  Copper
has been used in jewelry and ornamental objects for centuries.
But in the 1960s and 1970s, copper jewelry experienced a resurgence
of wildly faddish proportions when celebrities, athletes, designers,
and painters wore copper bracelets-with the hopes that these bracelets
would provide good luck and ward off pain caused by arthritis, rheumatism,
and bursitis.
Yves Saint Laurent, Angela Lansbury, Catherine Deneuve, Pierre Cardin,
and tennis stars Tony Roche and John Newcombe were just a few of the
thousands of celebrities who embraced copper bracelets at the height
of the fad. The glorified US football coach, Vince Lombardi, referred
to his copper ornament as a "voodoo bracelet that eliminated bursitis
in my hip."
The US magazine, Newsweek, labeled the copper bracelet craze a "health
fad of the beautiful people," and stated that celebrities and sports
stars "half-seriously believe that the unadorned strips of metal (copper)
will relieve aches and pains of arthritis, rheumatism, and athletic
miseries."
Nevertheless, since serious medical studies were lacking, the copper
industry and the medical community did not support the hopes of these
high-profile rheumatism sufferers, or any other sufferer.
Perhaps Coach Vince Lombardi said it best: "They (the copper bracelets)
don't work for everyone. You have to be a believer." |
