Effects of Vibration Therapy on Hormone Response and Stress in Severely Disabled Patients: A Double-Blind Randomized Placebo-Controlled Clinical Trial

• Published in: Rehabilitation nursing Vol. 40; no. 3; pp. 166 - 178
• Main Authors: Seco, J., Rodríguez-Pérez, V., López-Rodríguez, A. F., Torres-Unda, J., Echevarria, E., Díez-Alegre, M. I., Ortega, A., Morán, P., Mendoza-Laíz, N., Abecia Inchaurregui, L. C.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01-05-2015; Lippincott Williams & Wilkins Ovid Technologies
• Subjects: Adult; anxiety state; cortisol; Disabled Persons - rehabilitation; Double-Blind Method; Female; hormone response; Hormones - metabolism; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Nervous System Diseases - metabolism; Nervous System Diseases - nursing; Nervous System Diseases - therapy; Nursing; Prospective Studies; Quality of Life; Rehabilitation Nursing - methods; severe disability; Spain; stress; testosterone; Vibration - therapeutic use; Vibration therapy; Young Adult; Spain; anxiety state; cortisol; hormone response; stress; testosterone; Vibration therapy; severe disability
• ISSN: 0278-4807; 2048-7940
• DOI: 10.1002/rnj.116

Purpose
To assess the effects of vibration therapy (VT) on quality of life and hormone response in severely disabled patients compared with placebo.
Design
A longitudinal prospective, double‐blind, randomized placebo‐controlled trial, with pre and postintervention assessments.
Methods
A total of 20 severely disabled individuals were recruited from a National Reference Centre in Spain: 13 (65%) men and 7 (35%) women, 45.5 ± 9.32 years of age (range 41: 22–63). We evaluated their physical stress and state anxiety.
Results
No statistically significant changes were found in the socio‐psychological variables studied, while in the experimental group state anxiety decreased significantly with p < 0.01 (Z = 2.38; one‐tailed p = .009) and, among the biological variables, the level of cortisol fell (p = 0.03).
Conclusion
Short periods of exposure to low‐frequency and low‐amplitude local vibration are a safe and effective mechanical stimulus that can have a positive effect in terms of hormone response.
Clinical Relevance: VT can be considered to have an anti‐stress effect.