The preliminary effect of whole-body vibration intervention on improving the skeletal muscle mass index, physical fitness, and quality of life among older people with sarcopenia.


Author: Chang SF1, Lin PC2, Yang RS3, Yang RJ4

Affiliation: <sup>1</sup>School of Nursing, College of Nursing, National Taipei University of Nursing and Health Sciences, 365, Ming Te Road, Pei-Tou, Taipei, 112, Taiwan, Republic of China. linda@ntunhs.edu.tw.

<sup>2</sup>School of Nursing, College of Nursing, National Taipei University of Nursing and Health Sciences, 365, Ming Te Road, Pei-Tou, Taipei, 112, Taiwan, Republic of China.

<sup>3</sup>Department of Orthopaedics, National Taiwan University & Hospital, No.7, Chung-Shan S. Rd, Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China.

<sup>4</sup>Department of Nursing, National Taipei University of Nursing and Health Sciences, No. 365, Ming Te Rd., Peitou, Taipei City, 112, Taiwan, Republic of China.
Conference/Journal: BMC Geriatr.
Date published: 2018 Jan 17
Other:
 Volume ID: 18   ,  Issue ID: 1   ,  Pages: 17   ,  Special Notes: doi: 10.1186/s12877-018-0712-8.   ,  Word Count: 296  
    BACKGROUND: Studies have shown that sarcopenia easily leads to difficulty moving, disability, and poor quality of life. However, researches on the use of whole-body vibration for older adults with sarcopenia living in institutions have been lacking. Therefore, the main objective of the present study was to investigate the effect of whole-body vibration intervention on improving the skeletal muscle mass index, physical fitness, and quality of life of older adults with sarcopenia living in institutions.



METHODS: This study adopted a quasi-experimental, single-group, pretest-posttest design. The whole-body vibration intervention was performed over a 3-month period, in which the older adults trained 3 times per week; each training lasted 60 s with a break of 30 s for 10 repetitions. The older adults' skeletal muscle mass index, physical fitness and quality of life before and after the intervention of the whole-body vibration was collected. Concerning the statistical methods adopted, nonparametric method-based tests were employed.



RESULTS: According to the results of analysis, after the intervention of the 12-week whole-body vibration, the skeletal muscle mass index (z = - 3.621, p = 0.000), physical fitness on standing on one foot (z = - 2.447, p = 0.014), shoulder-arm flexibility (z = - 3.159, p = 0.002), 8-ft up and go test (z = - 2.692, p = 0.009), hand grip strength (z = - 3.388, p = 0.009), and five repeated sit-to-stand tests (z = - 2.936, p = 0.003), all improved significantly. Furthermore, concerning the quality of life of the older adults in the pretest and posttest, the improvements were statistically significant (z = - 2.533, p = 0.011).



CONCLUSIONS: The study results showed the effect of whole-body vibration intervention on improving the skeletal muscle mass index, physical fitness, and quality of life of sarcopenic older people living in institutions and could serve as a crucial reference to health care professionals.



KEYWORDS: Physical fitness; Quality of life; Quasi-experimental research; Sarcopenia; Skeletal muscle mass index; Whole-body vibration



PMID: 29343219  DOI: 10.1186/s12877-018-0712-8