Random whole body vibration over 5 weeks leads to effects similar to placebo: A controlled study in Parkinson's disease

Background. random whole body vibration (wbv) training leads to beneficial short-term effects in patients with parkinson's disease (pd). however,the effect of wbv lasting several weeks is not clear. objectives. the aim of this study was to assess a random wbv training over 5 weeks in pd. methods. twenty-one participants with pd were allocated to either an experimental or a placebo group matched by age,gender,and hoehn&yahr stage. the wbv training consisted of 5 series,60 s each. in the placebo group,vibration was simulated. the primary outcome was the change of performance in functional reach test (frt),step-walk-turn task,biomechanical gait analysis,timed up and go test (tug),and one leg stance. findings. in most of the parameters,there was no significant interaction of time group. both groups improved significantly in gait parameters,tug,and one leg stance. only in the frt [ f (1,15) = 8.397; p < 0.05 ] and in the tug [ f (1,15) = 4.971; p < 0.05 ] the experimental group performed significantly better than the placebo group. conclusions. random wbv training over 5 weeks seems to be less effective than reported in previous studies performing short-term training. the slight improvements in the frt and tug are not clinically relevant. © 2014 heiko gaßner et al.