The 75th Country Was Never Really About the Country
Greetings from Q Magnets
Last month we reached a milestone.
We shipped Q Magnets to Lebanon, making it the 75th country we’ve now supplied around the world.
Seventy-five.
When I first began experimenting with multipolar medical magnets all those years ago, I never imagined a small Australian business would eventually be sending magnets to people on every habitable continent.
But as I reflected on that milestone, I realised something.
I’ve never really been interested in counting countries.
What has always fascinated me are the people within those countries.
Because behind every parcel is a person with a story.
Sometimes it’s someone living with chronic pain.
Sometimes it’s an elite athlete searching for another recovery tool.
Sometimes it’s a physiotherapist, doctor or acupuncturist asking thoughtful questions that challenge how I think.
And occasionally it’s someone who simply loves science and wants to understand how these little magnets might interact with the human body.
Those people have shaped Q Magnets just as much as I have.
Lebanon: Our 75th Country
Reaching Lebanon wasn’t straightforward.
There was no practical shipping route from Australia, so the magnets first travelled to a friend in the United States before finally making their way to Beirut.
When they eventually arrived, Rafif H sent me a wonderful email.
Rather than simply thanking us for the magnets, she wrote about being fascinated by their strength despite their compact size.
She was intrigued by the quadrupolar magnetic profile.
She wanted to investigate the published literature, explore possible effects on water and seed germination, try them personally, introduce them to health professionals and even show them to her physics students.
That email reminded me why I’ve always loved what I do.
Curiosity is contagious.
Every Country Has Taught Us Something
Over the years we’ve met extraordinary people in places I never expected.
In Auckland, physiotherapist Doug Edwards has helped demonstrate how thoughtful clinical application can improve outcomes, particularly when practitioners understand that successful use depends on far more than simply sticking a magnet over where it hurts.
Those conversations reinforced something that would eventually become our Field | Dose | Placement framework, a reminder that outcomes may depend on the interaction between the magnetic field, exposure time and anatomical placement, rather than on magnet strength alone.
In the Netherlands, Mayon Roeffen and the team at KR8 embraced Q Magnets with enormous enthusiasm, eventually leading to the establishment of QMagnets.nl and introducing many more Dutch practitioners to the technology.
Across Canada, John Stan and Kelly Kitchen from Eastern Currents became valued partners, distributing Q Magnets through their Vancouver-based health products business to acupuncturists and other health professionals. Through their enthusiasm and education, many practitioners were introduced to Q Magnets as a practical, conservative adjunct to the therapies they already used.
These weren’t distributors first.
They were educators.
They were clinicians.
They were curious people asking good questions.
Learning From the World’s Best
Some collaborations have taken us into entirely different worlds.
Working alongside elite athletes taught us that recovery is every bit as important as performance.
Conversations with sports professionals weren’t about miracle cures.
They were about helping athletes recover well enough to train again tomorrow.
Other relationships introduced us to military medicine, medical acupuncture, rehabilitation science and emerging ideas around nervous system modulation.
Meeting pioneers such as Dr Richard Niemtzow and participating in international medical conferences expanded our thinking well beyond what any one clinic or country could have achieved.
Every conversation added another piece to the puzzle.
Different Perspectives, Shared Curiosity
Not every collaboration has come from people who think alike.
Some practitioners approach pain through biomechanics.
Others through acupuncture.
Others through biomagnetism, neuroscience or rehabilitation.
We don’t have to agree on everything.
In fact, many of the most rewarding discussions have begun with different viewpoints.
When thoughtful people are willing to explore ideas together, everyone learns.
Several MagnaBlog articles over recent years have grown directly from those conversations, whether discussing why magnet placement sometimes changes as pain changes, exploring the relationship between biological and emotional influences on pain, reflecting on healthy ageing and recovery, or sharing insights from conferences and long-standing collaborations around the world. Those stories all share a common thread: curiosity leads to better questions, and better questions often lead to better understanding.
More Than 75 Dots on a Map
People occasionally ask me which country has become our biggest market.
That’s never really interested me.
What stays with me are the individuals.
The doctor who emailed after trying Q Magnets on a difficult patient.
The physiotherapist who discovered a different placement worked better than expected.
The acupuncturist who connected our magnets with ideas from another discipline.
The teacher who wanted to show them to physics students.
The athlete who simply wanted to get back on the field.
Those people have collectively shaped the way I think about multipolar medical magnets, static field therapy and recovery far more than any sales report ever could.
The Real Milestone
So yes, Lebanon became our 75th country.
But I don’t see seventy-five coloured pins on a map.
I see seventy-five opportunities to learn.
Seventy-five collections of conversations.
Seventy-five communities of curious people.
And countless friendships that have helped transform a small Australian idea into an international exchange of knowledge.
For that, I’m deeply grateful.
Here’s to the people we’ll meet in country number 76.
Until next time, stay curious and stay well,
James Hermans
and the Q Magnets Team
Weekly Reframe
“A shipment delivers a product. Curiosity begins the journey.”
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