OSU Researchers to Shake-Up Hip Replacement Therapy
02-09-06
By Stephen Swanson, 541-737-0789
SOURCE: Gianni Maddalozzo, 541-737-6802
CORVALLIS, Ore. – Good vibrations may be the key for Oregon State University researchers seeking to aid hip replacement patients.
To study the benefits of a whole body vibration exercise regime – similar to that used by astronauts and Olympians – OSU scientists will put volunteers through workouts on vibrating platforms designed to improve strength, flexibility and balance, said Gianni Maddalozzo, a researcher in OSU’s College of Health and Human Sciences.
Customized workouts will be created for volunteers ages 60-75 who have had partial hip replacement surgery in the past two years, said Maddalozzo, whose appointment is in the college’s Department of Exercise and Sport Science.
Participants will then undergo supervised workouts for two days a week in Salem or Corvallis. A control group will also be recruited and will perform the same exercises, but won’t use the vibrating platform.
“Most people, when they hear about whole body vibration therapy, they tend to laugh,” Maddalozzo said. But as the population ages, he added, osteoporosis, or “brittle bones,” and related fractures are becoming an increasing problem and hip fracture is the most devastating complication of osteoporosis.
“A number of animal studies, examining sheep, turkeys and rats, show that vibration treatment has a significant effect on bone formation and muscle mass,” Maddalozzo said. “When researchers tried a vibration platform regime with sheep, they saw huge increases in bone mass among the animals.”
But in hip fracture patients, bone mass is not the primary concern.
“The bone heals itself; that’s not the issue,” Maddalozzo said. “The issue is increasing muscle mass, strength and balance with a workout program that is safe and practical.
“Whole body vibration training has been promoted as an efficient, safe alternative for resistance training,” he added. “Even if performed to exhaustion the increases in heart rate, blood pressure and oxygen uptake during whole body vibration training are negligible. Moreover, vibration training has been shown to be as efficient as standard resistance training for improving strength and balance in older women.”
In addition to customized workouts volunteers will receive free bone scans to measure bone mass.
The vibrating work stations resemble giant home scales with upraised handles. Vibration levels will be set at 30 hertz, giving muscles 30 cycles of vibration per second, making them contract and relax 30 times per second.
Individuals will probably start at about 10 minutes of exercise for each session and gradually build to 20-minute workouts.
“You can get the benefits of a 45- to 50-minute workout for less than half that time with a whole body vibration workout,” Maddalozzo pointed out.
The slight shaking may momentarily startle newcomers, but people usually adjust to it in a few moments, Maddalozzo said. A support harness can be used for participants who fear losing their balance.
The therapy period will last six months. Anyone interested in volunteering for the study can contact Maddalozzo at 541-737-6802 or herronja@onid.orst.edu. About the OSU College of Health and Human Sciences:
Emphasizing a holistic approach to optimal health and disease prevention, researchers focus on nutrition, physical activity, the psychology of aging improving the health of children and older adults, public policy, access to health care, and maximizing environmentally friendly materials and structures.
Increasing amount of interest is directed to whole body vibration technology as studies indicate promising results. Numerous findings include increase in muscle strength, enhancing balance and co-ordination, improved flexibility, increase in bone mass density therefore decreasing osteoporosis, stimulating the lymphatic system, massage effect on muscles and providing low joint impact. These findings should make every chiropractor excited to inquire further into this technology. The findings seem ideal to include with the chiropractic treatment.
Research conducted on young female athletes has indicated benefits of whole-body vibration as a suitable training method to improve knee extension maximal strength, counter-movement jump, and flexibility (1). Current research is showing vibration to increase range of motion beyond that of static stretching alone (2). The underlying mechanism
with whole body vibration is thought to be the elicitation of muscular activity via stretch reflexes. At moderate intensity, strength gain on the knee extensors of previously untrained females was clearly shown to increase by using vibration when compared with placebo effects (3). At increased intensity, there seems to be effects similar to those of massage such as increased blood flow and heat and furthermore there is a release of hormone response comparable to that found after resistance type exercise (4).
In considering the many positive aspects of whole body vibration on the neuromusculoskeletal system it would be interesting to note its effects when implemented as part of a chiropractic treatment. The implications from current research findings were used to try and see if whole body vibration can enhance the chiropractic treatment. It was stipulated that using the machine for 5 minutes at a cycle of 10 ossicillations would help the muscles relax, increase forward flexion of cervical spine and facilitate ease in the delivery of spinal manipulative treatments. This clinical trial took 5 existing patients and had them use the T-Zone Vibration Technology machine for five minutes, 3 times a week for two
weeks immediately before their scheduled chiropractic treatment. Existing patients were used because their response to treatment without whole body vibration was already known.
The results of these patients were based on clinical findings of palpation to determine areas of muscle tension in the cervical and thoracic spine, measuring forward cervical flexion by use of a measuring scale and overall effort in delivering the adjustments to the cervical and thoracic areas. Observations and measurements were noted after each treatment. Those patients who used the T-Zone Vibration Technology machine before their treatments, showed considerably less areas of tension on the spine along with large muscle groups being more relaxed after the third treatment. The improvement was maintained over the two-week period. Their range of motion increased gradually over the two weeks and maintained its improvement.
Overall it was easier to administer the spinal manipulative treatments because the muscles were more relaxed. The need to apply soft tissue therapy was decreased. An interestingly appreciative finding was seen after the first week of treatment. The patient’s spine was holding its alignment determined by the significantly less areas of tension noted in the spine. In addition all five patients noted an increase in overall well-being. The findings of this study pose limitations due to its sample size and not having a controlled group. Also note this was done on only the T-Zone Vibration Technology machine.
The intention of this clinical based trial was to gather preliminary data to determine if chiropractors and their patients can benefit with the promising results research is highlighting in using vibration technology. Benefits are certainly being indicated in this trial along with numerous other studies. These findings should be utilized by chiropractors to enhance the treatments they provide either by implementing whole body vibration technology in their clinics or conducting further research.
Dr. Nimet Meghji TCM, DC, CAFCI
Optimum Health Centre
1246 Yonge St, Toronto. ON
Optimum Health Centre is a multidisciplinary clinic dedicated to provide effective complementary and alternative medicine for the wellbeing of the public.
1) (Am J Phys Med Rehabil.; 85(12):956-62). Dec 2006.
2) Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise. 38(4):720-725, April 2006.
3) Med. Sci. Sports Exerc., Vol. 35, No. 6, pp. 1033-1041, 2003.
4) European Journal of Applied Physiology, 81, pp. 449-454. (2000).
