking at more of a high intensity device.
Joshua Roberts 11:46
So yeah, the real message here is that all intensities do have a place, but it really just depends on kind of your outcome or as Andy mentions, if you're looking to stack the therapy of something, you might want to go over lower intensity because obviously you can't really stack the higher intensities with a red light, say. But yeah, really, I'd say for most people, the medium intensity is really the one to go for. It covers the broadest range of biological effects. It might not be as quick or as hard hitting as maybe the high intensity, but yeah, as I say, the most research across all different types of tissues for actual healing and regeneration, that is kind of what most people should probably kind of be looking for and what most people will probably see most benefit out of as well. But we mentioned at the start of this section that intensity is in everything and there's actually something called the waveform, which kind of goes hand in hand with intensity. So just for anyone who doesn't know what waveform is, can you just quickly explain what is waveform?
Andy Smith 12:42
Yeah, so breaking this down as basic as I possibly can. And if you watch some of our super early podcasts we did, I didn't used to think waveform is as important as it is that I know now. We will learn, we will grow. And during the development of our product CELLER8, we learn how waveform is so important when selecting it for a device. And looking at how it affects the cells, how quickly it can penetrate the cells and affect the blood viscosity is pretty important. And we'll get to that. And you tend to find waveforms in, mentioned as like square wave, sawtooth, sinusoidal, triangular wave. There's different shapes in which the actual wave creates when you look at it on an oscilloscope. And we'll talk about why and how the waveform is super important when selecting a PEMF device.
Joshua Roberts 13:46
So, yeah, as I said, the waveform is literally just the physical shape of the wave, wherever that square sign rectangle sawtooth or anything in between. But then when we are talking about waveform, there's something else that enters the conversation here, and that is the slew rate. Not something that's really spoken about too much at the moment in PEMF. It's getting more and more spoken about. It's not really listed on many product pages, if any, to be honest. So what is the slew rate?
Andy Smith 14:13
Yeah, so again, you know, during the journey of this, all my experience in PMS, uh, for me, slew rate wasn't, wasn't, you know, something we used to compare devices with. And if you listen to our episode of Steeve Bradet or with Bryant Meyers, we really talk about how important slew rate is. And the slew rate is pretty much the speed or the trajectory of the wave that goes up before it comes back down again. And the reason that's so important, and you can, you can look at Google or chat GPT and ask about the NASA studies when it comes to slew rate. And NASA was finding during all of their research that the faster the slew rates, the quicker the wave goes up, the more penetration into the cells, the more effect a PEMF device will have. So if you want to lay on a device for 10 minutes and get a super amount of effect, you need a fast slew rate. If you don't mind and you want to lay on a vice for two hours, three hours, which most people won't want to do, then slower slew rate devices, you know, tend to have a beneficial effect over a, longer period of time. However, saying that that is a difference when it comes to fast slew rate in the intensity. Once you get to the super high intensity ranges, the slew rate and the waveform is less effective because you're more reliant on the power. But at the low to medium intensity devices, slew rate is very important and something you should be asking the manufacturer that you're looking at what their slew rates are, if they've done their slew rate testing.
Joshua Roberts 15:56
So yeah, as Andy mentioned, the slew rate is literally the time it takes for the signals to go from zero to 100. And you mentioned, obviously, NASA in there, I think a really important thing to mention with the slew rate would be kind of on the core physics principles of PEMF, which is Faraday's Law of Induction. What Faraday's Law of Induction states is that a changing magnetic field can induce a current into a nearby conductor. Obviously, in this example, the PEMF device is the changing magnetic field, and we are the nearby conductor, and it's a similar concept to how you charge your phone on a wireless charging pad. So that is pretty much like a little PEMF coil. You put your phone on there, and then through induction, it charges your phone. Obviously, the quicker slew rate you have, the more energy can be transferred, and the more induction that goes into the phone, and then the same with the slower slew rate. If you have a slower slew rate, less induction, less energy transferred into the phone, and meaning that exact principle can be transferred into PEMF, and the same as us with humans. This is why a higher slew rate is more ideal than perhaps a lower slew rate, just because you're going to get more induction and more energy into the body and the cells and all the tissues.
Andy Smith 17:05
So I think it's important to just break here and say that we are going into this rabbit hole quite deep. And what we're not trying to do with this episode is overcomplicate PEMF or confuse people with PEMF and what they're supposed to be looking for. But to educate people that just because PEMF devices say they offer PEMF, it doesn't mean you're getting an effective product. So we want to try and break down as best we can and avoid you from going into this rabbit hole with this episode and just explain to people all the different elements that go into making a good PEMF device and an effective PEMF device. So just want to put that in there. So if people are starting to get a little bit lost, stick with it. We will summarize it all at the end. And as I say, the investment your time in this episode will save you a lot of research later on down the line.
Joshua Roberts 18:00
So what is a slew rate that people should be liking out or maybe kind of a range that people should be looking for in a PEMF device?
Andy Smith 18:06
So once you understand that it's the speed of the change of the magnetic field that matters, the goal becomes finding a PMS signal that sits in a research-backed sweet spot, rather than one that simply just gives the highest Gauss number. When researchers have looked across successful PMS studies covering things like bone, joints, nerve, muscle, cartilage and inflammation, the most effective results tend to cluster around moderate to high slew rates, not very low and not excessively high. In practical terms, this is known as a Goldilocks zone, which sits roughly between 10 and 120 Tesla per second. What's important here is the more isn't always better. Slew rates that are too low often don't generate enough biological response, but studies also show that pushing slew rates too high can reduce effectiveness or even become inhibitory. Just like intensity, there appears to be a biphasic response where the body responds best within a certain window, so ideally you're looking for a PEMF device that offers a fast, rising waveform, capable of delivering a proven mid-range slew rate and pairing that with a sensible intensity level.
Joshua Roberts 19:11
talking about rabbit holes to hopefully stop you going down a rabbit hole, especially if you're new to PEMF. There's something with the waveform that kind of links in with polarity. Can you just quickly explain what that is? And yeah, what the little link is here.
Andy Smith 19:24
Yeah, so polarity, simply put, is whether the mat or the device it's using is giving you a north or a south polarity. So on every single PEMF device, you'll have a north and a south. Same as if you looked at the sphere or globe, you'll see that the magnetic field of the earth comes out from the north and back into the south. Exactly the same thing is happening with a PEMF device. And you tend to get devices in the field that are classed as a bipolar or unipolar device. A bipolar device is one that alternates. So without having to flip the mat or flip the applicator, the device will alternate itself. So you'll get a north facing and then a south facing over a certain period of time. So it almost flips and changes the clarity over time. And then a unipolar device is one that simply just gives you one polarity on that side of the surface. Why would you have that? There's less evidence on this to say that one is better than the other. But a lot of people tend to go and myself, we tend to use the bipolar device so that it will alternate over a certain period of time. Reason being for this is you like to change things up with the PEMF device. So you don't always want to use the same frequency, for example, and you also don't want to always use the same polarity. It's going to reduce the possibility of overstressing the body using the same polarity just continuously over a longer period of time. So my advice is to try and find devices that do switch the polarity over certain time periods or at least have the option to make the polarity switch.
Joshua Roberts 21:04
Yeah, for sure, especially if you're kind of planning on using PEMF long term is kind of ideal if the device can do a bipolar field, as Andy mentioned, it just kind of helps your body potentially not get used to the PEMF signal or the PEMF and it like not becoming less effective over time. And but once again, like we did for the intensity section, can you just kind of summarize this section about the waveform?
Andy Smith 21:27
OK, yeah, just to summarize this here and break it down as simply as I possibly can. Ideally, you're looking for a fast rising pulsed waveform such as a square wave. In terms of slew rate, the research consistently points to the goldilocks range, which is roughly about 10 to 120 Tesla per second, where the body responds most effectively. You then want that to be paired with the medium intensity device, typically about 10 to 100 Gauss range, and ideally using a bipolar field where the polarity alternates to create a more balanced and body friendly signal.
Joshua Roberts 21:58
Yeah, so exactly a fast rate in the Goldilocks zone, medium intensity. And ideally, if the device can do a bipolar field, that would be amazing. But kind of now moving on to the next specification, which we find a lot of people new to PEMF, especially seem to really obsess over this. And it's the frequency. So can you just quickly explain what the frequency actually is?
Andy Smith 22:21
Yeah, so breaking frequency down as simply as I possibly can, it's all about how many pulses per second over a certain period of time, and it's measured by hertz.
Joshua Roberts 22:31
As I say, a lot of people when they're new to PEMF, they very much obsess over the frequency and also obsess about finding one magical frequency or the magic frequency for their condition. Um, does such thing exist? Can people find that?
Andy Smith 22:45
Yeah this is a really really important point because a lot of people come to us and they obsess over this frequency chart that they want to almost see like a bible or a guide that says to them that these frequencies will work for these conditions. My real objective here and to try and get into people especially if you're new to PEMFs is to try not to let this over complicate things. The general rule and the short answer is yes there are frequencies that are better for certain conditions but try not to go down this rabbit hole because generally there are studies that show that certain frequencies will work better than others but that doesn't mean that if you apply a different frequency you're not still going to get the overall result and actually what we prefer to do is use the right frequency throughout the right time of day rather than obsessing over certain frequencies and frequency guides.
Joshua Roberts 23:43
And yeah, like you say, there's some studies out there that are trying to achieve the same goal. One use 20 Hertz, one use 60 Hertz. It's not really about getting stuck on one frequency and just using that one frequency for that one thing. There are different frequencies that work for the same thing. Our normal kind of general rule, which we'll get into later, is just using the ideal frequencies kind of for the ideal times of day. But now I'll kind of say someone's looking at buying a PMS device. What should generally the ranges kind of be that they should be looking for? I know there's some devices out there that go up to 17, 20,000 Hertz. And there's other devices out there that only do eight. So what is the kind of general range that people should look for?
Andy Smith 24:25
Again if you're new to PEMF I would look for a range between 1 and 100 hertz. These are the most natural frequencies you know even a lot of devices will just go 1 to 30 hertz. So if we look at the earth's Schumann resonance that's 7.8 that's the most natural frequency you can get and you can get that from grounding putting your feet on the grass outside. So you don't want to over complicate things again by going into the thousands of hertz unless you are trying to replicate one of these studies or you're trying to do things outside the box that most people aren't generally trying to do with PEMF devices. So again don't assume that a device that offers 1 to 1000 hertz is going to be more effective or better than a device that offers 1 to 50 hertz or 1 to 100 hertz for example. Again try not to get lost in more frequencies are better but actually with PEMF tends to be the lower the more natural frequencies are the better and the ones to aim for.
Joshua Roberts 25:25
Yeah, for sure. And you mentioned in there about how some devices kind of only got to first, he hurts because that's kind of where the natural brainwave states kind of end. And we mentioned earlier about using the right frequencies kind of for the right times a day, maybe just for anyone who may be new or really just to add kind of complete context to this, what frequency should people be using kind of in the morning and then maybe in the evening? And as you say, yeah, just to give kind of more context.
Andy Smith 25:52
Yeah, sure. And again, it's really important to stay all of this. So our bodies, our brains, we're all running at different frequencies throughout the day. We tend to wake up in more of an alpha or a gamma, where if you look at these, you know, they're in certain frequency ranges that mean we are alert or we are, you know, mega switched on. And these are the frequencies we want to be running at the earlier part of the day. As you move into the evening, you move into more of like a theta range, which is like what people will experience when they're meditating or something, you know, when we're trying to wind ourselves down. And then during sleep, you're actually going to be in the delta range. For example, it's one to four hertz. It's very low range. And that is where we find where our activity tractors are putting us into our deep sleep. So our deep sleep is anything from one to four hertz. So for me, it's really important to find a device that replicates these frequencies and use a PEMF device at those ranges throughout the day. What we tend to see is people making mistakes by trying to replicate studies that they found, for example, quite a common one is a cancer study that was done using 10 hertz or like 24 hertz frequencies. And they will set the device to just 10 hertz frequencies or just 24 hertz, for example. And they will use that throughout the day. If you're using 24 hertz just before bed, you might have a reverse effect when it comes to sleep because you're actually kind of like overexciting the body using a higher frequency. And also using one frequency, studies suggest that use multiple frequencies are better and more effective. So again, find a device that applies multiple frequencies best for the morning, multiple frequencies later in the day, multiple frequencies throughout your sleep cycle. These are going to be your most effective PEMF devices. And like I say, try not to get lost in trying to find one frequency for a certain condition.
Joshua Roberts 27:58
And just quickly to link the names of the ranges to kind of the hurts, numbers of the ranges, like, yeah, what is the link?
Andy Smith 28:04
Yeah, so like you know starting from start to finish when we wake up and when we're in a super alert state Maybe we're competing or something like that will be in our gamma state, which is like 30 to 100 Hertz Then you've got your beta which is about 12 to 30 So that's where most people see it when they're like working throughout the morning when we're more alert Then you've got your theta and alpha range which is like 4 to 12 Hertz and this is like evening time winding down Watching TV chin it out and getting ready for sleep And then as I mentioned before you eat Delta, which is your one to four Hertz, which is your deep kind of sleep range
Joshua Roberts 28:41
And like all the other sections, just to wrap out the frequency section, can you just kind of summarize it?
Andy Smith 28:46
So yeah, just summarizing this section, in short, you want a device that can do at least one to 100 Hertz. If it goes higher, that can be useful in specific contexts, but the key point here is not to treat higher numbers as automatically better. They're simply less tied to the natural brain state, like ranges, that most people are aiming for day to day. And this is also why waveform and slew rate matter so much more. With the fast rising pulse, you're not betting everything on finding one perfect frequency with delivering a stronger, more informational rich signal overall, and using repetition rate, mainly to steer the nervous system towards sleep, calm or alertness throughout the day.
Joshua Roberts 29:23
Yeah, exactly. We normally look only really at frequency kind of for influencing brainwave states, as you say, to feel more calm or alert or even sleepy. And then kind of it's more the intensity and slew rate really comes in kind of for the physical effects and biological effects on kind of pain, inflammation, tissue repair and kind of everything in between. But now we've kind of covered the three kind of main specifications when it comes to PEMF. Let's actually look at using it in the real world and actually applying the PEMFs. And when it comes to PEMF, there are kind of two main applications we normally see and what actually are there.
Andy Smith 30:01
Yeah so when it comes to the application side of things with PEMF there tends to be two main applications and areas you get steered when looking at PEMF devices and that tends to be a full body applicator like a mat for example or a localized applicator which can be a smaller applicator just applied to one area of the body and sometimes these still need to be plugged in other times they're completely mobile and portable so you can carry them around with you.
Joshua Roberts 30:26
So really, then why would someone maybe go for the full body map over the localized applicator or vice versa? Like, why would someone choose one of the.
Andy Smith 30:34
In most cases, a full body mat is most versatile starting point because it gives you a broad coverage and supports multiple systems at once rather than focusing everything on one small area. It's also a practical choice when you're not completely sure what's driving the issue you're trying to support. For example, pain can sometimes be influenced by things upstream like sleep, stress load, inflammation, compensation patterns. So only treating the exact pain spot with a local applicator doesn't always match the bigger picture. That said, a localized device can be ideal when you want to be very targeted especially for a specific joint, muscle tendon area or problem spot you want to reach consistently throughout the day. Local applicators also suit people who want more flexibility in routine, strapping an applicator on while working, traveling or winding down and depending on the design some localized systems are used around the head, neck area or positioned during rest. With the intention of supporting different brain and nervous system states, for example, karma at night versus alert during the day which we spoke about. In a perfect world, you'll have both a full body for comprehensive coverage and a localized precision and convenience. I think it's also important to add to this section that the how the technology works like the intensity same with like a lot of things like red light therapy, PMS intensity will drop off the further you move away from an applicator. So we'll talk about the cause in a minute and we'll talk about how that works. But actually, the further you move away from your PEMF device, the less intensity and the less treatment you'll actually get. So when you apply that to a localized device, really, you're only going to get a small area treated. Whereas with a full body applicator, you're going to get more coils, more points on the device that has the coils attached to it, which is going to give you a much better coverage across the whole body. And you're going to get two different types of benefits to like looking at a full body applicator, you're going to get the benefits of circulation as well as the benefits of the PEMF. So if you can combine the two full body for the circulation benefits, also for the full body treatment, and then you got your localized, intensifying it in one area, then you're going to get a match made head and a device that works for both.
Joshua Roberts 32:56
Yeah, exactly. Why he says you really want to get a kind of in an ideal world. If you can, a two in one device, just the full body map for full kind of comprehensive coverage across the whole body, making sure every cell gets targeted and then a localized applicator just for maybe specific knee injuries, for example, or sliding under your pillow for when you want to go to sleep, uh, to help you kind of get in that Delta kind of range. Um, so we've kind of covered now really the main big four specs when it comes to PEMF and PEMF devices. Um, so can you just quickly summarize what all four kinds of specifications we should really be looking for in a general term, uh, yeah, when it comes to looking at buying a PEMF device.
Andy Smith 33:40
Okay so breaking up all these sections we've spoken about already, try and break these down as easy as I possibly can for you. So looking for a medium intensity device where you want to use it at home or a high intensity device when using a professional setting, look for something a waveform that has high slew rates, so square wave, sawtooth or you want to have a device when you're looking at application wise you need to look at a full body mat to start with ideally if it has a localised applicator even better and if that localised applicator can be portable even better so you can use the two different ways. You've also got frequencies try not to get too lost in frequencies find a device that applies different frequencies throughout the right time of day and if you can find a device that you can switch the clarity even better.
Joshua Roberts 34:32
Yeah, so as we referenced at the start of this episode as well, this is kind of general blanket advice. Obviously with PEMF, everything is normally better if it's like tailored more towards kind of your goal and your needs. If you do want a little bit more tailored advice, you can either kind of contact us at Newmed and we'll help kind of steer you in the right direction, help answer any questions you want or alternatively leave them below this episode and I'll get back to you and help. Yeah. Kind of give you any kind of guidance or kind of help clarify any sections that you might need and while you're down there, make sure to subscribe, like, um, and leave us a five star review if you're an audio as well, just helps us make more and more of these episodes. Uh, but now kind of getting into a little bit less non, um, specific kind of specifications, questions, more just kind of general questions that we tend to kind of get when people are more looking at a PEMF device. Uh, normally the first one is when we tell them all this information about the specs, they say, well, the device I'm looking at does not list the specs and why does this happen? Why do some devices not list the specifications of what they're selling and what does this tell you about that device?
Andy Smith 35:43
Well, the main reason a lot of the time is that the brands that are selling these PEMF devices just simply don't know. They haven't done the testing, they just don't really know what they're selling, which is very frustrating. When we designed and manufactured CELLER8 from the ground up, we had to put in six years worth of development and testing and we looked at all of these factors that we've spoken about today. We can tell you what the intensities are, what the slew rates are, what polarities it offers and the drop off for the intensity over a certain period of time and all these sorts of things. There are so many brands out there, as I say, it's very easy now to source PEMF devices and just to send your brand, your logo to these companies and they will pop it on there and they don't really know what they're selling. They don't have the testing. Some of them will say third-party testing on their websites. Question them on this, you know, ask them what intensity is, ask them what their slew rates are, ask them all the technical details about the device. If it's not listed, it's a serious red flag. It tends to mean that the company just simply doesn't know what they're selling in terms of the PEMF.
Joshua Roberts 36:58
And yeah, exactly and really it's a bit more of an orange flag if it doesn't list it on the product pages But definitely if you contact them and they still can't give you a straight answer, that is definitely a red flag I know we've contacted people in the past before like arguably one of the biggest companies who were selling PEMF at the moment and literally just asking what their intensity was and and they came back and gave us like the wattage and the input voltage and Really just and then never gave us the intensity we asked them again and they just stopped emailing us back So yeah, if it's not on the product page bit of an orange flag But if they can't if you contact them and they still can't give you the information definitely a red flag Yeah, so moving on to kind of something else there isn't often listed on product pages and But normally a lot of the time once again, if you contact the companies, they're happy to help and is the coils Why are coils important? This is really kind of a massively overlooked area in PEMF and never really spoken about and Yeah, why are they important?
Andy Smith 37:59
Yeah, as Josh mentioned, the coils are such an important part of a PEMF build and probably the most important part for PEMF build and something that's overlooked so much. Here, I've got the coils that we use in the CELLER8 device. And, you know, I've mentioned CELLER8 in this in this episode a few times, and I don't want to come across as too biased. Obviously, CELLER8 is a device that I manufactured and designed and we make it from the ground up in the UK. And obviously, we had to look at a number of different coils when we were developing this system to find which ones are the most effective. It's not the only product I recommend. You know, we try and be as unbiased as we can at Newmed. And so there are other products out there, good coils in there that work. But we also see the bad examples in the Internet and why these are so much less effective. So, you know, and one thing we want to do at Newmed and we're going to start integrating soon is product reviews. And we're actually going to start trying to bring in some of the names of those brands and stuff, because I know we're quite impartial. We try not to throw PEMF brands under the bus. A lot of the time, you know, we don't want to ruin the industry. We just want to educate people on what makes a good system. But coming back to the question, PEMF coils are super, super important. And the difference in the coil is a real influencing factor of how a good PEMF device is going to actually work for you.
Joshua Roberts 39:26
Yeah, cool shape, design and layout can kind of directly impact kind of coverage and overall penetration of a PEMF device. And really, you kind of want to think of the coils almost of speakers. You can play the best music in the world and whatever your choices are. And you can play the best music in the world. But if the speaker isn't good, the music, the quality of the music is going to be directly degraded just purely due to that. And that's the same with PEMF. You could have the best signal, the best intensity, the best frequency. You can have the best everything. But if the coil you're actually putting this signal through is bad, it can ruin all of that. That's why sometimes devices that have the same specifications can perform drastically differently. And sometimes people question why that is. And it is just purely down to the coil design and shape and everything like that. So we didn't really cover in there what makes a good coil. So what does make a good coil? And are there any specific shapes or layouts or sizes that people should avoid?
Andy Smith 40:26
to be two of the better performing coil shapes and the one that we chose to celebrate was the thick doughnut shaped coils and the other one that I would say also performs quite well is using a lot of copper in a in a more thinner dinner shape dinner plate shape but you do kind of have to give up certain things for different coil shapes. There are very bad coil shapes which we'll touch on in a minute but why do we go for the thick doughnut shape with acCELLER8 ? The reason we did that was because it creates a high intensity from the shapes. You can spread these out across the mat and get a very good coverage because it helps to give a much better uniform field using these coils but also you can see the thickness and the shape of these coils like these are probably well these are the most expensive part of the PEMF device in most PEMF cases and the reason why PEMF technology isn't hugely cheap. So using these two different shapes of coils you've got the dinner shape plate as well which you tend to lose intensity with that shape but you can get good and fast slew rates of that shape. Once to avoid we would say is definitely ferrite rods. If you ask a manufacturer that you're looking to purchase from and they use ferrite rods we tend to find these in the cheaper PEMF mats that are coming from the far east that offer multiple therapies. We'll come on to it but you know my goal and my advice is always to avoid multi-therapy mats. We've done a whole podcast episode on multi-therapy mats which you can go back to and listen to that but the reason you tend to get ferrite rods in those mats is because they're trying to do everything to a cheap and cost-effective method. Using ferrite rods are a lot cheaper to do they create a PEMF field but they tend to put one or two or four sometimes six of these ferrite rods and they don't give a very uniform PEMF field or high slew rate or effective PEMF from these. So look for like this lots of copper donut shaped coils heavy or the other way which is the kind of flat dinner shape type type PEMF coils.
Joshua Roberts 43:04
And yeah, as Andy said, the celery isn't the only PEMF device that has these type of coils. There are many types of PEMF devices or many brands of PEMF devices that have these coils. We are just obviously showing the celery ones because that is what we have access to. As Andy said, there are donut shaped or the more kind of flat disk in a plate kind of shaped ones as well. But really, it's just the ferrite rods that to kind of avoid if you can. And just because, as Andy said, they have been shown to drop off a lot quicker and don't give you as good of a field as the donut shaped ones do. But there is a common thing that also comes in with these donut shaped coils. It's more maybe associated with the products that these donut shaped coils are within. And it's something called dirty electricity or electro smog. Once again, not really spoken about in PEMF, but maybe something people should be aware of and maybe even ask the manufacturer or seller if they have tested their products for this and if they can provide actual test results. But like just to kind of backtrack, what is electro smog and what is dirty electricity?
Andy Smith 44:11
Breaking this down as simply as I can, electro smog, dirt electricity, PEMF devices are all about using low frequency natural EMFs. So we do this episode where we talk about EMFs, you've got the high frequency which are a lot more unnatural, and then you've got the low frequency EMFs which is where the PEMF comes in. And you want to find devices with PEMF that are as relaxing, as natural, as nice, and kind of PEMFs that you will find in nature as much as possible. So avoiding things like electro smog and high frequency EMFs in a PEMF device is so, so important. Ways in which you can avoid looking at this is find devices typically that just focus on PEMF because you know that they are focusing on a good signal generator. You know, all their technology, all their time has gone spent looking at the PEMFs that are created through these coils. When you find all these multi-therapy mats on the market, they have red light, they have infrared heating, they have PEMF, they tend to not look at these all very specifically and do a lot of research on each one. And actually a lot of the time the heating elements in those PEMF mats create a lot of electro smog. And there was a video I've done on my Instagram which you can check out where you can use a really cheap EMF meter that you can just get on Amazon, I've actually linked that on my Instagram and you can find those on Amazon, you can buy those and you can check, you can put one of these EMF meters on your PEMF mat and it will give you, you know, on a good PEMF mat, you're not going to get very much of a reaction or reading from these high frequency EMFs. With these multi-therapy mats or with a bad PEMF signal generator, you might get high frequency EMFs which is what we're trying to avoid and these are the unnatural frequencies that you're going to find from PEMF devices that aren't designed very well.
Joshua Roberts 46:15
And you mentioned in there about using the EMF tester on the PEMF device, but I'm just thinking maybe for people who have not purchased the device yet or maybe they don't want to spend an extra, I think you said £150 it was gone up to now on Amazon to test the device. How could they, what could they ask from the company that they bought the product from to be able to see kind of if the product's got 30 electricity in it, aside from, yeah, obviously doing that test with the EMF tester.
Andy Smith 46:43
Yes, good question. And a good PEMF company will have the oscilloscope readings and they'll actually use a Hallfield sensor to do those testing. So if you can Google how to spell oscilloscope to start with an oscilloscope is basically a great way of measuring the magnetic field and also seeing if the magnetic field is clean and it doesn't have any dirty electricity coming through it. So. What this would look like is if the if you ask for the oscilloscope readings of the magnetic field, we'll put some off on screen now so people can actually see this. But, you know, if you're listening to this episode, just ask a manufacturer for their oscilloscope readings. What you'll see on a good device is a very smooth magnetic field. And that will also show you the waveform and the shape of the waveform. But when you tend to get ones with dirty electricity or pulsing 60 Hertz, which I'll speak about in a second, you'll get this like fuzzy line or it looks like feedback from a TV or something. And this is something you want to completely avoid. This is like where the magnetic field is compromised and where you're getting this dirty electricity coming through like a clean magnetic field when a device is pulsing this 60 Hertz frequency. So a lot of devices that plug directly into the wall and have to be powered off the wall all the time. Some of the ones that aren't made very well will actually pulse the 60 Hertz or the 50 Hertz frequency, depending where you are in the world. And they will use these pulses to create magnetic fields. And this is a really way, a really bad way of doing it. And actually not a clean way to create a magnetic field. So you want to see ones that have a clean magnetic field and the way in which we completely avoided this, you know, and giving out some of the secret source of the CELLER8 device is actually our magnetic field is powered by the internal battery and never the mains, even if it's plugged into the mains. The reason for that is is that there's no way of leaking through dirty electricity, 60 Hertz, 50 Hertz into the magnetic field if it's taking the power from the internal batteries.
Joshua Roberts 48:51
And once again, this is not a CELLER8 ad or a CELLER8 promotional video. We are just using CELLER8 as a point of reference. There are, once again, many other PEMF devices out there that do have a clean signal, are void of dirty electricity or electro-smog, or don't just pulse the mains as well. And yeah, as you say, CELLER8 is just our reference point because that's obviously the one we have the most experience with. But we kind of touched on the multi-therapy mats a minute ago. Normally, a lot of the time when people are first jumping into PEMF and that is all they see as a PEMF mat. They don't see any other mat as a PEMF mat just because when you type in PEMF mat, that is predominantly what comes up. So what would you say to kind of someone who might be looking at one of these devices?
Andy Smith 49:37
Yeah, so look, if you've got this far in this episode, you'll understand how difficult it is to make a good PEMF device. And there's a lot of elements to look at. And we have tested a number of these multi-therapy mats that you can find online. And at the moment, you know, I'm not generalising against all of them. But at the moment, we haven't specifically found one or tested one that has got good PEMF results. Okay, so we're looking at just the PEMF inside of these. We're finding all sorts of things, you know, low slew rates, wrong waveform, low intensities, lots of dirty electricity coming through them for all different reasons. But we're not going to go too deep into this, you know, we have done a whole episode, which is episode 59 on multi-therapy mats. And the annoying thing is, you know, we're seeing, like Josh mentioned, they are flooding the market because you can find them on Alibaba. It's very easy for you to just send your logo. And, you know, 10 minutes later, you've got a PEMF brand. So, you know, and we're finding them as low as $100 to buy on Alibaba. So the margins that are made on these products are pretty astronomical, which means that a lot of the companies have got a lot of marketing budget when it comes to recruiting affiliates, you know, and pushing these brands. So my advice, avoid a multi-therapy mat, look for better brands. And I know we've mentioned CELLER8 on this, but, you know, let's be a bit more unbiased and mention some other good brands that, you know, we've come across in the past. There's brands like IMRS, there's Beamer, there's Pulse Center, there's many, many different brands. There's also Curatron that we've used personally that we've tested and get great results. So, you know, and as I say, we want to start introducing more reviews on which makes a good mat and which makes a bad mat. But the general rule really is to just look for a brand that specializes in PEMF rather than brands that try and tick lots of boxes and do these multi-therapy things that I would suggest you really, really avoid and run the opposite way.
Joshua Roberts 51:53
And yeah, as Andy mentioned, on the new med, we are going to be reviewing a whole load of products now. We don't actually directly sell a whole range of products like we used to. And but we actually think doing these reviews will be much better. So I mean, we'll be able to review a much brighter kind of range of PEMF products and kind of give you obviously a little discount as well to help you towards buying them devices. And it just gives you a little bit more choice when you're looking for a device. But yeah, as Andy said, we haven't seen a good example of one of these multi therapy mats. Go back and listen to episode 59 for the full breakdown or go and listen to our first episode with Bryant Meyers or listen to the second episode with Steeve Bradet. We also speak about the multi therapy mats in there and some of the common flaws. I also want to note we will we won't be mentioning any of the brand names in that episode 59. I know that is a common thing we always get comments about. We do not mention the brand names purely because if it looks like the one in the thumbnail, it is the same as the ones in the thumbnail. There are no exceptions to this rule. And we also won't be listing the names because these companies have been known to sue people in the past for negatively speaking about their products, despite all the testing data being able to be presented and all the things they call slander being factually true. So yeah, not something we're going to go into. We don't want to be sued on the podcast. We would like to keep the podcast going. And obviously that would probably stop us. I think a good little question to throw in here now, just kind of get the ball rolling away from that is to bust a little myth. And that is about PEMF intensity and kind of penetration. Some people maybe once again who are new to PEMF might be watching this and going, well, if I'm only buying a 10 gauss system or a 15 gauss system, how is that going to get down to the bony? You said it drops the magnetic field drops off really fast. How is it going to get down to the bone? It's just not going to that's not going to work. So yeah, can we just bust that myth and kind of explain how intensity kind of relates to penetration there?
Andy Smith 53:58
Yeah, so just to break this down really, really simply, I mean, we tested a 50 gauss mat with a good copper coil, and we were able to get test results about two meters from the mat surface. So that kind of explains to you know, a lot of people out there, I don't know that, you know, one of the big gurus in PEMF industry, Dr. Pawluk, talks about how high intensity like, you need a 5000 gauss machine to reach the sternum or something, for example. For me, that just doesn't add up. You know, we've we've done an episode on this, we talked about it with Bryant Meyers about how intensity when it comes to PEMF has different effects, but not necessarily when it comes to the penetration depth. Because, as I say, testing that 50 gauss mat, two meters coverage, and we can put a human body in between there, and you don't tend to get any drop off any more than that. So if we can measure that magnetic field two meters away from the mat, then you know, we don't really need to go in the 50,000 gauss just to reach the body if that makes sense.
Joshua Roberts 55:06
And yeah, definitely. I know we've mentioned Bryant Meyers a few times in this episode, but if you really want to have like a deep dive on intensity and busts and myths that you might have or misconceptions, it is a really good one to go back and listen to. It would be the second episode we did for Brian. Yeah, go back and listen to that really helps kind of give a full perspective on intensity. But kind of moving on to an aspect that isn't directly related to specifications or the main PEMF related specifications. This is more kind of wider specifications and more talking about the size and the weight of a device. Would you take any consideration in with this? Because obviously there's hundreds of devices on the market, as we've mentioned. Some go up to 20 kg and two meters long, one meter wide. And there are other devices that are two kg and one meter long and half a meter wide. How would kind of the weight and the size of a product come into your consideration when buying a device?
Andy Smith 56:08
So yeah, let's pull this right out the rabbit hole because let's talk about less about all the frequencies, intensities, all that sort of thing. The most important factor of a PEMF device is if it's gonna fit into your life. Like there is nothing more important than that because you can spend thousands and thousands and thousands on a PEMF device and you can try and look for the most, the best of highest slew rate, the highest intensities, all these sorts of things. But if you don't find a device that you're gonna put time into or is gonna fit into your life, then there is no point. So this is a really important point. And again, we see PEMF devices come in all shapes and sizes. You want to think about the application longer term. So when you're buying a PEMF device, think about how I'm gonna use that device. How am I gonna put it on the bed? How am I gonna put it on the sofa? Is it gonna be in a spare room where it's always set up and always plugged in? Or do I wanna roll it on and off the bed every morning? Because that makes a big difference. When we look at products that are big, bulky, heavy, and they come with a big suitcase or this sort of thing, these devices you wanna have set up in a spare room. You do not wanna keep setting this up, moving it down, packing it away every time you use it. What will happen is you'll get bored of doing that and you'll stop using it. And so in a therapy setting, in a clinic setting, then yeah, makes more sense to actually have something that's always set up and always being used. If you have a spare room, if you have a little treatment center in your house, I've got a gym, that's where we're doing our podcast at the moment. And I've got my PEMF and red light. I've got my H-bot behind me. I've got all these things going on and they're all set up and I just come in here into my little haven and use it all, great. But if we have a device that we wanna put on and off the bed every day, I've tried it. My wife's tried it. If we have a device we wanna use in front of the TV, you need to find something that's portable, easy to use and not super heavy. We're seeing, I mentioned these multi-therapy mats again, but we see them full of crystals or full of gemstones, all these sorts of things. What that does is it makes the mat really, really, really heavy and almost impossible to fold up and put away. So people that are buying these and they wanna put them on and off the bed, it just becomes a chore. So look for ones that you can fold up, look for ones that come with the bag, that you can put it away, look for ones that are portable, that you can run on a battery if you need to so that you can use them in multiple areas of the house. So think about the application. Think about how you're gonna use that PEMF device before you start thinking about committing to it.
Joshua Roberts 58:52
one. Definitely because when it comes to PEMF consistency is key and anything that is going to block you from kind of being consistent with it is something to definitely kind of consider because you're just not going to get the full benefits from a mat. As I mentioned you could have the best mat in the world if you're not going to use it consistently and it doesn't become part of your lifestyle it's going to end up being the worst mat in the world because you're just not going to use it. But something that kind of comes I think a lot of the time maybe at one of the last steps of someone's buying journey is looking at things like registrations and if it's medically registered or wellness registered. I know a lot of the time we get people kind of get quite hung up on this and they will only want a product that is medically registered. Why should people not maybe look at devices that are medically registered only and kind of why are products medically registered. Can you just kind of like de-myth that whole kind of area as such.
Andy Smith 59:53
Yeah and you know we're covering a lot of aspects today and we have actually covered a lot of these specifically like we've mentioned and we've done an episode just solely on this but just to summarize this again don't get hung up on trying to find a device that is only medically registered and there's a lot of confusion when it comes to the FDA as well. When it comes to the FDA a lot of PEMF devices now are saying that we are FDA registered or FDA listed or FDA you know it's very confusing. The FDA are not an organization you have to send product to they analyze it they think you know they put scientists in it and they look at it and they think this is a great product we'll put a medical stamp on it it's not how it works. PEMF devices are categorized as such a safe therapy that you don't need medical approval so that also opens the door to the wild west but a lot of devices will choose not to medically register specifically so that you can enter markets a lot easier you know if you have a device that's non-medically registered it doesn't mean it's less effective than a medically registered product and a lot of the time it doesn't mean that a group of scientists have had to go around test the device analyze it and give it a medical stamp it doesn't work like that. So again try not to get hung up on looking for a medical device or something that says it's registered with the FDA a lot of the time this is just kind of marketing fluff and when it comes to PEMF like I say very very safe non-invasive and you can get away with getting any product that's on the market even if it's wellness registered.
Joshua Roberts 01:01:32
And yeah, if you really want to go back and kind of deep dive on this, episode 31 is the one to go back to. That is where we really kind of go deep on the whole FDA staff, the medical versus non-medical and kind of all the registration or regulatory stuff. Yeah, we really cover it all. It is kind of quite an in-depth and thorough episode. But kind of just to stay along similar lines. Another thing we see kind of regularly that kind of trips people up. We also kind of see it with red light products is people say something's a medical grade or medical. Yeah, a medical grade like we see medical grade LEDs or we see a medical grade foam that they've used on the mats. Is this something to really kind of be hung up on and yeah, really worry?
Andy Smith 01:02:20
about? Again a lot of this comes down to marketing fluff, there isn't really some kind of grading that associates a lot of materials products when it comes to you know PEMF, red light, that sort of thing where these technologies are safe and utilized a lot a lot of these different ways. If it is a medically registered product then there are some constraints and what rules they have to follow in terms of you know the materials they use and that sort of thing but again you know the message in this episode is just try not to get hung up on all these terms that are used that a lot of the time it's more about marketing than anything else.
Joshua Roberts 01:03:02
And yeah, it's kind of like in the CELLER8 , sorry to mention it again, but it has the CELLER8 has a medically approved battery in it. It doesn't mean it's any different to a normal battery. It's still a battery. It still holds charge and powers things. Um, it's just, yeah, but kind of moving on, um, there is another kind of aspects of PEMF, uh, more kind of usability side now that people don't always think about, and this is kind of like programs and adjustability. There are obviously a whole host of PEMF devices on the market. There are some out there that are literally, you can just click a button on and that is it, and there's other devices on the market that require a computer to set up and you can really adjust literally everything. Um, so if you, how important kind of is maybe adjustability and kind of preset programs or customizable programs, uh, when kind of looking for a device.
Andy Smith 01:03:54
Yeah very much this analogy comes down to like your everyday car, you know there's lots and lots of buttons on cars that majority of people will not ever use but you're still going to get from A to B and that can be applied to PEMF devices so really if PEMF is, if you're very new to PEMF and this is what you're listening to this to get an education on it then try and find devices that are simple setup, simple programs but maybe give you some additional features that you want to use later on down the line but for the nub of it really home users and people that are new to PEMF devices try and find something simple because you don't want to put again barriers in place for using that device. Consistency with PEMF is so key anything that you're putting a barrier into if you have to plug it into your laptop, if you're having to power up your phone and connect it to Bluetooth then all of these things are going to delay and stop you possibly from using that PEMF device. So ones that you can simply turn on and away you go perfect ones that you have a bit more of a setup for might come down later on the line if you're becoming a bit more of a professional in the PEMF and you want to start using similar features or in a professional clinic or something where they need those additional features but to start with look for simple.
Joshua Roberts 01:05:17
Yeah, definitely. You don't want a device that's going to be kind of super complicated and super long to set up, because once again, that's going to put a barrier in front of you actually using it every day. But then on the flip side, you maybe don't want a super simple device, which only does one thing, because if you start using it for a long period of time, it just might not be as effective. And you might just want to start customizing things and tailoring it a little bit more to your needs as you kind of go down your journey and learn more and more really. And but kind of now looking at price. Price is obviously a big factor when it comes to PEMF. PEMF devices aren't cheap, even if you may be looking at some of the lower intensity devices. But how should we look at price and kind of in comparison to value as well when kind of buying a PEMF device?
Andy Smith 01:06:02
Cost is a huge deciding factor with any therapy, but more so with PEMF therapy, because PEMF therapy isn't a cheap therapy to get right. Like we mentioned before, a lot of copper coils go into a good PEMF device and high intensity copper, high intensity devices use a lot more copper. But the general rule here is to try and figure out a mid-range cost. Don't go super cheap because you'll end up in the multi-therapy mats where you feel like you're getting more for a lot less and actually master of none, jack of all trades tends to come to mind with those mats. With the higher, higher cost devices, people think that the most expensive PEMF device in the market will be the best one. Not necessarily if you want to use it at home or if you want to use it consistently on a daily basis, you don't have to go crazy and spend all that money. So you really want to find a device in the mid-range cost that is specific and better for you looking at the features that we've spoken about. So as I say, just be smart, be simple when it comes to cost, don't go super cheap, don't go super expensive if you don't need to, it's overkill, look for a product in the mid-range that is gonna tick all the boxes that we've spoken about.
Joshua Roberts 01:07:18
For sure. And then really just to write this episode up, there is kind of one more thing that people should look at and it is return windows, money-back guarantees and warranties. So when we're looking at PEMF as a whole, maybe are there any kind of averages and kind of are there any red flags maybe when you comes to buy in a device in terms of the warranty and the money-back guarantee?
Andy Smith 01:07:40
Yeah, so two really, really important factors you just brought into this, the warranty and a trial period. Something that you should really consider when buying PEMF devices is both of these things. Let's talk about warranties quickly because warranties do actually vary depending on the controller and the applicators. And the reason being is the controllers themselves, you want to be looking for about a three year warranty minimum. But the mats and the applicators are a bit different because you've got to imagine that these mats are like gym mats and they've got copper coils inside them and they can break. They do break, especially if you're putting them on soft surfaces like on a sofa or on a bed, constantly getting on and off it, then they do break. And we do see this in the market and we do see even the better brands breaking the applicators. But, you know, they tend, they should tend to last between three and five years at least anyway, but warranty on the applicators tends to be between about six months to a year or sometimes even on the better ones, about two years. And that's just to be expected. So, you know, don't be put off by that, but look for the companies that offer about three months, three years on the actual controllers themselves. Any company that offers one year, you know, obviously don't trust their product. So we would avoid those ones. I would also say about the trial period, it's so important. PEMF devices to get well, you know, the proof is in the pudding and you have to try your product first. PEMF is new. People don't understand it. People, you know, are just getting into it and they have to try it themselves to feel the benefits. We find, and we, you know, over my 13 years experience being in this, in this industry, a good PEMF device will give you responses after about 15 days. So usually 15 days is where you can sort of start thinking, okay, I can start feel some benefits, less pain, better sleep, these sorts of things. 30 days, you should be absolutely convinced that that product is working for you. And at that point, you should have the option to return a product because, you know, if it's not working for you, if you're not getting the results, then you should at least have the option for a return it for a full refund. Avoid companies that are going to give you store credit, are going to do exchanges. You know, we're seeing this happening a lot of the minute, especially in the PEMF industry. And these brands tend to have all sorts of products, you know, they'll do red light, they'll do ice baths, they'll do PEMF, you know, they tickle these boxes and they don't even give you a proper return. You know, they just give you an exchange or something. And you can pretty much tell if their PEMF devices are no good, the rest of their product range is going to be pretty bad too. So anyone that doesn't offer you a full refund within about 30 day period, I would, I would say avoid. And like I say, PEMF is something you have to try, you have to implement, you have to be consistent with to get the benefits. So you want to know that you've got the ability to return if you can.
Joshua Roberts 01:10:41
Yeah, just a little bit of a caveat on the whole kind of return window thing as well. Sometimes if the return window is excessively long, maybe 120 days or 90 days, it could just imply that the product is kind of cheap to manufacture and make. Where like, for example, say that company gets the product back damaged, they might only be losing a hundred pound, but then another company that's only offering a 30 day window, their product might cost 2000 pounds. And that might be why they got a shorter return window because it's a shorter time for the product to become damaged, obviously, then less for loss for them. Hope that kind of makes sense. But then as well, just to touch on actually our last thing this time, we'll be buying devices from eBay. We get countless people probably contact us every month saying, I've just bought this device from eBay. I'm having issues with it. What kind of, yeah, what would you say to people looking at buying from eBay or these secondhand kind of gum tree Facebook marketplace, everything like that.
Andy Smith 01:11:41
It's something you should avoid because as I mentioned PEMF devices, you know, the applicators, the mats, all that sort of thing over time they will wear. So if you're buying a device that's two or three years old, sometimes even five years old, you can pretty much guarantee that you're going to need to change something at some point on that device. So if you buy it and you think you're saving yourself some money to start with, a lot of the time you're going to get that product and you have to be buying new accessories for it in a pretty short amount of time. You don't know how it's been treated, you don't know how it's been used. So for PEMF devices, I would tend to stay on the newer market.
Joshua Roberts 01:12:18
Definitely. And as I kind of mentioned a secnd ago, the amount of people we get kind of contact this every month saying, I've got XYZ product. This is happening. What can I do? And unfortunately, a lot of the time it's that the product's actually broken. And maybe the seller knew that before they were selling it, or it was just unlucky. And now the product's broken with them. But as we say, then they're not covered by the warranty. And you just kind of thrown a few hundred pounds down the drain when, or even more than that, when if you would have maybe just spent a little bit more, you could have got it brand new and avoid yourself kind of paying for it twice, unfortunately. But yeah, as we mentioned kind of midway through this episode, if anyone has any questions about anything we've spoken about today, once any more kind of tailored advice, or just wants to query anything, please do comment below. And I will reply to you or as well go over to Newmed. We've got consultations on there. You can contact us via there. And one of the team will help. Yeah, we'll reach out to you and help give you guidance towards maybe a product you're looking for. Or once again, just give you some clarity in general. But while you're down there, if you are going to go leave us a comment, make sure to like, subscribe. And if you're on audio platform, leave us a five star review. It just helps us make more and more of these episodes and helps us get bigger and better guests in the future. And if you do have any guests or topic suggestions, please do leave them down below as well. And we will try and cover them very, very soon.
Andy Smith 01:13:41
Thanks again for spending some time with us today and listening to this episode of the PEMF podcast.
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The information shared through The PEMF Podcast and this website is for educational purposes only and should not be taken as medical advice. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional regarding any health concerns or before starting new wellness practices.