Measurement Methods & References
A spec sheet is a claim. A Gauss Labs measurement is a measured fact, and a measured fact should show its work. So here's the evidence behind the numbers in one of our reports. Some entries rest on textbook physics. Some point to published research. Some lean on a safety standard as a reference. And some are measurement rules we defined ourselves, and we say so. Each entry tells you which it is. We treat PEMF as a wellness modality, so the research here is context, never a promise that a device will do a particular thing for you.
Regulatory standardEstablished physicsPublished researchLab conventionUnconfirmed
Safety standards
Safety guidelines watch the rate of field change
The rate of change the report measures is also the quantity safety guidelines watch, because a fast enough change is what starts to stimulate nerves....
Read the evidence →Regulatory standard
PEMF is an FDA-approved adjunct for bone healing
Non-implantable PEMF bone growth stimulators are FDA-approved as an adjunct to primary treatment for nonunion fractures and, in some cases, spinal...
Read the evidence →Regulatory standard
Physics and formulas
The induced stimulus tracks how fast the field changes
What reaches tissue depends on how fast the field changes, not on how strong it gets at its peak. That rate of change is what the report measures....
Read the evidence →Established physics
The body is transparent to the magnetic field
The report describes a device's reach as how far the field stays above a usable level. That reach comes from the coil's size and the strength of the...
Read the evidence →Established physics
Pulse completeness from the L over R time constant
When resistance and inductance are known, the report shows how completely each pulse builds up current, using the coil's electrical time constant.
Read the evidence →Established physics
Field falloff with distance from a coil
The report's default penetration estimates start from the on-axis field of a circular current loop, then fit a faster real-world falloff from the...
Read the evidence →Established physics
Total field energy by integrating the measurements
The report totals the field a device produces by integrating the measured field over the area it covers.
Read the evidence →Established physics
Units and conversions
The report converts between the units common to PEMF measurement, so you can compare figures across sources.
Read the evidence →Established physics
Published research
A faster-changing field has been linked to a stronger response
The report leads with slew rate and Peak dB/dt, because they relate most directly to the stimulus tissue actually feels.
Read the evidence →Published research
A dynamic field changed cells that a static field did not
The report measures the shape and timing of a pulse, not just its peak, because how the field changes over time is part of what the device does.
Read the evidence →Published research
Cellular responses cluster at modest field strengths
The report records the measured peak field strength. It doesn't claim a required or optimal intensity.
Read the evidence →Published research
Biological responses can appear only in specific amplitude and frequency windows
Field strength does not act in a simple more-is-better way. Research describes biological windows, where a response appears within specific ranges of...
Read the evidence →Published research
Clinical reviews of PEMF for knee osteoarthritis report mixed results
In knee osteoarthritis, a systematic review of PEMF reported benefit for physical function but no advantage for pain and stiffness. The clinical...
Read the evidence →Published research
Measurement conventions
Peak field is the highest measured value
The report takes peak field strength as the highest magnitude found in the scan grid, and shows the single-point documented reading alongside it as a...
Read the evidence →Lab convention
Field reach from the falloff distances
The report gives the distance at which the field falls to 50 percent and to 10 percent of its peak, and defines the Effective Field Diameter as twice...
Read the evidence →Lab convention
The 5 Gauss reach edge
Where the report describes how far a field reaches, it measures out to the distance at which the field falls to 5 Gauss.
Read the evidence →Lab convention
Concentration Score
The report scores how tightly a coil concentrates its field near the center, as the share of the field that sits at or above half the peak.
Read the evidence →Lab convention
Coil type from the field shape
The report classifies a coil as a focused disc or a spread donut from the shape of its measured field.
Read the evidence →Lab convention
Frequency bands are labels, not effect claims
When the report shows which frequency band a setting falls into, the band name is just a way to describe the frequency. It isn't a claim about a...
Read the evidence →Lab convention
Slew rate, Peak dB/dt, and Stimulation Intensity
The report defines slew rate as the slope of the pulse edge between 10 and 90 percent of peak, Peak dB/dt as the largest instantaneous rate of change...
Read the evidence →Lab convention
What we don't measure against
We don't map frequency bands to body effects
You'll see charts that give each frequency band a job: Delta for recovery, Alpha for relaxation, Beta for cellular stimulation, and so on. We don't...
Read the evidence →Unconfirmed
We don't treat 5 Gauss as a biological cutoff
A common line is that 5 Gauss is the least a body responds to, and that below it the field does nothing. We use 5 Gauss only as a measurement...
Read the evidence →Unconfirmed
We don't rank devices as more effective by raw strength
Vendor charts often split PEMF into low intensity below 1,000 Gauss and high intensity from about 1,000 up to 50,000 Gauss, with the suggestion that...
Read the evidence →Unconfirmed
We don't publish an optimal slew rate or rise time
Some buyer's guides name a best slew-rate window, often 15 to 30 T/s, or an ideal rise time near 80 to 300 microseconds. We measure and report slew...
Read the evidence →Unconfirmed
We don't set slew-rate thresholds by condition
You'll find tables that assign a minimum slew rate to each use: one figure for bone, less for soft tissue, less again for pain or general wellness....
Read the evidence →Unconfirmed
We don't claim a stronger field is absorbed deeper into tissue
A frequent line is that a stronger or higher-intensity field penetrates deeper into the body, as if it forces its way through tissue. When we...
Read the evidence →Unconfirmed
We don't crown one spec or repeat miracle percentages
Marketing sometimes names one spec the single most important factor, or repeats a headline like 400 percent more effective, often waving toward a...
Read the evidence →Unconfirmed
When an entry is marked a convention, it means we chose that definition, and we'd rather tell you than dress an in-house rule up as settled science. And when a popular PEMF claim is one we won't stand behind, we'd rather say so than stay quiet. The last group, what we don't measure against, collects those claims and the reason we leave each one out.