Effects of Whole-Body Vibration Exercise on Lower-Extremity Muscle Strength and Power in an Older Population: A Randomized Clinical Trial

Abstract

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.

Effects of Whole-Body Vibration and High-Impact Aerobic Training on Bone Metabolism and Body Balance in Premenopausal Women

“…WBV can be separated into two training stimuli: the reflex muscle contraction induced by vibration, and the body-weight exercise performed on the platform. As reported by previous studies [2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17], the WBV stimulus is well-tolerated by both younger and older female subjects, and no adverse side effects have been reported. WBV at 25-45 Hz appears to be a safe and effective mode of enhancing muscular strength in variety of populations [3].…”

“…Whether WBV plays an important role in a positive skeletal response for premenopausal women remains controversial [15][16][17]. There might be a possibility that a positive skeletal response to WBV is consistently observed only in older individuals, as previously reported [2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14].…”

“…One potentially effective lifestyle approach for achieving this goal is exercise, which is a low-cost, nonpharmacologic intervention that is available to the vast majority of the population. Whole-body vibration (WBV), defined as exercise performed with the body in contact with a vibrating platform, is new type of exercise that has been increasingly performed to prevent bone fractures and osteoporosis mainly in frail people [2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14]. WBV can be separated into two training stimuli: the reflex muscle contraction induced by vibration, and the body-weight exercise performed on the platform.…”

“…Other studies have reported the effects of resistance training [3], physical therapy [5], or routine exercise [2,7,9,11] with or without WBV. Most of them reported effects of WBV that were superior or equal to those of the other training.…”

“…Finally, von Stengel et al [14] concluded that training including WBV resulted in a significantly lower number of falls than experienced by the wellness control group. However, most of these studies included only postmenopausal women or occasionally both women and men [2,4,5,7,9]. To the best of our knowledge, only a couple of studies [15][16][17] have reported the effects of WBV on bone metabolism in healthy premenopausal women.…”