cPRIME Challenged

7 On Your Side Challenges The cPRIME Athletic Bracelet

There are several wrist bands on the market that promises to improve your athletic ability.  But one caught our eye mainly because of the price tag.  It's called the cPRIME. And it costs $100. 

The makers claim it improves everything from strength to endurance all through technology they won't reveal, saying it's patent pending.

We wanted to know if it really works, what it's made of, and if it's worth your Ben Franklin. 

Reporter Diane Lee takes up the cPRIME Challenge in this 7 On Your Side consumer investigation.

cPRIME CHALLENGED

From Jane Fonda to Cristian Slater, photos of celebrities wearing the cPRIME bracelet are showcased on cPRIME website.

The company claims:  " cPRIME products incorporate a proprietary patent pending technology that acts as a bio antenna altering the way your body interacts with its electromagnetic environment which may help to balance and optimize biological responses."

cPRIME says of the 8,000 distributors in the US, 2,000 of them are in the Upstate

Distributor Matt Bynum who is a full time dentist in Greenville told us "I've done well over 350 to 375 demonstrations. Its' worked 100% of the time."

Bynum showed us several demonstrations that came right from the cPRIME  website, (www.cprimeusa.com) proof, he says, the bracelet improves strength, flexibility, balance and endurance.  For those tests please see the video above.

The balance test seemed to work on this reporter.  I asked him if he was doing the test differently when the cPrime was on.

"Did you feel like I was doing it different?” he said?

“I don't know, it's hard for me to gauge,” I said.

Bynum then takes himself out of the equation and asks me to test News Channel 7 Photographer Kevin Patton.

Patton seemed to have better balance with the cPRIME on.   

"It's true!  I'm not doing anything differently," I said. But could it be that the body faired better on the second time because it had done it once before?

We bought a cPRIME for more testing.

TESTING

We took the band to Furman University where Health Science Professor Dr. Ray Moss set up an observational study with four testing stations.

He told us, “If it's this immediate and this remarkable, with 6 people we should be able to show this.”

Over a three day period, six participants repeated the same four tests at the same time of day.

Here are the details:

Neither they nor doctor moss knew who was wearing the cPRIME or the placebo.

• The "sit and reach" tested flexibility.
• A single leg stand tested balance.
• The hand dynamometer measured static strength
• And a computer in the Speed Flex machine calculated mobile strength

Dr. Moss says he chose those tests because all of them are “repeatable and measurable.”

After the testing, most participants said they didn't notice any difference in their abilities from one test to the next.

"No difference, no," said Danielle Warren.

"I couldn't feel any difference, no," said Scott Murr.

"I would love to think that it works but I feel like, maybe not," said Jennifer Burgess.

Only one participant, Evan Carr, showed marked improvement.

"I feel that I improved on stretching over at the stretch machine," he said.

And now for the results...

RESULTS

“Graphically you can visualize it, and statistically we can say basically there was no difference,” said Dr. Moss after a computer had analyzed the data of the cPRIME and the placebo results.

The graph shows the cPRIME in red (see video).  The placebo in gray.  Dr. Moss says there was only one  statistically significant difference for one participant in the “sit and reach" in favor of the placebo.

Remember Evan Carr?  You guessed it.  He had better flexibility on the day he didn't wear the cPRIME.

COMPANY REACTION:

Via Skype we spoke with Josh Higginbotham the Vice President of Sales at cPRIME.

"For me personally, hearing the results from a six individual double blind study, it doesn't sway my conviction one way or another. You know, I've seen this work on thousands and thousands of people."

Higginbotham also says our results may have been skewed because he says the cPRIME can transfer energy to a nearby placebo.

MORE TESTING

Next we went to Clemson University to get the help of the Bioengineering Design Theory Class who used high-tech equipment to test the cPRIME bracelet and figure out what it's made of.

The broke it open.

Dr. John Desjardins a Professor of Bioengineering at Clemson University told us, "It doesn't have a power source, so it would not be able to influence you.”

Tests using both an EEG to measure brain activity and an EMG to measure muscle activity show the cPRIME didn't have any measurable effect on the body. 

Aand that's not all.  Clemson's Electron Microscope facility testing revealed the metal piece inside the plastic band is made of mostly aluminum with a little oxygen, carbon and trace amounts of nickel and sulfur.

Dr John Des Jardins says “It's just metal.”

MORE REACTION:

When we told the VP of Sales at cPRIME our results, Higginbotham claimed a laser gives the metal it's special power.  But he admits, he doesn't know how.

"We've got a seal on our patent pending product so we don't really get into how the technology works."

 Bynum says he’s not swayed either.

We asked:  “Do you think maybe what works about this bracelet is the placebo effect?

“My answer would be, it's possible, but my gut tells me no," he said. That's because Bynum says he’s seen hundreds of skeptics become believers.

But the Furman testers and Professor Desjardins’s class at Clemson are not convinced.

“People are paying $100 for this thing.  So what's your general opinion after doing this whole study?” we asked.

“It's not worth it,” said the class.

Of course neither Clemson nor Furman testers are ruling out the psychological effect of the cPRIME.  Sometimes just believing is enough.