...former teacher - also swears by magnets. She had mild arthritis in her hands for many years, but since she's worn the magnetic wrist band, she no longer suffers from it. Even the couple's once-lame dog wears a collar containing magnets. 'It started with our 13-year-old Labrador, who has bad arthritis. We were a bit doubtful but, as everyone is - we didn't know anything about magnet therapy. But we bought a special collar for her - and she was transformed within a day. She was able to go for walks and became much more playful. I used to have pain in the bone in my wrist. That's gone. And I certainly sleep soundly. I'm sure that's because I've been wearing the bracelet'. Mr Culley particularly recommends the magnetic bracelets to help overcome the stress of teaching. One of his staff in now wearing one to help overcome back pain. 'Being head of a primary school with 325 pupils can be stressful,' he says. ' The worst side of stress for me used to be going to bed thinking about problems at school. now I sleep soundly'.

On an industrial estate in Saltash, Cornwall is the head quarters of EC0FL0W, the UK's largest importer of magnet therapy products. And business is booming. The company imports a range of magnetic bracelets and similar products for people and animals. It has an annual turnover of around £14 million in retail sales and each week turns out an estimated 24,000 items, which sale through a network of distributors.  EC0FL0W was founded by husband and wife Nigel and Paula Broderick, whose journey into alternative health products followed an unusual route. They started manufacturing a magnetic device to reduce fuel consumption in cars and, and their sales staff carried magnets with them to give demonstrations. 'They were coming back telling us their aches and pains were disappearing,' says Mr Broderick. This prompted them to start investigating the use of magnets for health purposes. They found 'there was no explanation as to how or why it worked, apart from sensationalist stuff, mostly from the US'.

In fact, there is no established scientific theory to support magnet therapy, but the Brodericks were not put off. They have put forward their own claim that magnet therapy works because magnetic fields can interact with a body's cells and trigger changes in the way they operate. In its blurb the company maintains that EC0FL0W is 'a life-changing experience'. And it claims magnet therapy has helped relieve a range of conditions including arthritis, poor circulation, migraines, and spondylitis (inflammation of the spinal vertebrae). Mr Broderick says the therapy is completely safe, and the company receives letters by the sack-load from users reporting improved health. 'When we started, an obvious criticism was that it was psychosomatic. We though if that was the case, people were in pain and now they're not. And even if they just think they're not, it gives them a better quality of life'.

Sue McVeigh is a 56-year-old former head teacher who retired 15 years ago. Her story seems almost incredible. Until three years ago she suffered badly from arthritis in her hips, knees neck and shoulders. 'I was thinking we would have to sell our house and buy a bungalow', she says. After initial scepticism she tried a magnetic bracelet. 'Within five days I could go up and down stairs. Within ten days I could run up stairs. I have avoided all medication yet now I have no arthritis - at all.' Despite such stories, magnet therapy is arousing deep suspicion in some areas of the medical profession.

Healthwatch is an independent charity that monitors all forms of treatment and aims to inform the public. Its chairman, Professor John Garrow, former professor of human nutrition at Bart's Hospital in London, says the responsibility is on companies producing magnet therapy to carry out proper clinical trials before selling them. He maintains: 'The chances that a wristband with a magnet in it will do you any harm are negligible. The chance that its a waste of money is very high. There's no obvious reason why wearing a magnet positioned over your pulse or your wrist should make the slightest difference to arthritis.' How does he account for the apparent success stories? The placebo effect and the reporting basis. If you have magnet in a wristband and a friend persuades you that maybe it will help your arthritis, and you part with fifty quid, you have an emotional investment. It would be a shame wouldn't it if it made no difference. 'Some people will get better, some people will get worse and some people will stay the same. The people who stay the same or get worse will not go around saying 'Gosh, I was fool enough to spend fifty quid and it had no effect.' But those who spent fifty quid and got better will go around saying 'This is fantastic'.

Colin Culley believes the last word goes to his pet Labrador. 'You cannot explain it,' he concedes. 'But the turning point for me was the way it affected the dog. She doesn't know what she's wearing. If I take the collar off her, within a couple of days she starts limping. When I put it back on she's fine. I accept that people might not believe it but if you have a pain why not try it? You have nothing to lose?'

So how does it work?

Reliable information about magnet therapy seems hard to come by. A trawl of the internet brings up many wild and usually unverifiable claims. And in its own publicity information, EC0FL0W for example, claims that Cleopatra used magnet therapy to help preserve her beauty. Dr Vladislav Vaclavek is a scientist, vet and author of  Magnotherapy - the pHacts. He says that many theories have evolved as to how magnet therapy works in the absence of any scientifically acceptable explanation. His own belief is that the benefits of magnet therapy come from a change in the bodies pH - the balance between acid and alkali - triggered by magnetic energy. Dr Mark Fernell, a GP in Ruberry, Birmingham wears a magnet therapy wristband himself and encourages patients to use it for certain conditions in which orthodox medicine has failed. Now he is trying to set up proper clinical trials. 'Ridiculing it is is easy' he says. 'I have been qualified for 20 years and I keep an open mind. I have seen things with this particular mode of therapy that I believe merit further investigation...'