ORLANDO, Fla. – Darlene Winant-Ekdahl stood on one leg, arms out to the side, trying to balance.
She was not taking a sobriety test.
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Darlene was trying out the Energy Armor band, one of those new so-called ?negative ion? bracelets hitting the market. Millions of bands, under various names, have been sold nationwide promising consumers more energy, flexibility, endurance, focus and balance. All that, plus relief from arthritis, joint inflammation, and even a better night?s sleep.
Want proof? Good luck.
According to Energy Armor saleswoman Kachiri Robinson, the bands? negative ions, derived from volcanic ash and lava, provide protection from modern technology.
?Like our cell phones, Wi-Fi systems, radio frequency,? Robison said. ?Everything you plug into the wall in your house has positive ions which are harmful to our bodies and break us down. So you think back to chemistry, and put two of them [negative and positive ions] together, they actually balance and neutralize.?
With Darlene standing on one foot, Robinson pushed her off balance. Darlene stumbled. Then Robinson asked Darlene to hold the bracelet in one hand. Robinson pushed on Darlene again, but Darlene did not budge. Not the slightest stumble.
?I definitely noticed the difference when I had the bracelet on,? Darlene said. ?I had more strength and control over my muscles.?
Robinson demonstrated the product successfully on several customers. People lost their balance without the band and suddenly regained it with the band. When asked how the demonstration proved the science behind the product, Robinson was vague.
?It?s never been actually proven, not white paper proven. But, um, I mean, you see, you know," Robinson said.
Local 6 reached out to experts in sports medicine for their opinion on the negative ion bands.
?Some of our clients swear by them,? said Bob Hammons, Sports Medicine Outreach Coordinator of Orlando Orthopaedic Center. ?They claim they?re performing better. But there?s no science. There is absolutely no scientific data to back up the claims.?
As for those highly convincing demonstrations, Hammons said the secret is muscle memory. He explained that once a person gets knocked off balance, the brain sends a signal to the body to correct. So, moments later if the person gets pushed again his or her body will compensate and make that correction; the individual doesn't even have to do anything consciously.
Dr. Bryan Reuss of Orlando Orthopedic said it's also a matter of manipulation, explaining that salespeople modify the way they push their customers in those demonstrations. Reuss said the salespeople are pushing straight down when the band is on a customer, and away from the body against the center of gravity when the customer is not wearing the band.
"It may look like they're pushing the same way," he told Local 6. "But there is a subtle difference. You can't tell."
Dr. Reuss also said that there is no evidence that positive ions are bad for the human bodies or break the body down, as Robinson had claimed. He also cited professional peer-reviewed studies that show that any reaction to the energy bands is purely a placebo effect.
"[The bands] are not dangerous," Reuss said. "I wouldn't tell my patients not to wear them. But I would say they offer nothing better than a placebo."