I went onto Amazon.com to see what kinds of magnetic insoles people were offering for sale there and found a few.
First is the Mag-Insole sold by Chinese Accupressure Magnetic Insoles. The description says that it has 16 magnets per pair, which means that there are only 8 discreet magnets on each insole. That leaves a lot of the surface of the insole without any magnetic coverage, which mean a lot of the bottom of your feet are not exposed to magnetic coverage. The Magnetic Foam Insoles from Austin Medical Equipment has the same small number of magnets.
The Magnetic Insoles by Dr. Bakst Magnetics didn’t say how many magnets are in their insoles, just that they have 2,000 gauss per insole. That doesn’t tell you a whole lot. A lot of companies will add the gauss strength of each magnet on the device and give you a total when they word it that way. That means that these insoles likely have something like 1 magnet in the center with a 2,000 gauss rating or 10 magnets spread around the insole each with a 200 gauss rating. It is also possible that the insole have several 2,000 gauss magnets on them. You just don’t know.
The magnetic insoles sold by Brands On Sale were a little more interesting. They have 5 magnets per insole that you can place in a variety of labeled locations on the insole depending on where your feet hurt. You can decide the 5 points that hurt the most and move the magnets to the correct place for the magnetic field to go to work. Still, only 5 magnets leaves even more of the surface without any magnetic coverage than the other brands did.
Nikken’s magnetic insoles, according to the literature, have 100% magnetic coverage on their surface. I couldn’t find anything that said exactly how many magnets are on each insole, but there are a lot. Someone once told me that it was 80+ magnets on the medium magnetic insole. I used to have a magnetic sensor disk that showed the magnets on the Nikken Magsteps or Magstrides but I never had the patience to sit and count each magnet that I could find. It would just take too long.
The magnets used in the Nikken Magsteps and Magstrides are all 450 gauss magnets. If you used the additive method to rate the gauss for the entire insole that would be 36,000 gauss. I think it is rather deceptive to go that route, so we’ll stick with saying that the entire surface is packed with 450 gauss magnets and leave it at that.
The other magnetic insoles also say that they provide passive massage or reflexology because they have bumps. From looking at the pictures of the products, Nikken’s Magsteps have a lot more bumps than the other products too. I actually had to wear my Magsteps with the smooth side toward my feet for the first year I had them because I found the bumps uncomfortable. I have since flipped that back over to the bumpy side and find them very comfortable now even when I’m on my feet all day.
Nikken has been making magnetic insoles, specifically the Magsteps, for more than 35 years. They know what they are doing, so they are the ones that I think highly enough to promote and sell on my website. You can click here to see more about the Magsteps and Magstrides magnetic insoles from Nikken.
If you use magnetic insoles, tell me what brand and what you think of them in a comment below. I’d love to hear your story.
Wayne Woodworth
