Vibration therapy is an effective non-pharmacological solution for improving strength, balance, posture and quality of life in those suffering from fragility fractures. Low magnitude high frequency vibration (LMHFV) provides mechanical stimuli safely delivered to frail patients.
LHFV was found to significantly accelerate trochanteric hip bone healing in elderly patients in a hip fracture model, increasing osteoclast-specific DMP1 expression as an indicator of mechanical signals being communicated to bone formation.
Increased Bone Density
Vibration therapy is an exciting new alternative treatment option for osteoporosis patients to strengthen bones and reduce their risk of fracture. While not a cure, vibration therapy has proven its worth by improving bone density, relieving pain and increasing mobility – acting as an invaluable adjunct therapy to traditional treatments like medication and exercise as well as helping increase their effectiveness.
Preclinical animal studies have demonstrated the benefits of low-magnitude, high-frequency vibration on osteoporotic bones by speeding up callus formation and mineralization, stimulating angiogenesis, stimulating muscle growth with minimal scar formation, speeding recovery time post injury as well as avoiding stiffness or loss of range of motion.
Vibration has an effect on bone healing owing to its mechanotransduction properties; mechanical stimulation activates cell responses independent of either morphological changes or chemical signaling. Vibration enhances anabolic genes expression in muscle cells and tendons while attenuating fat development and improving gap junction communication; additionally it triggers release of cytokines as signals that activate bone cell responses.
Osteocytes are bone cells that serve as mechanosensors, responding to mechanical signals to maintain bone and mineral homeostasis. A recent study showed how vibration activated osteocytes in an osteoporotic metaphyseal fracture rat model through an increase in dendritic outgrowth canaliculi dendrites as well as increased expression levels for proteins such as E11, DMP1 and FGF23 expression; it also increased vascularization while stimulating anabolic processes.
These results demonstrate the promise of vibration as an anabolic bone healing strategy, particularly among ovariectomized patients with impaired fracture healing. Further research must be conducted to ascertain its effects in clinical patients as well as to ascertain optimal frequency and intensity levels for improving bone healing.
First step to incorporate vibration therapy into fracture rehabilitation is consulting your physician to see if vibration therapy is right for you. They will help create an individual plan suited to your needs with intensities and duration gradually increasing over time as tolerated. Furthermore, your physician may suggest combining vibration with other forms of treatment to maximize benefits.
Reduced Risk of Fractures
Vibration therapy can strengthen bone density and decrease fracture risk in areas such as the hips and spine. While vibration therapy should not replace traditional weight-bearing exercises, it should serve as an additional supplement.
Research studies have revealed that vibration therapy can significantly aid angiogenesis during fracture healing, by encouraging bone callus formation and mineralization as well as restoring mechanical properties of bones. Furthermore, vibration can enhance patient balance post surgery as well as performance of simple physical tasks without adverse side effects or serious risk to health. Its safety rating remains very favorable amongst its user base.
Vibration therapy has been shown to promote the release of growth hormones in patients, helping improve bone quality. Furthermore, vibration therapy increases bone density and can prevent further loss. Furthermore, vibration therapy aids muscle contraction and movement for reduced falls and injuries.
Vibration therapy offers an innovative solution for improving patients’ healing time and lowering healthcare costs, by hastening recovery times while simultaneously cutting health care costs. Although osteoporotic bones may not respond as readily to mechanical signals, vibration therapy has shown great promise in hastening fracture healing by encouraging callus formation, mineralization/remodeling processes, as well as inducing bone transcription factors expression.
Multiple studies demonstrated the positive effects of vibration treatment on angiogenesis at fracture sites and surrounding muscles during early bone healing, promote callus formation and mineralization during later bone healing phases, restore mechanical properties of bones, and enhance fracture repair in diabetic rats. One such study demonstrated how vibration therapy significantly enhanced fracture repair caused by diabetes while simultaneously increasing serum IGF-1 and RANK-L levels.
Studies on patients with hip fracture were treated with vibration therapy (low-magnitude electromagnetic vibration generating vibrations at 35Hz and 0.3g). Results demonstrated significant improvements in quadriceps muscle strength on injured leg, balance ability and the TUG test performance among participants who underwent this therapy treatment.
Reduced Pain
Vibration therapy is a safe, low-cost and convenient method for increasing bone density. Used as part of a comprehensive rehabilitation plan, vibration plates deliver vibrational stimulation directly into the entire skeletal system to stimulate anabolic effects which complement other physical/exercise and pharmacological therapies.
Although vibration’s anabolic mechanisms remain unknown, multiple studies have illustrated its beneficial impact on fracture healing in animal models. By applying low-magnitude, high-frequency mechanical stimulation to the skeletal system, vibration has been proven to accelerate bone callus formation and mineralization as well as increase angiogenic activity, cell proliferation, and expression of genes involved with osteoblastogenesis.
Researchers conducted an in-depth investigation of vibration therapy‘s effect on osteoporotic fracture healing in diabetic rats. The experiment included non-diabetics without vibration treatment as a control group; diabetic animals (DM+VT rats) exposed to whole body vibration for seven days post midfemur fracture were then given whole body vibration for seven days to help foster healing. Vibration increased production of osteoocyte-specific proteins including DMP1, which play a critical role in relaying mechanical signals to bone cells during bone tissue formation; further reduced separation while increasing callus thickness; all vital indicators that resulted in successful healing processes.
Authors also found that vibration therapy improved vascularization at fracture sites, leading to faster and complete healing of bone calluses in DM+VT rats. Furthermore, vibration significantly decreased resorption area which may contribute to poor callus quality for diabetic patients with osteoporotic fractures.
Vibration therapy was shown to be highly effective at improving impaired osteoporotic fracture healing in ovariectomized rats, measured using densitometry, 3D microstructure analysis and mechanical tests. Furthermore, vibration significantly increased osteocyte proliferation and bone formation among these ovariectomized animals.
Furthermore, the authors believe vibration may stimulate osteocytes’ secretion of growth factors and promote bone formation via p38 mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPK) pathway. Furthermore, vibration treatment significantly reduced proinflammatory cytokine production from osteocytes for an anti-inflammatory effect.
Reduced Complications
Vibration therapy has been demonstrated to promote fracture healing, increase bone formation, and stimulate angiogenesis – thus helping to avoid complications such as infections, poor wound closure and muscle weakness. Vibration can also help increase bone density and thus lower risk for osteoporotic fractures, providing another method for osteoporotic fracture prevention if used alongside weight bearing exercises or calcium supplements.
Musculoskeletal systems in our bodies are controlled largely by mechanical loading, with cessation of activity severely impacting them. Vibration therapy replicates these anabolic effects to stimulate and stimulate their musculoskeletal systems and can be especially helpful for frail individuals unable to exercise.
Studies have demonstrated that vibration stimulates bone formation and mineralization, aiding the healing of osteoporotic fractures more rapidly. Furthermore, vibration can stimulate angiogenesis which provides adequate blood flow to fracture sites and surrounding muscles.
Animal studies have demonstrated that low-magnitude, high-frequency vibration (LMHFV) therapy can significantly speed up fracture healing compared to controls by speeding up callus formation and bone remodeling processes. Furthermore, it has also been found to promote angiogenesis as well as accelerate maturation of mesenchymal stem cells.
Vibration has been shown to stimulate the proliferation and differentiation of osteocytes lining bone matrices through modulating upstream signaling pathways involved in bone formation, such as deoxypyridin kinase 1. DMP1 is required for bone formation but its expression increases after being exposed to vibration; suggesting vibration can act as an indirect mechanical loading stimulus in osteoporotic bone formation.
Conduct randomized controlled trials of vibration therapy for fractures as the next step to testing its efficacy. Such trials must examine various forms of vibration used, duration and frequency of treatment as well as safety concerns related to vibration treatments. Various kinds of vibrating machines are available such as whole body vibration (WBV) and low intensity vibration (LIV). WBV has been used extensively in clinical trials as well as being applied directly to patients while LIV offers similar functionality but with lower amplitude/frequency signal transmission levels than gym vibration machines.
