Jean-Martin Charcot was inspired to design a vibrating chair after witnessing patients’ symptoms improve on carriage rides that jostled violently, prompting him to create one himself and help alleviate symptoms.
Stanford Medicine researchers recently developed a vibration glove to reduce Parkinson’s disease (PD) tremors and rigidity, and are in the process of conducting larger clinical trials with it.
Reduces Tremors and Stiffness
Tremors and stiffness are two of the most vexing symptoms associated with Parkinson disease. While medication may help manage them, sometimes their effectiveness may not always work and they may even come with side effects; vibration therapy offers another solution to reduce these symptoms and enhance mobility.
Vibration therapy can be applied at home or in clinical settings by wearing specially designed vibrating gloves that stimulate fingertip receptors of the nervous system and disrupting abnormal synchrony of neurons that lead to Parkinson’s movement problems. According to research, vibrations may help improve mobility and balance while also restoring normal neural activity levels.
Researchers discovered that vibrating gloves featuring specific patterns of stimulation and pauses significantly reduced tremors among their patients. Furthermore, they discovered that pausing between vibration patterns desynchronized the firing of neurons allowing the body to unlearn its abnormal pattern of nerve firing – known as coordinated reset stimulation by scientists.
Researchers conducted an experiment involving eight participants with Parkinson’s disease who wore vibrating gloves for three months. Scientists then assessed their motor function, at-rest electroencephalographs and other forms of brain activity before and after wearing gloves; results included significant improvement in terms of tremors, rigidity and bradykinesia (slow body movement) among those wearing them for this duration; results published in April 2021 issue of Frontiers in Physiology.
The team aims to conduct a larger study with additional control subjects to test how effective this glove is at relieving other symptoms associated with Parkinson’s Disease such as freezing and flexibility. They hope also to find out the optimal frequency and duration for vibration treatment.
Researchers believe that vibration therapy, combined with low-glycemic diet and other physical therapy interventions, could assist with managing Parkinson’s symptoms more effectively. They recommend individuals seeking care consult their healthcare provider first to make sure vibration therapy is suitable. Initially shorter sessions should be tried out and gradually increased over time as your body adapts. For those living with severe or complicated PD who wish to try vibration therapy they should either seek professional advice first before engaging or consult a medical specialist first.
Improves Balance and Mobility
Vibration therapy not only reduces tremors and stiffness, but can also enhance balance and mobility by activating muscles and sensory receptors, similar to exercise. Furthermore, vibration therapy may even help alleviate freezing of gait – an often-occurring issue caused by conflicting signals sent from the brain which makes walking hard to initiate and sustain – by activating muscles and sensory receptors similar to exercise.
Studies on whole-body vibration therapy‘s effect on balance and mobility for Parkinson disease (PD) patients have had mixed results, though most were found to be beneficial. It should be noted, however, that outcomes measures weren’t strictly comparable between studies; only few also included control groups as comparison groups – potentially contributing to results being altered by placebo or nocebo effects.
More recently, researchers have been investigating the effects of localized vibration on balance and mobility for Parkinson’s patients. Researchers used gloves that delivered vibrations directly to fingertips to stimulate movement sensation. Studies published in Frontiers in Physiology concluded that vibration could help reset misfiring neurons in the brain – providing noninvasive relief as opposed to more invasive therapies for PD. These results indicate potential applications of vibration therapy as a noninvasive alternative treatment option for the condition.
Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a progressive neurodegenerative condition that impairs movement and coordination, leading to stiffness, tremors, stiffness and freezing gait. The condition is caused by degeneration of dopamine-producing neurons in the brain; symptoms range from mild tremors to severe stiffness that freezes gait; unfortunately there is no known cure; however treatment can help alleviate symptoms and enhance quality of life.
Vibration therapy is an accessible, noninvasive solution that can be implemented at home for improved balance, mobility and tremors while helping prevent falls and injuries. Furthermore, vibration therapy has been shown to decrease pain levels while increasing quality of life among Parkinson’s Disease (PD) patients.
Future trials could make this form of therapy more widely accessible to people living with PD; however, further research needs to be completed in order to assess its efficacy and safety among larger sample sizes, and also to identify which subgroups of PD patients might benefit from its implementation.
Reduces Pain and Injuries
Studies involving those living with Parkinson’s have demonstrated how vibration therapy can alleviate their pain and stiffness, helping them live an active life. Florida State University researchers reported how vibration-based braces and wraps softly massage the body to lessen tremors; and Lebanese International University researchers demonstrated how regular vibration therapy helps with balance.
Tremors and other Parkinson’s symptoms can cause individuals to lose balance, increasing the chances of falls. Vibration therapy can improve balance and help prevent falls by strengthening and coordinating movement of muscles in feet, ankles, knees, hips and core areas – it’s even effective against depression, which often contributes to lack of coordination and balance issues.
Researchers from Stanford University have designed gloves that may reduce tremors and stiffness among Parkinson’s Disease (PD) patients by applying vibration to fingertips and hands. As reported in Frontiers in Physiology, researchers tested these gloves on individuals living with PD for three months utilizing at-rest EEG to track participants’ movements and brain activity before and after glove therapy was implemented. Vibrating gloves significantly improved dynamic and static balance for participants as evidenced by improvements Tinetti scale evaluations with eyes closed T1 and T2.
Researchers believe the vibrating gloves work by altering the synchrony of brain rhythms in Parkinson’s patients. To support their findings, they have initiated a larger clinical trial and are seeking FDA clearance of this treatment option.
Tremors, stiffness and balance issues associated with Parkinson’s Disease can significantly impede one’s quality of life. Luckily, there are treatments available for symptomatic patients such as medications that mimic dopamine; surgery to insert deep brain stimulators; and exercise therapy – although some of these may come with side effects that make treatment unfeasible over an extended period.
Improves Quality of Life
Vibration therapy is part of an array of treatments used to relieve Parkinson’s symptoms. When combined with regular exercise and diet changes, vibration therapy can boost overall health and support weight management while offering relief from pain and tremors. A vibration glove, wrap or mask may provide targeted comfort that enables patients to enjoy their favorite activities more freely.
Individuals suffering from Parkinson’s should strive to find relief from their symptoms, whether through drugs or deep brain stimulation (DBS). While both may provide temporary solutions, they often come at great expense with side effects and become less effective over time. Recently, researchers have discovered a way to harness vibration to treat this condition more effectively.
Multiple clinical trials have been conducted to examine whether vibration can help alleviate Parkinson’s symptoms. One, featured on TODAY show, used vibration-emitting gloves that provided vibration therapy directly onto their fingertips – helping tremors, stiffness and slow walking among PD patients to ease. While researchers didn’t set out to specifically study other symptoms as part of this trial, many users reported feeling better as well as relief for depression as well as loss of smell or taste, both common features of Parkinson’s.
Another study focused on using a device known as PDVibe2TM that vibrated participants’ feet. This device vibrates distal lower extremities to treat Parkinson-related gait disturbances such as freezing of gait (FoG). Researchers discovered that using this device significantly improved metrics related to FoG and was well tolerated by participants.
Studies were carried out with a small group of Parkinson’s Disease (PD) patients. Each wore the PDVibe2TM for eight treatment sessions over one week while continuing their medications and having DBS activated, as necessary. The research team observed that vibration significantly enhanced PD-related gait metrics – with effects lasting several weeks after taking away from device use.
Scientists behind the study believe that its effect arises due to vibration disrupting normal neural connectivity patterns, and hope to conduct further testing on their device to see what types of Parkinson’s patients might benefit most from it.
