AC or DC Motor: Most home units are DC, but commercial treadmills may have either AC or DC. AC motors tend to be noisier and generally require a dedicated power line.

Horsepower: Check for continuous-duty rating for motor's true horsepower. Anything less than 1.5 continuous-duty horsepower can quickly be worn out.

Speed: Most treadmills run from 0 to 10 mph. A good treadmill will match pace you feel comfortable walking or running. A safe starting speed of 0.5 mph or less is also very important for safety reasons.

Belt: Be sure length of walking/running surface is long enough for your longest stride. The width of belt should be no less than 16" from a wear and tear standpoint as well as comfortable striding. Be sure you can comfortably reach treadmill controls without stepping on motor housing as well.

Deck: This is one of critical quality elements of treadmill. Quality decks shouldn't need much maintenance and they operate at a low temperature.

Impact Resilience: This is treadmill's ability to absorb force from impact of your feet. The lower impact on your body, better.

Incline Adjustment: There's a variety of ways to adjust incline of a treadmill, from automatic incline which changes depending upon your heart rate, to pushing a bottom on console, to less sophisticated methods of a manual hand crank or manually setting pins. Quality electronic incline adjustment shouldn't be noisy or cause treadmill to shake at any grade.

Control Panel: Generally computerized panels are standard on most treadmills. They range from basic and simple to complex and fully programmable. It all depends on what bell and whistles you want. Price is influenced by control panel options, so purchase only what you will regularly use.

Heart Rate Monitors: This is generally an optional feature. Accuracy varies widely with ear and finger clips being less accurate than chest strap monitors.

Price: Keep in mind, you get what you pay for. You're going to invest $1,000 and up in a good quality motorized treadmill. Spending this kind of money ought to motivate you to do your homework and purchase wisely.

Of course buying a treadmill is just beginning. You won't lose weight looking at it. It is important to get yourself on a regular routine. The more time you spend on it, more calories you burn and more weight you lose. Find a fitness program that works for you. Depending on your preference, you could combine your workout with music, television or videos.

If you're in market to seriously educate yourself about treadmills, visit www.treadmilladviser.com where you can obtain more detailed information.

This latter point is extremely important. In order to combat maladies that result from stress of our current lifestyles, correct amount of good quality sleep is essential. Combine this with possibility of at least reducing amount of powerful drugs taken and what results is a completely natural complementary therapy.

It is probably wise at this stage just to say that anyone reading this article that is undergoing a course of treatment with a health professional should not stop treatment but consider using magnetic therapy in support. Also, magnetic therapy should not be used if any electronic implants are present in body.

Given correct choice and placement of magnetic device, this is probably most effective alternative therapy available. Typical successful application results in 80 to 90% of cases, higher with some forms of dis-ease. Magnet therapy can be applied by you whenever and wherever needed. Modern materials technology has produced small powerful inexpensive magnets which can be used anywhere on body and can be moved about to find best positions. Sleeping on magnets provides a most efficacious application.

In next article in this series, I will be looking at subject of magnets, their strength measurement and a complete explanation of polarity.