Whole Body Vibration Therapy, a Revolutionary Technique that Efficiently Treats Parkinson’s Disease

A novel non-traditional physical therapy method is available for advanced Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients that do not respond well to medications such as L-dopamine. Scientists from the Sun Life Financial Movement Disorders Research and Rehabilitation Centre from Ontario, Canada have shown that short term whole body vibration therapy significantly improves the clinical symptoms (loss of gait, tremors and akinesia) of PD patients.  In this clinical study, a sample population of 40 PD patients were subject to intensive therapy for a few weeks using a Physioacoustic Chair, an sophisticated device containing speakers that are strategically placed throughout the chair in order to deliver programmed low frequency sound waves throughout  the body of the patient.

This study is remarkable in the sense that acoustic therapy had a significant impact on the well being and quality of life of PD patients.  In brief,  the Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS), gait assessments and upper limb control tests showed significant improvements on gait stability and posture, increased stepping time and speed on the peg-board task,  a significant decrease in tremors and less rigidity in PD patients receiving whole body vibration therapy compared to a control group that received no therapy. More importantly, this study showed  that whole body vibration therapy may also be applied to PD patients that do not respond well to L-dopamine medication or deep brain stimulation, a complicated risky surgery that involves delivering mild electrical shocks to the brain via implanted electrodes. The latter technique is used as  a last resort to stabilize tremors and rigidity in PD patients.

Whole body acoustic stimulation vs. conventional physical therapy for treating PD

Before this study, another previous study conducted about a year ago showed that whole vibration therapy is even more effective in reversing many of the clinical symptoms of PD patients compared to conventional physical therapy. Specifically, this particular study showed that whole body vibration therapy improved equilibrium and gait four weeks after undergoing an intensive three week regimen consisting of 15 minutes a day for five days a week.

Remarkably, this study quantitatively also suggests that whole body vibration therapy is more efficient (25% more efficient) than conventional physical therapy for partially reversing clinical symptoms in PD patients that do not respond well to L-dopamine.  It will be interesting to know whether a combined therapy that uses both whole body and conventional intervention techniques has an additive/ synergistic positive effect in reversing clinical PD symptoms compared to single treatment intervention.

Whole body vibration therapy has also been used in the past to treat patients affected by neuromuscular debilitating and neurodegenerative disorders such as multiple sclerosis, stroke, cerebral palsy, Huntington’s chorea, and other movement disorders. It is not known how whole body acoustic therapy works in Parkinson’s disease patients but it is believed that high vibrational frequencies help to partially restore some of the sensory perception  (proprioception) that is lost during the progression of the disease and is also used to enhance muscle coordination, a physical trait that is lost during the progression of PD. Finally, high frequency sound waves delivered via physicoacoustic devices has been shown to improve blood flow, electrical conductivity and metabolism of muscle tissue.

What is Parkinson’s disease?

PD is an age-related, relentless, chronic and incurable neurodegenerative disease that affects different regions in the brain (the midbrain)  that are enriched with dopaminergic neurons, neurons that produce dopamine. A 90%  loss of dopaminergic neurons in the brain results in motor impairment and muscle coordination in the affected patient.  These symptoms include but are not limited to postural tremors, instability and loss of gait, slow movement (bradykinesia) or complete loss of movement (akinesia). Many of you are familiar the PD related tremors exhibited by the actor Michael J. Fox, a successful actor famous who starred in the Back to the Future movie sequels and who founded the Michael J. Fox Foundation.

To this date, there is no cure for this devastating disease that affects a little more than 1% of the total U.S. population. Over more than 90% of cases of PD have no known cause (sporadic cases). The only effective treatment so far is the administration of Levodopa, a synthetic analog of dopamine, and/or dopamine receptor agonists (bromocriptine) which efficiently alleviates tremors and bradykinesia in PD. Adjunct pharmacological therapy include administration of monoamine oxidase inhibitors (selegiline and rasagaline) and Carvidopa (an aromatic decarboxylase inhibitor) with the goal of increasing the levels of dopamine in the brain by inhibiting the enzymes involved in the breakdown of dopamine. Other more sophisticated and extremely expensive treatments include deep brain stimulation, a very complicated procedure that involves electrically inactivating small inhibitory regions of the brain in order to increase excitatory dopaminergic stimuli through electrical stimulations.

What causes Parkinson’s disease?

PD is a multi-factorial disease in which environmental and genetics play a role. One theory that has gained widespread attention in the medical and scientific community is that exposure to environmental factors, such as pesticides and oxidative stress (free radicals), lead to a rapid decline in the function of mitochondria, the energy generators and powerhouses of the cell, in dopaminergic neurons over time. Moreover, certain genes (PINK1, Parkin, DJ-1, alpha-synuclein, and Parkin) which are found to be mutated in PD patients, have been shown to lead to mitochondrial dysfunction, decrease energy production along with an increase in free radicals in animal models of PD.

Jan. 3, 11:45 am.  Pittsburgh Medical Technology Examiner  Ruben Dagda

• Published by connie on January 25th, 2010 in Information, Uncategorized.
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Whole-Body Vibration Induced Adaptation in Knee Extensors

The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research:

ORIGINAL RESEARCH: PDF Only

Whole-Body Vibration Induced Adaptation in Knee Extensors; Consequences of Initial Strength, Vibration Frequency, and Joint Angle

SAVELBERG, HANS H.C.M.; KEIZER, HANS A.; MEIJER, KENNETH

Abstract

It was hypothesized that both vibration frequency and muscle length modulate the strengthening of muscles that is assumed to result from whole-body vibration (WBV). Length of knee extensor muscles during vibration is affected by the knee joint angle; the lengths of the knee extensors increase with more flexed knee joint angles. In an intervention study 28 volunteers were randomly assigned to 1 of 4 groups. Each group received 4 weeks of WBV at 1 of 3 different frequencies (20, 27, or 34 Hz) or 1 of 2 different lengths of knee extensors. Voluntary, isometric knee extension moment-angle relationship was determined. Initially, stronger subjects reacted differently to WBV than weaker participants. In stronger subjects knee extension moment did not improve; in the weaker subjects considerable improvements were observed ranging from 10 to 50%. Neither vibration frequency nor muscle length during the intervention affected the improvements. In addition to strength, the knee joint angle at which the maximal joint moment was generated (optimal joint angle) was affected. When trained at short muscle lengths, optimal angle shifted to more extend joint position. WBV training at long muscle lengths tended to induce an opposite shift. The amount of this shift tended to be influenced by vibration frequency; the lower the vibration frequency the larger the shift. Shifts of optimal lengths occurred in both weaker and stronger subjects. This study shows that muscle length during training affects the angle of knee joint at which the maximal extension moment was generated. Moreover, in weaker subjects WBV resulted in higher maximal knee joint extension moments. Vibration frequency and muscle length during vibration did not affect this joint moment gain.

(C) 2007 National Strength and Conditioning Association

• Published by connie on January 21st, 2010 in Information.
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Weight Lifting helps Reduce Risk of Cancer

Building and Flexing Your Muscles Reduces The Risk For A Cancerous Condition

The findings, by an international team of researchers, suggest muscular strength is as important as staying slim and eating healthily when it comes to protecting the body against the formation of tumors due to tissue acidosis.

The scientists who came up with the findings are recommending men weight train at least twice a week, exercising muscle groups in both the upper and lower body.

Dr. Robert O. Young, Director of Research at the pH Miracle Living Center has recommended a healthy alkaline diet and lifestyle for over twenty-five years – including regular aerobic exercise such as jogging, swimming, walking, rebounding, whole body vibration or cycling to reduce the risks if all sickness and dis-ease.

But the latest study, published in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention, suggests it may be just as important to build up muscle strength.

A team of experts, led by scientists from Sweden’s Karolinska Institute, tracked the lifestyles of 8,677 men aged between 20 and 82 for more than two decades.

Each volunteer had regular medical check ups that included tests of their muscular strength.

Between 1980 and 2003, researchers monitored how many developed cancerous conditions and subsequently died from it.

The results showed men who regularly worked out with weights and had the highest muscle strength were between 30 and 40 per cent less likely to lose their life to a deadly acidic cancerous condition.

Even among volunteers who had excess tummy fat or a high body mass index, regular weight training seemed to have a protective effect.

Why?

According to Dr. Young, “exercising, including weight training will force tissue acidity either out through the pores of the skin or back into general blood circulation to be eliminated through urination.”

In a report on their findings the researchers stressed keeping a healthy weight was still crucial for avoiding premature death.

But they added: “In the light of these results, it is equally important to maintain healthy muscular strength levels.

“It’s possible to reduce cancer mortality rates in men by promoting resistance training involving the major muscle groups at least two days a week.”

A spokesman for Cancer Research UK said resistance exercise might have some benefit but it was more important to regularly do some cardiac exercise.

Health information officer Jessica Harris said: “There’s no need to become a body builder. Just 30 minutes of moderate exercise five times a week that leaves you warm and slightly out of breath can have a positive effect.”

Dr. Young states, “contraction of the muscles moves dietary and/or metabolic acid out of the tissues into the lymphatic circulation and then out through the pores of the skin or through urination. If you want to be healthy you have to sweat and pee your way to health.”

• Published by connie on January 12th, 2010 in Information, Uncategorized.
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Olympics and Whole Body Vibration Create a Winning Team

According to Fox Business, the US Ski and Snowboard teams are using whole body vibration exercise as part of their training regime for the 2010 Olympics.

Troy Flanagan, Director of Sport Science for the teams says that they will be using whole body vibration platforms in the warm up area at the base of the race hill at the Vancouver 2010 Olympics.  They’ll be using this technology to warm up immediately prior to their races.

Flanagan believes that this will be an important factor in their success.

“We find the machine incredibly useful for waking up the neurological system and applying loads through the body that we just can’t get from traditional weight training.“

• Published by connie on January 5th, 2010 in Information, Uncategorized.
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