The Effect of Horizontal Whole-body Vibration Therapy in Post-menopausal Women

Osteoporosis is an important public health issue that may result in a high fracture risk in the elderly population. There is general consensus that physical exercise decreases the risk of osteoporotic fractures by reducing the risk of falls and increasing bone strength. Although long-term high-intensity exercise programs have been shown to be successful in early post-menopausal women, a high-intensity exercise program appears to be less attractive to older post-menopausal women and may cause a lack of compliance in the long term and result in injury. Some studies have described falls and fractures as side effects of exercise.Whole-body vibration (WBV) therapy is an easy-to-apply alternative therapy for those who do not wish to initiate or continue pharmacological treatments and cannot perform high-impact exercises and is associated with high patient compliance. WBV therapy is among the promising new interventions for the prevention and treatment of osteoporosis and is defined as mechanical vibration applied in a standing or supine position without any restrictions on frequency (hertz), amplitude (millimeters), magnitude (vibration acceleration due to gravity, g) and cumulative WBV dose. The evidence obtained from animal studies have shown that WBV can be an effective method for increasing bone mass and improving bone structure and strength. Some human studies have shown that WBV can positively affect BMD and improve neuromuscular parameters associated with falls in post-menopausal women.Small changes in posture can have a significant effect on the extent to which a plantar-based mechanical stimulus is actually transmitted to the spine or hip; the stimulus is likely to be weakened by the inevitable changes in posture, which occur due to aging and osteoporosis. For these reasons, we aimed to examine the effect of high frequency and low-magnitude horizontal vibration therapy in post-menopausal women without being affected by posture in the present study.