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A paper from the latest Archives of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation reports that a 6-week program of "whole body vibration" improves strength, balance and gait in older people . Click here for the abstract.
The treatment involves standing on a platform that vibrates at between 10 and 26Hz for 4 series of 1 minute trials alternating with 90 seconds of rest.
Vibration therapy is receiving quite a lot of attention recently, not only for improving mobility in older people but also in relation to improving sporting performance and as a preventative measure for osteoporosis.
Vibration has also been incorporated into insoles to improve balance.
Has anyone seen this treatment in action?
Cheers,
Hylton
__________________
Cheers,
Hylton
Hylton B. Menz, PhD
Associate Professor and Reader
NHMRC Australian Clinical Research Fellow
Director, Musculoskeletal Research Centre
La Trobe University
The Following User Says Thank You to Hylton Menz For This Useful Post:
Thanks Hylton for posting this information, most intersting indeed. The impact of nan and biotechnologies into clothing is staggering and very likely to impact in foot care in the near future. As you may know I am collecting a portfolio of these developments and hope to present a paper or three on the changing role of footwear.
Dear Hylton,
Last year we had a patient who was having 'vibration therapy' to treat the lymphoedema in his legs. He had diabetes, neuropathy and had already had a digital amputation.
After investigation, he had acute Charcot which had already moved well into the destructive phase. By the time we used a TCC, the midfoot collapse was already well formed and he now has consequent ulceration on the plantar surface.
The professional using the therapy was a nurse who supplied some information claiming this treatment was effective for almost anything.
Obviously, Charcot wasn't on the list as they had never heard of it!
We now advise our patients not to try vibration therapy, but this obviously has a very different use for falls and balance so I won't rule it our entirely.
Whole body vibration exercise: are vibrations good for you?
Cardinale M, Wakeling J.
Whole body vibration has been recently proposed as an exercise intervention because of its potential for increasing force generating capacity in the lower limbs. Its recent popularity is due to the combined effects on the neuromuscular and neuroendocrine systems. Preliminary results seem to recommend vibration exercise as a therapeutic approach for sarcopenia and possibly osteoporosis. This review analyses state of the art whole body vibration exercise techniques, suggesting reasons why vibration may be an effective stimulus for human muscles and providing the rationale for future studies.
Two knee arthroscopes followed by extremely weak quads and difficulty with stair walking .... no amount of sand bag lifting and gym work would strengthen them. ... then happened to be at a conference and a physio I knew was staffing one of the exhibits for a vibration machine .... so I had 4 seessions during the conference of doing lunges for the knee with one foot on the vibration platform --- I could realy feel the quads firing big time --- a week later in the gym, I was making big strides in strength of the quads .... it was almost as though the vibration broke down some sort of barrier that was preventing strengthening.
__________________
Craig Payne
Department of Podiatry
La Trobe University
Melbourne, Australia http://www.latrobe.edu.au/podiatry
__________________________________________________ ___________________________________ God put me on this earth to accomplish a certain number of things - right now I am so far behind, I will never die.
The views expressed above are those of the author and not that of La Trobe University This is where I am, where are you?
The Following User Says Thank You to Craig Payne For This Useful Post:
Re: What a buzz! Vibration therapy improves strength and balance
Effects of Whole-Body Vibration Exercise on Lower-Extremity Muscle Strength and Power in an Older Population: A Randomized Clinical Trial.
Rees SS, Murphy AJ, Watsford ML. Phys Ther. 2008 Jan 24 [Epub ahead of print]
Quote:
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Vibration training is a relatively new exercise intervention. This study investigated the effects of vibration exercise on strength (force-producing capacity) and power in older adults who are healthy.
Participants and METHODS: Thirty participants (mean age=73.7 years, SD=4.6) were randomly assigned to a vibration exercise training (VIB) group or an exercise without vibration training (EX) group. The interventions consisted of 3 sessions per week for 8 weeks. Outcome measures included isokinetic flexor and extensor strength and power of the hip, knee, and ankle.
RESULTS: The VIB group significantly improved ankle plantar flexor strength and power compared with the EX group. However, there were no significant differences between the VIB and EX groups for knee flexor or extensor strength.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: Vibration training contributed to an increase in plantar flexor strength and power. However, the strength gains for the knee and hip flexors and extensors for the VIB group and the EX group were comparable. Future vibration protocols should explore different body positions to target muscles higher up on the leg.
Re: What a buzz! Vibration therapy improves strength and balance
A comparative study of whole body vibration training and conventional training on knee proprioception and postural stability after anterior cruciate ligament reconstructionA Moezy, G Olyaei, M Hadian, M Razi, S Faghihzadeh British Journal of Sports Medicine 2008;42:373-385
Quote:
Objective: To compare the effect of a whole body vibration training (WBVT) programme with a conventional training (CT) programme on knee proprioception and postural stability after anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) reconstruction.
Methods: Twenty athletes with unilateral ACL reconstruction were randomly assigned to the WBVT or CT group; all participants received 12 sessions of WBVT or conventional training. Absolute error in joint repositioning for two target angles (30° and 60°) was measured with the Biodex dynamometer; bilateral dynamic postural stability (anteroposterior, mediolateral and overall stability indices) was measured with the Biodex Stability System pre-intervention and post-intervention.
Results: The improvement in postural stability in the WBVT group was significantly greater than that in the CT group (p0.05). The p values of the changing scores of open overall, open anteroposterior, open mediolateral, closed overall, closed anteroposterior and closed mediolateral stability indices were 0.002, 0.010, 0.0001, 0.001, 0.0001 and 0.046, respectively. In addition, there were significant differences in all averages of absolute angular error at 60° and 30° between the WBVT and CT groups in both knees (p = 0.001 in healthy knees and p = 0.001 and p = 0.0001 in reconstructed knees), apart from the healthy knees at the 30° target position, which was not significant (p = 0.131).
Conclusions: Whole body vibration training improved proprioception and balance in athletes with reconstructed ACL.
Re: What a buzz! Vibration therapy improves strength and balance
l find this all very interesting, so l went to a suppliers website, not much factual information just sale type talk.
l then phoned the guys to get more information, from a possible medical view, they said they would give out none in writing as for fear of legal responsibility
More interesting was the price range from $599 to $1299 on one website to this one in the Sydney Morning Herald October 2006
"In Australia, the Personal Power Plate costs $6100, with the deluxe model, the Next Generation, a whopping $17,000..."
Re: What a buzz! Vibration therapy improves strength and balance
ScienceDaily are reporting: Neuromuscular Activation By Means Of Vibrations
Quote:
A researcher from the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid has collaborated with the University of Granada in the development of a research study on the possible effects of vibrations as a mean of neuromuscular activation to improve jumping performance. The results suggest that the effect could be dependent on the level of training.
Lately, new technologies applied to improving performance and health have experienced a booming rise. One of those has been the use of vibrating platforms to improve athletic performance in general and muscular strength in particular.
The application of mechanical vibrations through technologies like vibrating platforms has been proposed by many recent studies as tool capable of increasing muscular performance. Nevertheless, the results offered are contradictory. This has motivated the group EFFECTS-262 of the Universidad de Granada, in collaboration with the Facultad de Ciencias de la Actividad Física y del Deporte at the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, to try to clear this situation by evaluating the possible effects of a short vibration on the jumping abilities of young adults of both sexes.
A group of 114 university students, 37 of them male and 77 female, with an average of 19.6 years of age has been used as test subjects for an experiment to evaluate the height reached by the subjects when jumping, and compare the results with the height reached after a short stimulation by the vibration platform.....
Re: What a buzz! Vibration therapy improves strength and balance
The Japanese Chi machine is perhaps partial body vibration, I have one and use it and on occasion have recommended it to patients......it does loosen things up, no doubt about it in the short term...as for long term benefits...who knows?
Re: What a buzz! Vibration therapy improves strength and balance
Quote:
Originally Posted by Craig Payne
My n=1 experience of this is ...
Two knee arthroscopes followed by extremely weak quads and difficulty with stair walking .... no amount of sand bag lifting and gym work would strengthen them. ... then happened to be at a conference and a physio I knew was staffing one of the exhibits for a vibration machine .... so I had 4 seessions during the conference of doing lunges for the knee with one foot on the vibration platform --- I could realy feel the quads firing big time --- a week later in the gym, I was making big strides in strength of the quads .... it was almost as though the vibration broke down some sort of barrier that was preventing strengthening.
Have personally tried for poor pelvic stability, low leg/knee muscle tone , and mild spasticity of hip flexors. Fantastic. Also good for weak pelvic floor control.
Highly recommend for all over 50 women,especially if sedentary,overweight and had multiple births.
Elder robyn hood
Last edited by Robyn Elwell-Sutton : 13th February 2009 at 04:06 AM.
Reason: spelling
Re: What a buzz! Vibration therapy improves strength and balance
I have personal experience of a vibrating platform machine that has eight selectable viibrating frequencies and three different time settings. There are also three choices of 'automatic programme' where the amplitude is varied, apparently randomly.
At three minutes of the most violent vibration available, there is certainly some effect to be felt in the legs and feet. The ankles and feet 'glow' with a warmth that is highly suggestive of increased blood flow, and the effect lasts for a period of several minutes. It is a pleasant sensation, certainly not uncomfortable.
One thing that I noticed is that when standing erect, your actual eyeballs jiggle about, and it rattles your brain - unless you flex the knees. With knees flexed you can focus again and think straight! By varying the knee positions you can vary the experience, joint by joint.
There is another version of the same idea. We have a local salon that has opened to offer 'wobble your way to fitness'. These machines have a bigger platform, a greater amplitude, and 'shake' rather than vibrate.
I can't see them making you fit on their own, but they certainly seem to warm and loosen the musculature and probably have a place in a well put together training programme.
What a buzz! Vibration therapy improves strength and balance
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