Improvement in muscle performance after one-year cessation of low-magnitude high-frequency vibration in community elderly.

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the effects on muscle performance after one-year cessation of 18-month low-magnitude high-frequency vibration (LMHFV) intervention in the untrained community elderly.

METHODS: This is a case-control study with 59 community elderly women (25 control without any treatment; 34 received 18-month LMHFV but discontinued for 1 year from our previous clinical study). Muscle strength, balancing ability, occurrence of fall/fracture, quality of life (QoL) were assessed 1-year after cessation of intervention. The 30-month results were compared with baseline and 18-month treatment endpoint data between groups.

RESULTS: At 30 months (i.e. one year post-intervention), the muscle strengths of dominant and non-dominant legs relative to baseline in treatment group were significantly better than those of control. In balancing ability test, reaction time, movement velocity and maximum excursion of treatment group (relative to baseline) remained significantly better than the control group. The muscle strength, balancing ability and quality of life at 30 months relative to 18 months did not show significant differences between the two groups.

CONCLUSION: The benefits of LMHFV for balancing ability, muscle strength and risk of falling in elderly were retained 1 year after cessation of LMHFV.