"EARTHING" THE BODY

For  Treatment of Chronic Pain and Inflammation

EARTHING.....  What’s it all about?  
 
It all started when Rehana, one of our talented therapists ( EFT master, NLP master connect@behaviourchanges.com ) sent me an email from her current home base in Perth, Australia:  “Chuck, you should look at this!”  So I went to the site, read and listened to the audio, and decided that, “Hey, the physics is right, and the physiology appears to be right.  I will order this thing and check it out.”  So I did.  Three days later, a small package arrived in the mail.  Inside, I found an electrically conductive rubber mat, a long insulated wire with connections on both ends, a fabric sleeve to encase the mat, an “outlet checker”  and a well written 250 page book with a bibliography of nearly 50 references.  (I noted that the book was co-authored by Stephen T. Sinatra MD, a well known cardiologist and author of nearly a dozen books and the Heart, Health & Nutrition newsletter.)  A first reading of the book convinced me that the mat simply “electrically grounded the body”-- nothing more, nothing less.  As a physicist who has spent considerable time in the lab, I knew that “grounding” was important for scientific instrumentation.  Ungrounded instruments were prone to have so much “noise” on the line that we frequently could make no sense of the information.  Knowing that the human body operated on equally small electrical signals, it made sense that our bodies might work better if WE were grounded.   
 
So, that night I rolled back the covers on my bed, placed the mat in a spot where my bare legs would pretty much rest on it during the night, connected the mat to the “ground” socket of the nearest electrical outlet and went to bed.  I did not know what to expect, but decided that if the mat did nothing more than help me to sleep better, it was worth the $60 + S&H I’d spent for it.  (As a 72 year old guy, I frequently thrash around a bit when I first go to sleep, often waking up about 2 am unable to get back to sleep again, and when 7 am comes, I tend to be bleary eyed and not quite sure that I want to greet the day...)   
 
The morning sky slowly shown through the bedroom window; I awoke, feeling WELL RESTED and ready for another day!  I did NOT awaken during the night, just slept deeply, restfully.   So far, so good.  I had breakfast, kissed the wife, and went off to work.  I knew that at the end of the day, I would find myself in Breckenridge MN, 150 miles north, so threw the “earthing mat” in the suitcase before leaving.  
 
That evening, I checked in at the local motel, placed the mat on the bottom sheet down near the foot of the bed where it would contact bare skin,  connected the mat to the ground socket of the local electrical outlet, and went to bed.  Once again, I awoke the next morning feeling really great and well rested.  (I almost NEVER sleep well in a motel bed the first night.)  I then traveled north another 100 miles to Enderlin, ND, where I met my daughter and son in law, played with the granddaughter, then spent some time helping daughter to fix up an old barn for storage of her horse gear.  Later that evening, I checked in at the Enderlin motel.  I left the earthing mat in the car, thinking,  “Heck, I’m so tired, I KNOW I can sleep well!”   That unwarranted confidence lasted just 4 hours.  The eyes popped open at 2 am and I couldn’t get back to sleep!  So, I finally pulled on the bare legal minimum in clothing and stumbled in the darkness to the car for the mat.  I flopped it on the lower part of the bed and plugged it into the ground socket of the nearest outlet.  I slept WONDERFULLY for the rest of the night! 
 
That was six weeks ago.  Since then, I’ve used the mat nearly every night, and it’s clear that it WORKS for me-- helps me sleep better.  The book says that it increases the production of melatonin for many people. I think I’m one of those people.  (Melatonin is what is produced by the pineal gland in the brain; it helps to put us to sleep.  We older folks frequently lack melatonin, so we supplement with it in the evening for better sleep.)
 
Does it do anything else?  Because of my own experience, we began to stock earthing products at our clinic and have helped a bunch of folks who have chronic pain, such as arthritis, back pain, sciatica, MS and such.  For some the effects are immediate; for others, it’s a gradual thing, takes a few days/weeks to realize the benefit.  Here are excerpts from some of the testimonials listed in the book:
 
TESTIMONIALS
“I’ve been in the medical instrumentation field for a half-century.  In the 1960s, I started a company specializing in the inspection and upgrading of electrical equipment in hospitals to ensure that the equipment was properly grounded.  If not, disturbances or spikes in the electrical current might create a life-threatening shock in a patient connected to a piece of equipment.  It was all about grounding the equipment to prevent potential shock.  Nobody ever thought that directly grounding a patient could be beneficial. 
 
“When I first heard about Earthing, it made real sense to somebody like me. Clint Ober (the developer of the concept) demonstrated the concept by putting a grounded electrode patch on my leg.  The leg was chronically achy.  Within twenty minutes, it felt much better.  I then started sleeping on grounded sheets. I noticed quickly that I slept much better., and all the aches and pains that come with aging improved as well.... 
 
“(a friend) wanted to know if Earthing might help her mother who had painful rheumatoid arthritis, particularly in the knees. Her mother, she said, put two Advils on her nightstand every evening. When she woke up in the morning, she would take the pills, wait an hour or so until they went to work in her body, and then finally get out of bed. Otherwise her legs hurt too much.  
 
“I heard back that after a couple of days of sleeping grounded, her mother wasn’t taking the pills anymore. She was getting up in the morning without pain, and needless to say was very happy about it. Now, her husband, who was my friend, is a medical professional and a real skeptic. He was observing all this and seeing how it had helped his wife and daughter.  He was very surprised about their improvement and then reluctantly told me his own story. He had had a bad left shoulder for years and because of the pain only slept on his right side. After sleeping for a while on the grounded sheet that his wife had put on the bed, he noticed that he was now sleeping on his left side without any pain. 
 
“Then there’s the story of an acupuncturist in town. One day, she and I were talking. She said she hadn’t been riding her bicycle lately because of pain in one foot. She had treated herself (with acupuncture) but hadn’t gotten any relief. So I gave her some electrode patches with a ground connection and said to give it a try. The following day she called all excited. She couldn’t believe it. Her pain was gone. So she then invited some of her patients to sit grounded for a half hour with an electrode patch attached to wherever they had pain. She wasn’t charging them for it.  The women were coming in three times a week, sitting there, and getting pain relief. I told the acupuncturist that if they would just walk barefoot in their gardens for the same amount of time they would get the same results as they would in her office. There is nothing magical about the (microscopic) current coming out of the wall. Most people just don’t understand the simplicity of grounding. 
 
“I also gave a bed pad to one of my company directors, a man who suffers with multiple sclerosis. He was also a skeptic. I asked him about it a couple of weeks later and he shrugged it off, saying he gave the pad to his daughter who has some aches and pains. He said he felt he was too far gone to get any help. A week later, he said his daughter had given it back to him and he decided to try it anyway. He had slept with it for three or four nights, and he said he couldn’t believe the results and that much of his pain was gone. He was walking better. His legs didn’t collapse as often. He still has MS, but his symptoms are greatly reduced. He walks without as much pain and is much more comfortable.....”  (contributed by Jim Healy, p. 121-122)
 

EXPERIENCES OF MS PATIENTS

"Jean", Minnesota
I could go on with a dozen other testimonials from the Earthing book, but they’re pretty similar and remarkably positive.   Here is a LOCAL one that finally convinced me of the value of earthing for pain control.  “Jean” (not her real name) had been visiting our clinic for many years; she has MS of long standing, and it seemed that nothing we tried really helped her.  Last week she stopped in again, curious about the “earthing” principle that I had talked about in a recent newsletter.  Jean bought a pad and took it home to try, but without much enthusiasm.  Five days later, she called, GUSHING about the benefits she was receiving.  Here is the testimonial she emailed me later that afternoon:
 
“I bought an earthing pad on Monday, September 19, willing to give anything a try.  I have MS (many years duration) with lots of pain at times.  The first few nights (of using the pad) I did not sleep well, but in the morning my pain was not as bad.  Throughout the day, I had more energy and was more awake, which is unusual for me.  Now I have been using it for a week, and I find it works great!  I even cut down on (Natural) Calm (magnesium supplement) and also the turmeric I was taking for my pain.  It is surprising how well it works, and how simple it is to use.  Now I am sleeping much better, can almost go all night without waking up!  (“Jean”, 9.28.11, by email; editorial corrections in spelling as needed)


Cindy, Southern California:

 

Cindy Walsh, forty-seven, Southern California marriage and family therapist: “I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 199 at a time when there was a lot of stress in my life. The symptoms included a sensation of heaviness throughout my left side that would last for thirty seconds or so. My right hand would twist up, so that my palm faced upward. I was prescribed three medications, but I dropped them after six weeks because of the side effects.... A year after my diagnosis I had to go on disability.  I had limited amounts of energy and had to carefully balance my schedule around my two beautiful and active children and the need for rest. 
“In 2008, it was record-breaking hot here I live, and heat is an enemy for someone with MS. I had the worst flare I’ve ever had. It was very scary. My left arm stopped working, as if it was no longer connected to my brain. It would move on its own and I couldn’t grip anything. I couldn’t type with my left hand. My arm just became useless. And then my legs started feeling strange.
“It was around this time  that a friend told me about a study being conducted nearby on something called Earthing...I found out that participants had to sit for a period of time while the testing was going on, and I wasn’t sure I could last that long. Still, I was invited to come over anyway one weekend when the study wasn’t going on, just to see if Earthing could help my condition. 
“That’s when I met Clint Ober (developer of Earthing). He hooked me up and I sat there for a while. It felt very soothing and I enjoyed it. When I was unhooked, I got up and went to the restroom. In the restroom I took one look at myself in the mirror and couldn’t believe what I saw. It was as though I had slept for three days or been on a healing retreat. I looked so much better and younger. I’d been very tired, sad, and stressed out. I was amazed. 
“Clint gave me some grounding paraphernalia to take home and try out. I’ve been sleeping grounded most of the time ever since. Despite going through a very stressful year, including suergery, the grounding gives me a genuine sense of comfort. I haven’t had a flare since starting (the grounding), despite all the stress. And my energy level is up. I’m looking at my body, and I’m thinking about what what I’ve been through and how well I’m doing....  “Earthing” (has become) part of my ‘healing team’. I do believe it makes a big difference and has helped keep me feeling the way I do. I sit on the grounding sheet sometimes while reading or watching movies. I make sure I do more than just sleep on it. I’m actually doing really, really well.” (pp. 154-155)

 A second MS patient, California
Sheila, of earthing.com, shared this story with (Reinert) on 9.27.11:  Woman, with MS, no longer able to walk.  She was confined to a wheelchair, could not lift anything (she REALLY wanted to hold her grandchildren).  She was able to borrow the use of an earthing mat for a period of 3 to 5 weeks, courtesy of William Amahu DC (area chiropractor and thermography specialist).  Following “self treatment” for that period of time,  she was able to be out of her wheelchair, could once again walk, and could lift and hug her grandchildren.!  


BOTTOM LINE:
I could go on and on with testimonials.  Our own testimonials, in SW Minnesota, are just beginning to come in, but it's basically the same story.  The earthing device reduces chronic pain and inflammation, and function is improved.  Sometimes it happens within a half hour, sometimes overnight, sometimes it takes a few weeks, but this simple technique of “grounding” yourself seems to reduce inflammation and chronic pain.  It just works....
 
In our work at Helping to Heal, we now routinely use Earthing patches when doing most of our therapies; the addition of “grounding” seems to make more effective, just about everything we do.  We often use “stick-on” conducting patches so that we can ground certain parts of the body that we are working with at the time.
 
 Earthing is now available, not only with the universal 10” x 20” rubberized mats, but also as stick-on patches for special treatment areas, bedsheets of various sizes (king, queen, twin), even special devices such as “mouse pads” and automobile pads for both driver and passenger.  (Yes, “grounding” also works when driving-- in that case, we ground to the frame of the vehicle. )
 
READY??

WHEN you are ready to try “grounding” as a means of improvements such as sleeping better, less chronic pain, perhaps even faster healing of wounds, we have two choices to offer you:
 
* You can order directly from the “Earthing” site.  If you go to  https://84.earthing.com,   (I usually put the address directly into the bar at the top instead of “Googling” it), you can view the many choices available for helping to “ground” yourself, and place your order directly. (We get a small commission on the sale, which helps us pay our bills.)  
 
Or, 
* You can just give us a call, after viewing the Earthing site and determining what you might like, and we might very well have it in stock for a few bucks less (Our S&H is postage; we don’t add anything else.)  We're at (507) 629 3900, usually 9 to 5, CT, or leave a message and we'll call you back on our nickel.  E mail works too:  helpingtohealclinic@iw.net
 
Whichever route you choose, we’d love to know that you made a purchase.  We have additional information that we like to send to our earthing customers, based upon our own experiences here in Minnesota.  
 
I think you will be happy with the Earthing products; they seem to be carefully made and they work.  As an old physicist, I feel confident that the “physics” of these devices is correct, and the physiology also appears to be correct, judging from our experience, the testimonials and from the bibliography.  Do what you are led to do!
 
 
SUMMARY:  
1.  Go to https://84.earthing.com, listen to the Audio, read the Guarantee.
2.  Click on Shop, see what’s available and be confident that it's the right decision for your health.
3.  Call HTH (507) 629 3900.  Maybe we can help you save.  
4.  Expect less pain, reduced medical expenses and a more comfortable life!  
5.  Know that if it doesn't work for you in 30 days, you can return to where you bought it, no questions asked, full refund.