The Healy is a pseudoscientific device that claims to function via bioresonance, designed by Marcus Schmieke and Nuno Nina.[1] The device has been promoted via influencer marketing and multi-level marketing.[2][3]
Description edit
Energy medicine devices are a class of pseudoscientific devices that originated with the work of Royal Rife, claiming to work via transferring energy to a person's energy field. The Healy claims to work using electricity to find a user's "personalized frequencies", an idea that has no scientific backing or mechanism.[4]
Criticism edit
Critics of the Healy device include David H. Gorski, who has publicly criticised the lack of scientific rigor behind the machine. He feels the proponents of Frequency Specific Microcurrent (FSM) are doing something similar to other healers who claim to use undetectable invisible forces to heal people. Addressing the claims of the machine's makers he wrote "there is no good evidence that when a tissue is injured it takes on a 'different vibrational characteristic'" and he strongly criticises the "kind of "life energy" that acupuncturists and other TCM practitioners believe in". In his article about unscientific healing methods, he heavily criticises the idea of what he calls "a mystical magical "energy" that does no work and is undetectable to scientific instruments".[5] Other doctors such as Stephen Barrett have noted that "Many of Healy's marketing materials carry a disclaimer to the effect that "Healy and its applications are not acknowledged by orthodox medicine due to a lack of scientific proof in accordance with scientific standards." It should be noted, however, that claims for the Healy are not merely unproven. There is no logical reason to believe that the "frequencies" proponents describe are actual physical forces."[1]
David R. Stukus, in an interview to Rolling Stone, said that "any research conducted by the company supporting Healy's efficacy is likely the result of placebo effect."[2]
The Office for Science and Society describes the Healy as a "triumph of marketing" due to its claims of using personalized frequencies, making its claims "unfalsifiable".[4]
References edit
- ^ a b Barrett, Stephen (2023-04-09). "A Skeptical Look at the Healy "Bioresonance" Device | Quackwatch". Retrieved 2023-11-20.
- ^ a b Dickson, Ej (2023-05-09). "Influencers Are Claiming a $4,000 Hunk of Plastic Can Treat Infertility, Skinned Knees, and Autism". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2023-11-20.
- ^ Susan Strongman (2020-07-29). "Vitamin dosing via bluetooth? Physicist warns don't waste your money on Healy". Radio New Zealand. Retrieved 2023-11-20.
- ^ a b Jarry, Jonathan (2 December 2022). "The Healy is Old Woo in New Clothes". Office for Science and Society.
- ^ Orac (2015-01-26). "Quackademic medicine tightens its hold on the Cleveland Clinic". RESPECTFUL INSOLENCE. Retrieved 2023-11-20.