Brief Article
Copyright ©2011 Baishideng Publishing Group Co., Limited. All rights reserved.
World J Orthop. Dec 18, 2011; 2(12): 116-120
Published online Dec 18, 2011. doi: 10.5312/wjo.v2.i12.116
Stochastic resonance whole body vibration reduces musculoskeletal pain: A randomized controlled trial
Achim Elfering, Jan Thomann, Volker Schade, Lorenz Radlinger
Achim Elfering, Jan Thomann, Department of Psychology, University of Bern, 3000 Bern, Switzerland
Volker Schade, Centre for Human Resource Management and Organizational Engineering, 3000 Bern, Switzerland
Lorenz Radlinger, Bern University of Applied Sciences, Health, 3000 Bern, Switzerland
Author contributions: Thomann J performed the majority of experiment; Schade V and Radlinger L co-ordinated and provided the collection of data and were also involved in editing the manuscript; Elfering A designed the study, did the analyses and wrote the manuscript.
Supported by A Grant from the Swiss National Accident Insurance Fund (SUVA, Project “Stochastisches Resonanztraining” (to Elfering A and Schade V)
Correspondence to: Achim Elfering, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Psychology, University of Bern, Muesmattstr. 45, 3000 Bern, Switzerland. achim.elfering@psy.unibe.ch
Telephone: +41-31-6313639 Fax: +41-31-6318212
Received: July 8, 2011
Revised: November 9, 2011
Accepted: December 1, 2011
Published online: December 18, 2011
Abstract

AIM: To examined the effects of stochastic resonance whole-body vibration training on musculoskeletal pain in young healthy individuals.

METHODS: Participants were 43 undergraduate students of a Swiss University. The study was designed as a randomized controlled trial (RCT) with randomized group allocation. The RCT consisted of two groups each given 12 training sessions during four weeks with either 5 Hz- Training frequency (training condition) or 1.5 Hz Training frequency (control condition). Outcome was current musculoskeletal pain assessed in the evening on each day during the four week training period.

RESULTS: Multilevel regression analysis showed musculoskeletal pain was significantly decreased in the training condition whereas there was no change in the control condition (B = -0.023, SE = 0.010, P = 0.021). Decrease in current musculoskeletal pain over four weeks was linear.

CONCLUSION: Stochastic resonance whole-body vibration reduced musculoskeletal pain in young healthy individuals. Stochastic resonance vibration and not any other exercise component within training caused pain reduction.

Keywords: Randomized controlled trial; Musculoskeletal pain; Training study; Stochastic vibration