RESEARCH - Low-frequency vibration improves balance in women with fibromyalgia

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Low-Frequency Vibration Improves Balance in Women With Fibromyalgia

From Medscape Medical News

Emma Hitt, PhD

September 7, 2010 — A 12-week course of low-frequency vibration

appears to be safe and feasible for improving dynamic balance in women

with fibromyalgia, new research findings suggest.

Narcis Gusi, PhD, with the University of Extremadura in Caceres,

Spain, and colleagues reported their findings in the August 2010 issue

of Arthritis Care & Research.

" Whole-body vibration (WBV) has recently emerged as an intervention

that can have positive effects on the neural, muscular, and skeletal

systems, " the study authors note. " In WBV, a patient stands on a

platform that oscillates at a particular frequency and amplitude,

causing muscle contractions through stimulation of sensory receptors, "

they write.

The study included 41 women aged 41 to 65 years who were randomized

either to a control group or to the vibration intervention, which

included a 30-minute session of instruction plus 3 sessions of

self-administered WBV per week for 12 weeks. Each session consisted of

6 repetitions of a 45- to 60-second, 12.5-Hz vibration while the

patient assumed a lateral posture.

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Read the whole article here:

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/728123

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