Safety, feasibility and efficacy of side‐alternating vibration therapy on bone and muscle health in children and adolescents with musculoskeletal disorders: A pilot trial

Abstract

Aims A pilot study was performed to establish the safety, feasibility and efficacy of vibration therapy (VT) on bone and muscle health in children and adolescents with a range of musculoskeletal disorders. Methods Seventeen participants (15.7 years ± 2.9 years), with conditions that impacted on their musculoskeletal health, completed 20 weeks of side‐alternating VT for 9 min/session, 4 times/week at 20 Hz. Data were collected at baseline and after 20 weeks of intervention. Assessments included whole‐body dual‐energyX‐ray absorptiometry, muscle function (force plate) and 6‐min walk test. Results Compliance with the prescribed VT training protocol was relatively high overall at 78% and there were no adverse events reported. After 20 weeks intervention, functional assessments showed time taken to perform the chair test was reduced by 15% (P = 0.018), leg balance improved with standard ellipse area decreasing by 88% (P = 0.006) and distance walked in the 6‐min walk test improved by 9% (P = 0.002). Participants displayed increased total body mass (1.94 kg; P = 0.018) with increased lean mass (1.20 kg; P = 0.019) but not fat mass (P = 0.19). There was no change in total body bone mineral density (P = 0.44) or bone mineral content (P = 0.07). Conclusions Twenty weeks of side‐alternating VT was a feasible protocol that was associated with improvements in physical function and no detrimental effects on lean mass, bone mass or density in children and adolescents with musculoskeletal disorders.

The Impact of Whole-Body Vibration Training on Bone Minerals and Lean Mass in Children and Adolescents with Motor Disabilities: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

“…The total scores of the PEDro scale were all higher than five points in the included RCT studies [ 12 , 13 , 18 ] and were defined as high quality. On the NIH scale, the overall quality rating of all the included non-RCT studies [ 11 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 ] was “good” ( Table 2 ). For the level of evidence, three studies were a 1B level and five studies were a 2B level.…”

Impact of whole-body vibration exercise on physical performance and bone turnover in patients with monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance

“…However, results are inconclusive, particularly regarding direct associations of distinct treatment objectives with defined types of activity, intensity, duration and frequency [19] , [20] . Unfortunately, evidence confirming direct exercise-induced bone health is scarce [21] , [22] , [23] , [24] , [25] , [26] . Inconsistent findings may result from insufficient application of exercise training principles, particularly the principles of specificity, progression and overload [27] , [28] .…”

Feasibility, safety, and efficacy of 12-week side-to-side vibration therapy in children and adolescents with congenital myopathy in New Zealand

“…To date, there is no standardized VT protocol for use in children and adolescents with musculoskeletal disorders. However, a similar protocol has been successfully utilized in previous studies in children and adolescents with CP [23,48] and a heterogeneous group of musculoskeletal disorders [28].…”

“…To date, VT has been shown to improve muscle and bone health in patients with a range of musculoskeletal conditions, including Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) [21,22], cerebral palsy (CP) [23][24][25], spinal muscular atrophy [22], postmenopausal osteoporosis [26], fibromyalgia [27], and others [28]. VT has been reported to increase muscle strength and power [23][24][25], areal bone mineral density (aBMD) [23,25,26], improve balance [28,29], and muscle tone [24]. Studies have also demonstrated an increase in walking endurance [23,28], motor function [24,25,27], and health-related quality of life in these groups [23,27].…”

“…VT has been reported to increase muscle strength and power [23][24][25], areal bone mineral density (aBMD) [23,25,26], improve balance [28,29], and muscle tone [24]. Studies have also demonstrated an increase in walking endurance [23,28], motor function [24,25,27], and health-related quality of life in these groups [23,27]. In addition, VT has been reported as a useful rehabilitation tool for patients with respiratory conditions, demonstrating improvements in pulmonary function [30], aerobic capacity [30][31][32][33], and quality of life [30,33] in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.…”