Influence of a 50 Hz-1 mT Magnetic Field on Human Median Nerve

Abstract

With the increasing use of magnetic fields in recent five decades, the health effects of nonionized electromagnetic radiation is an important investigation subject. While the magnetic field is well known, it is difficult to investigate the health effects of radiation, because of the complex metabolism of human body. However, by the experimental and theorical studies, a lot of significant health effects of magnetic fields have been discovered. But, there are probabilities that can have much more adverse health effects. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effect of 50 Hz-1 mT magnetic field on human median motor nerve conduction parameters. At this frequency, 1 mT value of magnetic field intensity is known and accepted as the marginal value where biological interaction starts. Standard nerve conduction techniques using constant measured distances were applied to evaluate the median nerve. Consequently in the measures conducted using the device of 4 channel NCS/EMG/EPS there was a significant decrease in motor distal amplitude after the magnetic field application in comparison to the one during the application (p=0,000573) and also in the motor distal amplitude/proximal amplitude in comparison to the ones before the application (p=0,037418).