RESEARCH - Vibration therapy improves balance in fibromyalgia

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From Reuters Health Information

Vibration Improves Balance in Fibromyalgia

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) Apr 02 - Tilt platform vibration helps women

with fibromyalgia develop better balance, Spanish researchers have

found.

Nearly half of fibromyalgia patients have poor balance, the authors

note. While whole body vibration has been shown to improve balance,

bone mass, and motor capacity in older people, until now there have

been no controlled studies of intensive vibration therapy using a tilt

platform in people with fibromyalgia.

A research team led by Dr. Narcis Gusi, from the University of

Extremadura in Caceres recruited 41 women with fibromyalgia, ages 41

to 65, and randomized 21 to vibration therapy. The 20 women in the

control group received usual care with no physical therapy.

The intervention involved 3 sessions per week for 12 weeks, with a

tilt platform providing low-frequency (12.5 Hertz) anteroposterior

vibration. Each session included a 10-minute warm-up of slow walking

followed by six repetitions of vibration for up to 60 seconds each.

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Read the full article here:

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/719716

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