I have received a few questions about Nikken magnets lately that I want to take a few minutes to answer.

How to Use Nikken Magnets

The first question is “how to use Nikken magnets?” When I get this question I assume people are talking about the Nikken magnetic patches, like the Kenko Mini, Kenko Flex, or Kenko Power Patches.

The Kenko Mini and Kenko Flex are typically used with the black side against the body and can be used anywhere that you need them and can get them to stay. The Kenko Flex is usually used on the lower back. The Kenko Mini can be used anywhere. I often hear about people placing a Kenko Mini in one their pants pockets or a shirt pocket. That is an easy way to hold them near where you want them.

I find the Kenko Power Patch to be easier to use because they are smaller and come already attached to a self-adhesive disk, like a circle Band-Aid. The bumpy side is intended to go against the skin and works great in most places. The smooth side is probably more comfortable against bone, like at the temples, in which case you can just peel the magnet off the adhesive and flip it over. I also think the Power Patch is a better value because you can get 30 of them for about the same price as 2 Kenko Minis.

How Do I Use My Insoles

Another common question I get is “how do I use my insoles?”

Magsteps first. Brand new they are probably too big to go into your shoes, so cut them down to the right size using a regular pair of scissors. There are faint lines at the toe and heel on the smooth side to show where to cut for your shoe size. The Magsteps are designed to go into your shoes with the bumps facing up toward your feet. If you find the bumps uncomfortable then take them out of your shoes, flip them over so that the smooth side is up, then put them back in. I recommend that you try the bumps again after 6 months or so. I don’t notice the bumps anymore even when I go hiking.

Now the Magstrides. The dark side with the Nikken EQL+FIR logo goes up toward your feet. Like the Magsteps, they will probably be too big for your shoes straight out of the box. The bottom side has the lines showing where to cut for your shoe size. Regular scissors will cut them. The dark surface has a far-infrared ( that’s what FIR stands for ) coating on it that helps to reduce sweating in your shoes.

Which Side on the Skin for Nikken Magnets

This is a common question that I receive about the Nikken magnets and I have already answered it for some of the magnets. More generally, if their is a bumpy side or a darker side, that is the side that goes toward your body. The bumps will be there to shape the magnetic field or to stimulate the skin and muscle, kind of like a passive massage. The darker side is usually dark because it is coated with Nikken’s far-infrared material that will help to regulate temperature to either gently heat the muscle or reduce sweating. Those are some good guidelines to help you out if you see a Nikken magnet that you aren’t sure about.

I hope that helped answer any questions you have about the Nikken magnets. If you have a question that I didn’t answer here then please leave me a comment below and I will get you an answer. I would also appreciate it if you would share this with your followers on Twitter and Facebook. There are some convenient buttons at the beginning of this post for you to do that.

Wayne Woodworth

You hopefully already know all about the benefits of wearing magnetic insoles in your shoes. You probably don’t know about the benefits of having a pair of MagSteps in your washing machine though. This isn’t one of the uses listed in Nikken’s brochure, it comes by word of mouth.

Assuming that the drum in your washing machine is metal, you take a pair of magnetic insoles and stick them to the sides inside your washing machine. I like to keep them on opposite sides, across from each other. The water, detergent, and bleach aren’t going to hurt them. I don’t know how long they will last in there, but ours have been there for 4 years with no sign of wear.

But why put magnetic insoles in your washing machine?

Because they help to soften the water. Did you know that most of the chemicals in your laundry detergent are there to treat your water, not to wash your clothes? It’s true. So, with the insoles helping to condition the water, you will need less laundry detergent. Actually, when we put a pair of MagSteps in our washing machine we didn’t use any laundry detergent for about a month because there was so much laundry detergent left in our clothing from washing with the “correct” amount of detergent.  If you try this, you will probably find the same thing.

So, the bottom line is that a pair of magnetic insoles in your washing machine will save you money in the long term because you will need maybe a quarter of the amount of laundry detergent that you currently use. This could even help people with sensitive skin because there is less detergent residue to react to.

Wayne Woodworth

Nikken doesn’t have any products with the extremely high Gauss ratings that you can find from some other products online. I have received questions from several people who think that the stronger magnetic fields will do better for them.  I haven’t been able to give them a good answer until now because I’m not an expert on magnetism and its effects on the body.

While not an official Nikken response, the answer comes from the man who has invented and developed several of Nikken’s magnetic products, Anthony Bove.  Basically, those high Gauss magnetic fields can generate too much electricity and heat in the body.  If you want to get more into the science and all of that then you are welcome to look up things like Faraday’s Law and Lorentz Force.

More telling for me is to look at thermographic images from before and after actually using the magnets.

Notice that when the thermographic image first shows up, the subjects toes are cold (black) and by the end they are warm (white). That’s what really matters, and this is just from a pair of magnetic insoles (MagStrides in this case).

Wayne Woodworth
My feet are happy with my MagSteps