The Magic Bandage of Dr. Sierra
By Dr. Barton W. DuKett
From "The Arkansas Traveler"
Our good friend, Dr. Ralph U. Sierra of San Gerardo, Puerto Rico seems to have a gift for keeping professional baseball players going strong. He and Roberto Clemente were great friends before Clemente's death in a plane crash. They had planned to build a chiropractic clinic in Puerto Rico and Ralph was slated to head the adjusting department. Roberto had always felt a deep sense of gratitude towards chiropractic for what it did for him and never failed to give the profession a boost whenever the occasion presented itself.
Now Dr. Sierra is in the midst of caring for two more ball players. He has developed a magnetic bandage that both Tony Oliva and Orlando Cepeda wear around their knees. The bandage has two magnets with the north and south poles placed strategically in such a position that they exert magnetic forces around the knee.
Since Oliva began wearing it he has had no fluid build-up on the bad knee whereas he had to have it drained several times last year and the year before that. Orlando presented the bandage to his friend as a gift because a similar one had done so much for him and his knee trouble. Oliva says that he wears it for workouts and sometimes in the games. He said that when he has it on, he can feel that the knee is more relaxed and it feels better every day and every day there is more movement in it. He has had four right knee operations without success.
On May 4 in a night game against the Boston Red Sox, the Minnesota Twins had the bases loaded with no outs. Jim Holt hit a fly to Tommy Harper in left field. It didn't appear long enough to score the man from third base because that man was Tony Oliva.
But wait. He tagged and broke for the plate with his legs churning like a college fullback, slid across the plate and scored. He didn't have to hit the dirt because the man who had hobbled around so much had beaten the throw. The Twins went on to beat the Red Sox 9 - 6.
Dr. Sierra appears to be quite wrapped up in biomagnetics and has founded the Puerto Rico Scientific Research Laboratories, Inc. He has lectured before medical and other universities. Biomagnetics is not something new but apparently a neglected field. It is the science which deals with the effects of magnetic fields on the biological systems, whether the magnets be of the permanent type [2] or those created by electrical means. It is quite an involved science and Dr. Sierra has conducted some highly interesting experiments in it along with some unbelievable case histories of the effects of the proper utilization of magnetism.
POLARIZED WATER
At his research lab, they have a "magnetic garden" where both north and south polarized water is used for irrigation. If the north pole of a large enough cylinder is lowered into a glass of water for a few minutes it will produce an acid condition on test via a pH detector while the south pole will turn the water slightly alkaline.
Utilizing the polarized water, they have noticed that those plants under the influence of the north pole grow tall and slender while those under the influence of south pole energy grow shorter and thicker. Their food crops follow the same trend; bananas and plantains under south pole energy larger and sweeter. The north polarized water makes them thinner, greener and beautiful.
Another significant experiment was performed with mice and rats which were kept under separate polarities at different times and a single pair of rats which were kept under both polarities at the same time. They appeared friendly, good natured and full of life at all times. The doctor who donated them to the lab two years previously thought they appeared younger than when they left his custody in spite of their being old rats.
The conclusion of the experiment was highly significant. When those rats were removed from the magnetic field of some 600 gauss, in which they had lived for a long period and found themselves in the normal 1/2 gauss of the earth's magnetic field, they both died within a matter of a few hours. That final result clearly showed the great and urgent need for further research into the aspect of the time which various organisms require for healthy adjustment and readjustment to magnetic fields of varying density.
Dr. Sierra has also written up some fascinating case histories on human care. A 73 year old physician's mother had been diagnosed as suffering from cerebro-arteriosclerosis. With passive extremity exercise by her nurse and big horseshoe magnets placed ten inches away from her head and ten inches away from her feet, she was up and around within two months and all cerebral symptoms apparently gone.
Dona Juana, a woman living in Santurce, had vaginal bleeding for several years. Fearing a diagnosis of cancer she did not consult any doctor. When she finally did, her fears were confirmed and metastasis had already set in and her husband was advised that she might live two or three months beyond a surgical procedure. [3] Without it she might survive for perhaps six months. She was brought to the lab and although Dr. Sierra did not examine her she reported that she was bleeding profusely.
She was then given a 2×6 in. permanent magnet, north on one side and south on the other. The south was covered completely and marked "do not use". She was advised to use the north end only. This was to be placed above her pubic bone for 30 minutes, three times per day.
She later reported that she fell asleep with the magnet in position on her first night of use and it remained there for some four hours. To her surprise, the following morning she discovered that the rate of bleeding was drastically reduced. By the fourth day and up until the present time, no further evidence of bleeding exists.
That treatment was given in 1969 and by Christmas of 1971 she reported that she was employed and revenue-earning once again.
Some other equally dramatic case histories are contained within Dr. Sierra's notes and while there are no doubt many readers who would say that Biomagnetics had no place in chiropractic, others would say that the main theme of any member of the healing arts should be to get the patient well utilizing whatever method works the best, and who can say that Biomagnetics is not using the body's own inherent powers for healing -- in a natural and not a chemical manner?
Perhaps what this world needs is more magic bandages and less self-centeredness in any one given field.
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Dr. Sierra welcomes inquiries and visitors. His full address is: Puerto Rico Scientific Research Laboratories, Inc., 1701 Arkansas St., San Gerardo, Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico 00928. The phone is 764-9169.
"After about six years of research into cancers, tumors and their electrical make-up, I feel that the science of magnetism now can be effectively applied to cell mutations as one means of correcting this condition," writes Dr. Sierra., "Since not only are tumors, cancers, tumor-cancers, leukemia and many associated nerve-cell malfunctions due to the mutations of blood cells, tissue cells, that lose their proper and governing electrical potential, that of the negative voltage on the filtering action of the membrane, and the effect than on the center of the cell, it having a positive electrical charge, it also has been the heart of the cell, first nucleus. . ."