Shortly after his discovery of pain and sleep benefits from Earthing, Clint Ober made a discovery-within-a-discovery.
In 2000, during an experiment testing the effects of grounding on individuals with sleep difficulties, he met an elderly woman who suffered with rheumatoid arthritis. Mr. Ober had visited her to equip her bed with a grounding pad for the month-long experiment. While there, he observed the crippling arthritis in the joints of her hands and arms, and the difficulty she had walking.
He had brought along with him some common electrode patches used by doctors when they conduct electrocardiograms (EKGs). Mr. Ober was looking for people to test these patches for grounding effectiveness on localized pain. He asked the woman if he could put a patch on her arm and connect it with a wire to a ground rod outside. She agreed, and the two sat chatting in her living room. After about 5-10 minutes, she said the pain in her arm was much better. She suggested the patch be moved to her other arm. Minutes later, she reported a reduction in the pain in that arm as well.
Afterward, encouraged by the rapid relief, Mr. Ober called some of his friends he knew with arthritis and other painful conditions, and gave them electrode patches and wires to ground themselves with.
The feedback was overwhelmingly positive. Everyone reported rapid pain relief. One of his friends was so impressed that he referred to the patch as “the magic pain patch.” The name stuck, and many people over the years spontaneously referred to it as “magic.”
EKG patches are adhered to the skin and then connected with a wire to a monitoring machine. With Earthing, the patch is used instead to ground you. It is adhered to the skin at various places on the body and then connected with a wire to the ground port of a wall outlet or to a ground rod outside. Patch kits, with patches and connecting cords, are available here.
Benefits Even Cancer Patients
Now, nearly two decades later, Mr. Ober has recommended the patch to many hundreds of people.
“The patch relieves so many situations,” he says. “You can use it for first aid over or next to a wound, fracture, trauma, or burn, or for chronic issues. Even for people with very compromised health.”
Mr. Ober says he has observed how the patch helps people with such varied conditions as cancer, multiple sclerosis, and highly inflammatory arthritis.
“I have seen breast tumors reduce in size when a grounded patch is placed directly over tumors. In such situations, the potential for maximum benefit comes from being grounded 24 hours a day, just like an animal that lives outdoors. I have witnessed significant reduction in just a few days for some people and for others over the period of a few weeks. A tumor may even eventually disappear.
“The main problem is that being grounded and tethered to a 15 foot cord for many, many hours is not feasible for busy people on the move. However, the more hours someone stays grounded, the better the potential for improvement.
“Typically, there is good pain reduction, as a result of inflammation being reduced. Cancer has a definite inflammation component. I have also observed that lower dose chemotherapy seems to be more effective when combined with grounding.”
Among the feedback received by Mr. Ober was a letter from a man diagnosed with incurable stage 4 cancer and given less than a year to live. He had an aggressive type of squamous cell carcinoma with some 15 tumors located in his lungs, intestines, liver, and throat. He had chosen to follow a reduced chemotherapy regimen, a change of diet, and grounding. He used a grounding patch for nine weeks placed over the main tumor in his body (7.5 centimeters, in the right lung). At the end of that time, the tumor had shrunk to 2.8 cm.
Subsequently he obtained a grounded sheet and used that as well. He stated that after another nine weeks, the combined strategy had “killed all of the tumors.” He said he understands that his body will keep producing cancer cells, and for that reason, he will continue to ground himself for the rest of his life to try to keep the cancer at bay.
We do not make any claim that grounding is a cure for cancer or any other disease. We do, however, believe grounding can typically play a highly beneficial role.
It is interesting to note that in wild animals, who are generally grounded 24/7 in their natural habitats, cancer rarely occurs (https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/cancer-wildlife-environmental-contaminant/).
How to Use the Patch
Clint Ober regards the use of patches as “localized hard grounding.” The patches can deliver the Earth’s antioxidant, anti-inflammatory electrons – believed to generate the accelerated healing effect − directly at the site of any inflammation, such as injuries, trauma, surgery, and tumors. The influx of electrons quench/neutralize rampant free radicals, unstable molecular fragments involved in damaging inflammatory and oxidative activity in the body.
Mr. Ober will also often recommend a patch be placed on the acupuncture point kidney-1 (K1) near the ball of the foot or on the palm of the hands because these are the most conductive areas of the body, and most readily absorb the Earth’s electrons. You would patch the foot, for instance, for lower limbs injury/pain. The palms for upper body injury/pain. And you may want to put a second or third patch directly over or next to a site of pain. For instance, on the head or neck for a headache or toothache. Or next to a burn or cut or surgical incision.
“Let’s say you have an issue with your elbow and you put a patch on your foot. The electrons may get used up at other sites of inflammation before they reach the elbow because there is so much repair going on all over the body. A patch placed on or next to a ‘hot spot’ represents a shorter path to ground, and, potentially, a shorter time to feel relief. It’s as if you have a fire someplace; you need to pour the water right on the fire.
“When you ground a localized area of the body you are providing an abundant supply of electrons to the site, which automatically reduces inflammation quite rapidly. You are stopping the oxidative damage, the fire. When you remove the patch, that is, the electron source from the compromised area, the pain will likely comes back, evidence that complete healing has not yet occurred. I believe that if you stay grounded for a long enough period the inflammation would not reoccur and complete healing would take place. Any healing process takes time, and the more damage involved the longer it takes. Some long term chronic damage may be irreparable.
“I have experienced myself, and many others have told me the same, that minimum or no pain meds are needed after surgery if you place a patch (or patches) near the site of the incision. The burning pain will be significantly reduced or minimized, because of the electrons neutralizing the inflammation produced by the surgical trauma. You will still experience a subtle numb pain during the remainder of the healing process, which is probably generated by the healing process itself.
“For people with genuine sleep difficulties from pain, sleeping on a grounding sheet is usually helpful, but you can experience even more profound results if you place a patch on the bottom of both feet (at the K1 sites) and one or two patches at the site of the pain. Just remember though, if you have to get up during the night to use the restroom that you are connected to multiple wires. Just disconnect the wires from the patches. Go do what you have to do. Back in bed, reconnect the wires to the patches. It’s worth the extra fuss.
“The patches should be in everyone’s medicine cabinet. This is incredible for first-aid and faster healing.”
Earthing patches are available at amazon.com or Earthing.com
Patches at Work – Testimonials
Feedback from people using patches includes the following comments:
- Plantar fasciitis: A nurse told us that she suffered with plantar fasciitis for 15 years. She had cortisone shots in her heels, wore a boot at night, and did stretching exercises on a daily basis. After sleeping grounded for three weeks with patches on both feet, she said “I’ve never been bothered again.”
- Leg cramps: A 79-year-old man said he suffered with nightly leg cramps, common among the elderly. He used an Earthing sheet but didn’t get relief. He decided to try grounding patches as well. “I find that if I attach the Earthing patch to the calves of my legs when I go to bed, I do NOT have leg cramps,” he told us. “Or if a cramp starts and I immediately attach a patch to the area, the cramping does not progress further and relief comes within 2 or 3 minutes.”From a delivery service worker: “Whenever I have a stress headache, tight neck and shoulder or back pain, I plug myself into the ground and attach the electrode patch near the site of pain. Within 30 minutes the pain has subsided, after 45 minutes the pain is totally gone.”
- Body discomfort anywhere: “I am 74 years old, and have seen my lab results improved significantly since I’ve been Earthing. Whenever I feel a little discomfort at some spot on my body, I get quick relief when I place an Earthing patch on the site even though I am already grounded with a sheet.”
- Relief for massage therapist: From a female massage therapist in her 50s: “When I’m treating clients, I place the patches on areas of pain and discomfort, or at the K1 point of the feet, or the palms of the hands. I noticed that when my clients are Earthing, about 20 minutes into the session, their tissue seems to release more easily, and I am able to work more deeply. My clients report that there is another ‘layer’ of relaxation and release that they experience.”
- Knee arthritis: “My wife is an ex-dancer, and developed wear-and-tear arthritis in her knees, quite severely in the right knee. She doesn’t want to take medication or undergo knee replacement surgery. For the last eight years she has been sleeping grounded, and has no problem sleeping. During the afternoon she will apply a patch to each knee after the pain has intensified from daily activity and she is relaxing, watching TV or reading. She says the patches usually give her major relief in about 10 minutes.”
- Sore back: A 62-year-old Pittsburgh man in the floor refinishing business employs younger men to run the heavier equipment. Generally, after training a new employee on the equipment, he develops a sore back. A friend gave him an Earthing patch and grounding cord to use after his next training session in case the pain developed. It did. His back started to throb that night. He put the patch on the pain site. He called his friend the next morning and excitedly reported that “the pain was gone, I can’t believe it. It’s like magic.”
- Badly bruised toe: My husband banged his toe really bad. The pain was intolerable and I’m sorry I didn’t take the picture of the bruising. He listened to me and put the patch on and pain went away. Bruising went down. So happy I had the patches and wires.”
- Root canal: “Used the patch after a root canal and didn’t have to take any pain medication. Swelling was gone within hours.”
- Toothache: “I used a patch on my cheek when I had a crazy painful toothache. Pain subsided about 90% in 2 days. Cancelled trip to dentist.”
For more information on the effect of grounding on inflammation, pain, the immune system, and wound healing, please read this article.
