Copper Reflections provides unique handcrafted jewelry and unique gift ideas using an exclusive ancient copper craft. All of our copper handmade jewelry and unique gift ideas are silver plated and individually diamond cut on copper. Each piece of our handcrafted copper jewelry and unique gift idea has a protective acrylic coating to prevent tarnishing so no polishing is required. We have been designing and producing our artisan handmade jewelry and unique gift ideas since 1985. For all our items, including our handmade copper bracelets, and designs please visit our website:
THE COPPER BRACELET
For Hundreds of years, people have worn copper bracelets and other copper jewelry, such as copper anklets, copper rings and other copper items to help relieve joint pain caused from tendonitis and arthritis. This wives’ tale has persisted throughout the centuries. Copper Bracelets work for me, and thousands of people who wear copper bracelets today. Try it for yourself and experience the healing power of Copper..
Copper Information
The following references are for the purpose of providing you with sources of information regarding the uses of copper products. Copper Wristbands are considered to be an unproven remedy. While this home remedy, and the study of it, is generally dismissed by the scientific community, the fact remains that we have received hundreds of written or verbal communications from those who believe copper helps them in some way. Perhaps the best information you can get is from someone who wears a copper bracelet. The next time you see one on someone’s wrist, ask them about it!
THE CASE FOR COPPER
Sometimes longevity confers respect along with age. Artifacts that were rarely noticed in their day take on a new meaning and values as they persist throughout time. Such is the case with the copper bracelet, which for decades has been worn for arthritis relief and remains popular today.Studies have shown that some people with arthritis seem to have difficulty metabolizing copper from the food they eat, leading to increased pain. That observation led Helmar Dollwet, Ph.D., of the University of Akron to theorize that arthritis sufferers may need to get their copper from another source. “The dissolved copper from [a copper] bracelet bypasses the oral route by entering the body through the the skin,” he wrote in his book, The Copper Bracelet and Arthritis. Dr. Dollwet thought this might be the only way arthritics ever receive the copper their bodies need-copper that studies have shown can indeed relieve pain.
Physicians remain somewhat skeptical about bracelets but don’t entirely dismiss them, either. “I see people wearing copper bracelets, and they’re wearing them because it helps them,” says Elson Haas, M.D. “I think copper may have a role. It’s possible that a copper deficiency does increase joint inflammation, and it doesn’t seem that supplementing copper in the diet has the same effect as wearing it.”
Does that make Dr. Haas a believer? “I don’t necessarily supply copper bracelets to people, but I don’t discourage them from wearing one either.”
From The Doctors Book of Home Remedies, Copyright 1990 Rodale Press Inc.; p.22
THE COSTS OF COPPER DEFICIENCY
Although most people do not know the importance of copper intake in a daily diet, copper is one of the most essential nutrients needed in a body. Copper is of vital importance for many different reasons. Among these are its central roles in protecting us from cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis, free radicals, and cancer. Copper is also vital for keeping our skin, blood vessels and connective tissue supple and elastic. These well-documented findings came as a surprise to many whom had been misled to believe that copper should be avoided because it is toxic and can generate free radicals.Not only is copper relatively non-toxic, but a deficiency of copper raises free-radical activity in our bodies by lowering the activity of many of our endogenous antioxidant peptides like superoxide dismutase, ceuloplasmin, and gluthathione peroxi dase. Other than the fact that the majority of us do not consume even half of the recommended 2-3 milligrams of copper daily, research showing a negative effect of both zinc and ascorbic acid supplements on copper status was alarming for supplement users. While severe, chronic copper deficiency results in anemia, leukopenia, and skeletal demineralization, subclinical copper deficiency in adult animals is hard to detect.
From: Vitamin Research Products, Inc.
For more information, please visit
www.vrp.com/Library.
HISTORIC USES OF COPPER COMPOUNDS IN MEDICINE
Copper has been used in medicine for thousands of years. The first Egyptian record of its use can be found in the Smith Papyrus, an ancient medical text written between 2600 and 2200 B.C. which records the use of copper to treat infected chest wounds and to sterilize drinking water. For wounds: “Thou shalt make for [the patient] applications for drying up the wound, powder of green pigment, other ingredients, and grease. Triturate and bind upon the wound” [Breasted 1930]. It is unfortunate that the names given to the other ingredients could not be translated since they may have facilitated the beneficial effects of copper.Dollwet & Sorenson, “Historic Uses of Copper Compounds in Medicine”, Trace Elements in Medicine, Vol. 2, No.2-1985 (pp.80-87)
COPPER & SOD
Trace amounts of organic-bound copper have helped some individuals [suffering from arthritis]. A popular source of such organic copper is superoxide dismutase (SOD). SOD is one of the body’s natural free-radical scavengers that reduce pain and inflammation. There is debate as to whether or not SOD itself is absorbed in sufficient quantity to be effective as the inflammation-lowering enzyme SOD – it is when injected – but in any event, the copper may be used to make more of your own SOD.Doctor Ed Harris of Texas A & M University has shown that low tissue stores of copper cause pain and joint stiffness similar to that of arthritis.
In the 1970s, there was a fad of wearing copper bracelets to stop arthritic pain. Although many people experienced reduced pain, they were shamed out of wearing them because this was so unscientific and only folklore. The pain disappearance was explained as being due to the “come and go” nature of the disease.
In one study of patients wearing copper bracelets, it was found that people absorbed an average of 13 milligrams of copper during a month. This could bring many people into the recommended daily intake range for copper (1.5 to 3.0 milligrams). Copper absorbed through the skin gets into the circulation very efficiently – more so than dietary copper. Incidentally, the people absorbing the copper noticed significant improvement in their arthritic conditions as well as a reduction of pain.
Dr. Ray Walker of the University of Newcastle in New South Wales found that thirty-one of forty arthritis patients felt better wearing copper bracelets. Seventeen patients said there was less pain while they wore the bracelets, andfourteen others said they were unwilling to carry on for two months without the bracelets.
Dr. Walker was a skeptic and wanted to disprove the suggested link. He had authentic-looking “imitation copper” bracelets made out of aluminum. One group wore copper bracelets and the other group wore lookalike bracelets. Although patients in both groups improved, many more in the copper bracelet group improved.
Another skeptic, a columnist for a scientific journal, investigated the issue after a scientist reader reported beneficial effects of a copper bracelet on his wife. She had been wearing it but discontinued because it tarnished and turned her skin green. The scientist thought the fatty acids in the skin might be dissolving the oxide on the surface of the bracelet, producing fat-soluble copper “soaps” that could be absorbed through the skin.
The columnist tried the bracelet himself and his arthritic pains were alleviated. The skin under his bracelet became green. He licked the stain and noted the metallic taste of copper salts. Water alone would not remove the stain. Hehad to use soap to get it off. He decided the copper was indeed migrating into his body through his skin.
Isn’t it time that someone does a large clinical study, rather than just supposing that it can’t work?
Passwater, Richard A., Phd., “Copper & SOD, THE NEW SUPERNUTRITION, (p.256) Copyright 1991, Pocket Books, Simon & Schuster, Inc.
