Can Copper Cure Pain?

Arthritis sufferers swear by copper bracelets and creams. But the metal's real benefit is more than skin deep.

By Jack Feerick
Oct 18, 2020 1:00 PM
Copper bracelet pain on a table - shutterstock
(Credit: MaddyZ/Shutterstock)

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Copper was one of the first metals to be worked by humankind. Because it is highly malleable, copper could be used for toolmaking and ornamentation even by people whose everyday implements were of flint and bone. A copper pendant unearthed in what is today northern Iraq has been dated to 8,700 B.C. — the Neolithic period. 

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