A review of the HOMEDICS iCush as a magnetic therapy device

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Ken & friends,

(Please feel free to forward this to others, or to post this information

to other discussion groups if you feel it would be helpful to them.)

After seeing the mention of the HOMEDICS iCush on the CHIamp web page

on http://heal-me.com.au , I found that BestBuy.com is selling it here

in the U.S. for only 29.99 plus a modest S & H charge - very reasonable!

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8003625 & type=product & id=1155072371\

372 & ref=06 & loc=01 & ci_src=14110944 & ci_sku=8003625

So I ordered one to test & received it last Friday.

On Ken's web page, I had read that the iCush has transducers... since I

have built so many variants of pulsed magnetic systems and accessories

for the 6C & 8CE EM+ over the last 8+ years (many of which can use Ken's

FREX software directly as an input to sequence frequencies) I was

interested to test these transducers and the waveforms which they might

generate.

I was somewhat disappointed to discover that the iCush does not use

transducers at all... (at this modest price & power supply level, an

inexpensive and more simplistic approach was employed to generate the

massaging vibrations.)

What it does have are 8 modest sized permanent magnet motors laying

sideways within the padding ( close to the back surface) with an

eccentric weight mounted on each motor shaft; it is the vibration from

these rotating off-center weights that produces the vibration. There are

six within the back, and two under the legs.

The thing about permanent magnet motors that is of major concern is the

magnets themselves, and their orientation within the iCush as it is

assembled. There are two curved magnets in these inexpensive motors; one

has the negative (North Pole energy) polarity on the outside of the

magnet on one side of the motor, while the other magnet on the other

side of that same motor has the positive (South pole energy) polarity on

the outside of the magnet / motor.

My concern as to how they are installed within the iCush, is that they

are randomly oriented by the assembly workers, so that while a strong

North pole is facing the body on one vibrating motor, the next might be

strongly South pole... the next may be positioned so as to expose that

part of the body to a bipolar magnetic field.

In H. Phillpott's BIOMAGNETIC HANDBOOK, on page 6, he points out

that, for most people and most health concerns, the negative (North

Pole) magnetic energy has beneficial effects & is health-promoting,

while the South pole energy has the opposite affects, and should only be

used in limited exposures for a very limited number of conditions. He

also advises that bi-polar magnets not be used on the body at all.

In the iCush, these 8 motors with there off-center weights are being

turned on and off by the controls; the vibrations are related to the

motor rotation rate, which is fixed- they are either on & vibrating, or

off. When the 'sound activation' is used from an MP3 player, etc., a

bass filtering circuit is used so that the presence of low frequencies

below a certain frequency and above a preset amplitude level cause the

motors to be turned on and off- (much like the plasma balls, which have

their random output turned on and off by the amplitude of lower

frequency components of the sound / music.)

So the vibrating rate of the iCush has nothing to do with the specific

frequencies that the Chi-Amp software might generate as an input into

it..... while the mix of random positioning of the 8 permanent magnet

motors will most likely have an overall detrimental effect on the

well-being of a person who already has health challenges.

Oh, my first impressions were that the vibrations feel good on my back &

legs, ( & listening to music from an MP3 player while sitting on the

massager might be appropriate on some occasions ... but besides the

adverse effects of wrong polarity magnets in the body's energetic field,

there's one more minor detail that came to my attention: the plastic

speaker housings sit low enough to be uncomfortable hard points behind

my shoulders...

( The iCush was built for people with rather short upper bodies.... I'm

only 5'8 " , but I'd love to have the speakers mounted a couple of inches

higher.)

Before I use it again myself, or let anyone else use it, I'll be

removing the stitching around the perimeter binding of my iCush in order

to re-orient the vibrator units inside so that the North pole energy is

towards the body from the magnets of each of those eight motors. Yes,

this involves a bit of 'invasive' work on it that will undoubtedly void

the warranty... but at ~$30, it's not a major investment. Once modified,

I can see where it can be a very soothing and relaxing device to use; my

wife & I look forward to having it available.

One nice thing about the iCush which I may take advantage of after the

modification: it runs on a wall adapter that provides 12 VDC to the

unit; that means that it could also be used in a car or RV, running off

the cigar lighter power outlet. (A 2.5 x 5.5mm coaxial power plug with

the + 12 volts on the inside is what is used.)

Be Well!!

Bruce

http://www.stenulson.net/althealth