Efficacy of a whole-body vibration intervention on functional performance of community-dwelling older adults.

OBJECTIVE The objective of this study was to investigate efficacy of a whole-body vibration (WBV) intervention on functional performance of community-dwelling older adults. DESIGN The study was designed as a randomized controlled trial. SETTING The setting was in community centers. SUBJECTS There were 37 total subjects (21 women and 16 men) (age 69 +/- 8 years; mean +/- standard deviation). INTERVENTION Participants were randomized to a WBV intervention (INT) group and control (CON) group. Whole-body vibration was administered for five 1-minute bouts per session, 3 days per week, for 6 weeks. The CON group was asked not to commence any form of physical training. OUTCOME MEASURES Functional performance was measured with the timed-up-and-go-test (TUG) and sit-to-stand-test (STS). RESULTS After WBV, TUG and STS time was less for INT than CON (INT, TUG 7.6 +/- 0.3 seconds, STS 11.9 +/- 2.0 seconds; CON, TUG 8.6 +/- 0.9, STS 13.5 +/- 1.1 seconds; p < 0.05). Within INT, TUG improved 0.9 +/- 0.4 seconds; p = 0.01 and STS improved 3.0 +/- 0.9 seconds; p = 0.05). CONCLUSIONS The efficacy of this WBV intervention was established. Functional performance improvement after WBV may be attributed to a number of biological mechanisms that remain speculative. Further research is required to mechanistically understand the effects of WBV on older adults.