**8. Current status of magnetic therapy in Japan and our efforts**

In Japan, insurance is applied to female patients with intractable overactive bladder who do not improve their symptoms even after taking a urinary incontinence drug

**Figure 1.** *A device of magnetic stimulation therapy (Starformer by Fotona).*

*Therapeutic Effect of Magnetic Stimulation Therapy on Pelvic Floor Muscle Dysfunction DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.99728*

for 12 weeks or more, or who cannot use the drug due to the side effects of the drug. Insurance can be calculated up to 2 courses per year, with 6 weeks as 1 course, up to 25 minutes each time, up to 2 times a week. Considering reports from other countries, the usefulness of magnetic therapy is considered to span multiple diseases, and the therapeutic indication in Japan is still narrow. Therefore, our related facilities are providing treatment to patients with a wide range of diseases by introducing overseas magnetic stimulators (**Figure 1**). Although the number of cases is still small, magnetic therapy is performed for 20 to 30 minutes at a time, 1 to 2 times a week, for a total of 8 times as one course. Comparing the questionnaires before and after the treatment, both men and women showed improvement in nocturia, urinary incontinence, and sexual dysfunction in men, and felt the effectiveness of magnetic treatment. In fact, patients said "the number of nighttime urinations did not improve with drug therapy or physical therapy but decreased from 3 to 1 since I started magnetic therapy", "the intervals between urination has increased and it has become easier during the day and night", "urine leakage has improved and pad replacement has decreased", "erectile power has improved", and "I have improved my back pain after magnetic therapy." If the effect is poor in one cool, a second cool is recommended, and might improve the effects. I feel that it is necessary to increase the number of cases in future in order to expand the scope of application of magnetic therapy in Japan.
