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Controlled whole body vibration to decrease fall risk and improve health-related quality of life of nursing home residents

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Abstract

Bruyere O, Wuidart M-A, Di Palma E, Goulay M, Ethgen O, Richy F, Reginster J-Y. Controlled whole body vibration to decrease fall risk and improve health-related quality of life of nursing home residents.

Objective

To investigate the effects of whole body vibration in the elderly.

Setting

Nursing home.

Participants

Forty-two elderly volunteers.

Interventions

Six-week vibration intervention plus physical therapy (PT) (n=22) or PT alone (n=20).

Main outcome measures

We assessed gait and body balance using the Tinetti test (maximum scores of 12 for gait, 16 for body balance, 28 for global score), motor capacity using the Timed Up & Go (TUG) test, and health-related quality of life (HRQOL) using the Medical Outcomes Study 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36).

Results

After 6 weeks, the vibration intervention group improved by a mean ± standard deviation of 2.4±2.3 points on the gait score compared with no score change in the control group (P<.001). The intervention group improved by 3.5±2.1 points on the body balance score compared with a decrease of 0.3±1.2 points in the control group (P<.001). TUG test time decreased by 11.0±8.6 seconds in the treated group compared with an increase of 2.6±8.8 seconds in the control group (P<.001). The intervention group had significantly greater improvements from baseline on 8 of 9 items on the SF-36 compared with the control group.

Conclusions

Controlled whole body vibration can improve elements of fall risk and HRQOL in elderly patients.

Section snippets

Participants

Forty-two volunteer nursing home residents aged 63 to 98 years (mean age, 81.9±6.9y) were recruited from a nursing home in Liège, Belgium. Residents were eligible for the study if they were ambulatory and had no major cognitive disorders that would affect their ability to complete a questionnaire. Patients with a high risk of thromboembolism or a history of hip or knee joint replacement were excluded. The patients were randomized to receive the vibration intervention plus a standard PT regimen

Results

Of the 42 study participants, 22 patients were randomized to the vibration group and 20 to the control group. Baseline characteristics of the 2 groups are summarized in table 1. In the ITT analysis, the treatment group was older than the control group (mean, 84.5y vs 78.9y; P=.03) and had a higher mean baseline TUG test time (36.1s vs 31.3s, P=.04); all other baseline measures were equal in the 2 groups. In the treatment group, 16 (72.7%) completed the final analysis at 6 weeks, but 20 were

Discussion

Our study is the first to suggest that a controlled whole body vibration intervention can improve gait, body balance, motor capacity, and self-rated HRQOL in elderly nursing home residents. Controlled whole body vibration improved our participants’ muscle strength and balance, which are known risk factors for falls. 2, 3, 7 At baseline, the intervention group had a mean Tinetti global score of 14.9/28, which was below the threshold (19/28) previously associated with an increased risk of falls.

Conclusions

Short training sessions using controlled whole body vibration 3 times a week for 6 weeks improved gait, body balance, motor capacity, and self-reported QOL in elderly nursing home residents. Larger studies with longer follow-up are needed to assess the lasting impact of these benefits.

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