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:
1School 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.
2School 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.
3Department of Orthopaedics, National Taiwan University & Hospital, No.7, Chung-Shan S. Rd, Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China.
4Department 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

BACK