14 DAY TRIAL // According to a group of investigators, it would appear that older people exposing themselves to short, daily sessions of whole body vibrations may be able to compensate for the bone loss their age brings.
The study that arrived at these conclusions was conducted by experts at the Medical College of Georgia. The team here says that the vibrations appear to have positive effects. Scientists say that the new work was conducted on unsuspecting lab mice that were aged around 18 months. This is the equivalent of 55 to 65 years of age in humans, the group reveals.
The animals were subjected to 30-minute sessions of shaking daily for about 12 weeks, and the researchers say that this stemmed bone mass loss that generally accompanies old age.
In humans, this condition causes fractures, death or severe disabilities, and the healthcare costs associated with these injuries are skyrocketing as the population gets older.
The investigation was conducted by MCG Schools of Graduate Studies and Medicine biomedical engineer Dr. Karl H. Wenger. Details of the work were published in the latest issue of the medical journal Bone, AlphaGalileo reports.
When analyzing the mice, the MCG team found that the hip joint exhibited an increased bone density, a finding that holds great promise if the results can be replicated in humans too.
Among the elderly, hip fractures are one of the leading causes of disability, and death due to complications. The team also found more bone mass in the femur, the longest bone in the body.
It was also demonstrated that the shacking sessions reduce the amount of biomarkers assocaited with bone breakdown that can usually be found in older animals, including us.
The MCG Department of Orthopaedic Surgery science group is currently collaborating with colleagues from the Georgia Prevention Institute to see whether vibrations can improve glucose uptake.
This would be a tremendous achievement, as it could reduce fatty liver disease in pre-diabetic children. Otherwise, the kids go on on to develop full-blown diabetes, which comes associated with a host of other conditions.
The odd thing about this vibrations therapy is that it does not have the same benefits that exercises have on the cardiovascular system. However, they were proven to act beneficially on muscle strength and bone loss.