TY - JOUR
T1 - Focal muscle vibration as a possible intervention to prevent falls in elderly women: a pragmatic randomized controlled trial
AU - Celletti, Claudia
AU - Ricciardi, Diego
AU - Landi, Francesco
AU - Filippi, Guido Maria
PY - 2015
Y1 - 2015
N2 - BACKGROUNDS: Different and new approaches have been proposed to prevent the risk of falling of elderly people, particularly women. AIMS: This study investigates the possibility that a new protocol based on the focal mechanical muscle vibration may reduce the risk of falling of elderly women. METHODS: A pragmatic randomized controlled triple-blind trial with a 6-month follow-up after intervention randomized 350 women (mean age 73.4 years + 3.11), members of local senior citizen centers in Rome, into two groups: vibrated group (VG) and control group (CG). For VG participants a mechanical vibration (lasting 10 min) was focally applied on voluntary contracted quadriceps muscles, three times a day during three consecutive days. CG subjects received a placebo vibratory stimulation. Subjects were tested immediately before (T0) and 30 (T1) and 180 (T2) days after the intervention with the Performance-Oriented Mobility Assessment (POMA) test. All subjects were asked not to change their lifestyle during the study. CG underwent sham vibratory treatment.RESULTS: While CG did not show any statistically significant change of POMA at T1 and T2, VG revealed significant differences. At T2, ≈47 % of the subjects who completed the study obtained the full score on the POMA test and ≈59 % reached the full POMA score. CONCLUSIONS: The new protocol seems to be promising in reducing the risk of falling of elderly subjects.
AB - BACKGROUNDS: Different and new approaches have been proposed to prevent the risk of falling of elderly people, particularly women. AIMS: This study investigates the possibility that a new protocol based on the focal mechanical muscle vibration may reduce the risk of falling of elderly women. METHODS: A pragmatic randomized controlled triple-blind trial with a 6-month follow-up after intervention randomized 350 women (mean age 73.4 years + 3.11), members of local senior citizen centers in Rome, into two groups: vibrated group (VG) and control group (CG). For VG participants a mechanical vibration (lasting 10 min) was focally applied on voluntary contracted quadriceps muscles, three times a day during three consecutive days. CG subjects received a placebo vibratory stimulation. Subjects were tested immediately before (T0) and 30 (T1) and 180 (T2) days after the intervention with the Performance-Oriented Mobility Assessment (POMA) test. All subjects were asked not to change their lifestyle during the study. CG underwent sham vibratory treatment.RESULTS: While CG did not show any statistically significant change of POMA at T1 and T2, VG revealed significant differences. At T2, ≈47 % of the subjects who completed the study obtained the full score on the POMA test and ≈59 % reached the full POMA score. CONCLUSIONS: The new protocol seems to be promising in reducing the risk of falling of elderly subjects.
KW - elderly people
KW - muscle vibration
KW - elderly people
KW - muscle vibration
UR - http://hdl.handle.net/10807/71682
UR - http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2fs40520-015-0356-x
U2 - 10.1007/s40520-015-0356-x
DO - 10.1007/s40520-015-0356-x
M3 - Article
SN - 1594-0667
VL - 27
SP - 857
EP - 863
JO - Aging clinical and experimental research
JF - Aging clinical and experimental research
ER -