When the central nervous system is injured for whatever reason, this may lead to a variety of different impairments on our body’s functionial ability such as walking function. Vibration has been shown to improve our ability to walk correctly and free of problems. Therefore, a study was conducted by the Universtiy of Miami’s “Miami Project to Cure Paralysis” to determine whether repeated use of Whole Body Vibration is in fact correlated with improving the walking function in individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI).
Seventeen individuals with chronic motor-incomplete SCI (chronic = had condition for at least one year) were the subjects of the study. They were tested before and after they participated in twelve sessions (3 days/week for 4 weeks) of intervention with WBV. Their walking function and the change therein was assessed via 3D motion capture, walking speed being the primary outcome measure. The study also assessed the influence of the WBV intervention on secondary gait characteristics, including cadence, step length and hip-knee intralimb coordination. The subjects’ walking speed went up significantly by a mean of 0.062 +/- 0.011 m/s, denoting a noteworthy statistical change (p < 0.001).
Additionally, the WBV study also demonstrated significant statistical increases in cadence. Both the stronger and weaker legs exhibited farther step length and enhanced the consistency of intralimb coordination. As a result, improvements in walking speed were strongly correlated with these changes in cadence and step length in the stronger leg. The improvement in walking speed observed with the WBV intervention was comparable to that reported in the literature in association with locomotor training. Even in non-clinical populations this magnitude of change has been deemed clincally meaningful. Therefore, the study’s observations suggest WBV may improve walking function with effects that may persist for some time following the intervention.
January 4, 2010 at 1:09 am
nice post. thanks.