Acute Effects of Whole-Body Vibration on the Postural Organization of Gait Initiation in Young Adults and Elderly: A Randomized Sham Intervention Study

Abstract

Whole-body vibration (WBV) is a training method that exposes the entire body to mechanical oscillations while standing erect or seated on a vibrating platform. This method is nowadays commonly used by clinicians to improve specific motor outcomes in various sub-populations such as elderly and young healthy adults, either sedentary or well-trained. The present study investigated the effects of acute WBV application on the balance control mechanisms during gait initiation (GI) in young healthy adults and elderly. It was hypothesized that the balance control mechanisms at play during gait initiation may compensate each other in case one or several components are perturbed following acute WBV application, so that postural stability and/or motor performance can be maintained or even improved. It is further hypothesized that this capacity of adaptation is altered with aging. Main results showed that the effects of acute WBV application on the GI postural organization depended on the age of participants. Specifically, a positive effect was observed on dynamic stability in the young adults, while no effect was observed in the elderly. An increased stance leg stiffness was also observed in the young adults only. The positive effect of WBV on dynamic stability was ascribed to an increase in the mediolateral amplitude of “anticipatory postural adjustments” following WBV application, which did overcompensate the potentially destabilizing effect of the increased stance leg stiffness. In elderly, no such anticipatory (nor corrective) postural adaptation was required since acute WBV application did not elicit any change in the stance leg stiffness. These results suggest that WBV application may be effective in improving dynamic stability but at the condition that participants are able to develop adaptive changes in balance control mechanisms, as did the young adults. Globally, these findings are thus in agreement with the hypothesis that balance control mechanisms are interdependent within the postural system, i.e., they may compensate each other in case one component (here the leg stiffness) is perturbed.

Mobility in association with anxiety and quality of life in middle-aged and older female fallers and non-fallers

“…Thus, it is vital to develop the measures aimed at creating a safe living environment for people of middle and old ages, which would favorably affect their QoL and the process of successful aging. Our findings reinforced an importance and effectiveness of exercise to strengthen leg muscles and joints, as well as back muscles, in older adults predisposed to falls as a criterion for QoL and successful aging process [14]. We established the relations between the speed-time performance of monotonous and complex modes of walking, and SEA perception in the elderly women with falls.…”

“…These findings suggested that emergence of high trait anxiety could impair complex movement acts parameters in older women. The results showed that decreased functions of the knee joint extensor mechanism, along with decreased monotonous walk and complex movement acts, would adversely affect the QoL parameters [8,14]. The parameters of walking in old and senile age would affect psychoemotional state and QoL [19].…”

Characterizing The State Of Heart Rate Autonomic Regulation And EEG In Elderly Women With Falls Syndrome

“…Baevsky, allows assessing the state of the adaptive compensatory activity of the entire body. It has become widespread due to its simplicity, accessibility and high information content [10,15,23]. The results of this method for HRV assessment also did not reveal statistically significant differences between the group of elderly women and the comparison group.…”

“…Recent studies pointed to the contribution of the ANS to the maintenance of postural balance. E.g., the data of some studies demonstrated that the ANS can contribute to a coordinated compensatory postural response and to maintaining a proper postural balance [10,15]. Also, one of the informative methods for studying the neurophysiological mechanisms of human brain activity is the mathematical analysis of electroencephalograms (EEG), in particular, EEG spectral analysis and EEG coherence analysis that reflect the measure of the functional connection between regions of the cerebral cortex.…”

Vibrating Exercise Equipment in Middle-Age and Older Women with Chronic Low Back Pain and Effects on Bioelectrical Activity, Range of Motion and Pain Intensity: A Randomized, Single-Blinded Sham Intervention Study

“…Moreover, vibration can be applied directly (local vibration) to the muscle [ 17 , 23 ] or indirectly using vibrating platforms (e.g., whole-body vibration, WBV). The use of WBV in conjunction with exercise has been studied in randomized clinical trials [ 24 , 25 , 26 ], but thus far, no comprehensive review evaluating specific interventions and protocols, especially in the case of older adults has appeared in the Cochrane Library. A review published in 2019 by Leite et al [ 27 ] suggested there is not enough evidence to support the use of WBV in clinical practice among people with various disabilities [ 27 ].…”