Author: Chow DHK1, Lee TY2, Pope MH3
Affiliation: <sup>1</sup>Department of Health & Physical Education, The Education University of Hong Kong, Tai Po, New Territories, Hong Kong.
<sup>2</sup>Department of Biomedical Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic Universit, Hong Kongy.
<sup>3</sup>Department of Occupational Medicine, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, Scotland, UK.
Conference/Journal: Work.
Date published: 2018 Oct 25
Other:
Special Notes: doi: 10.3233/WOR-182816. [Epub ahead of print] , Word Count: 242
BACKGROUND: Low back pain (LBP) is a common health problem with high reoccurrence rate. As patients with LBP are often found to be proprioception impaired, new proprioception exercises should be explored. Whole body vibration (WBV) has been proven to improve muscle function and proprioception.
OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to determine the effects of WBV on spinal proprioception when WBV was administered in standing and seated postures.
METHODS: Twenty healthy male individuals (mean age: 23.2±1.2 years) were recruited and randomly assigned to two WBV groups: WBV in standing or WBV in seated posture. Their body posture, lumbar repositioning ability, maximum reaching distance and lumbopelvic coordination during dynamic motion in flexion and extension were assessed before, immediately after, 30 minutes after and 1 hour after 5 minutes of WBV (18 Hz, 6 mm amplitude) exposure. A Mixed ANOVA was used to analyze the effects of group and time factors on these four outcome measures.
RESULTS: There were no significant interaction (group and time) and group effects on all outcome measures. Participants were found to have significant different time effect on body posture, lumbar repositioning ability, maximum reaching distance and lumbopelvic coordination.
CONCLUSIONS: WBV could significantly improve spinal proprioception including body posture, lumbar repositioning ability, maximum reaching distance and lumbopelvic coordination in healthy individuals. WBV protocol is recommended to confirm its clinical application for improving spinal proprioception and its effects on patients with LBP is warranted.
KEYWORDS: Body posture; low back pain; lumbar spine; proprioception
PMID: 30373993 DOI: 10.3233/WOR-182816