BACK VIBE PROGRAM ROLE OF VIBRATION EXERCISE IN LOW BACK PAIN. Copyright 2012 All Rights Reserved. VibrationExercise.com Page 1

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Evelyn Ellis
5 years ago
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BACK VIBE PROGRAM ROLE OF VIBRATION EXERCISE IN LOW BACK PAIN

2 COPYRIGHT NOTICE This website and its content is copyright of vibrationexercise.com All rights reserved. Any distribution or reproduction of part or all of the contents in any form is prohibited other than the following: You may print or download to a local hard disk extracts for your personal and non-commercial use only You may copy the content to individual third parties for their personal use, but only if you acknowledge the website as the source of the material You may not, except with our express written permission, distribute or commercially exploit the content. Nor may you transmit or store it in any other website or other form of electronic retrieval system. Copyright 2012 All Rights Reserved. VibrationExercise.com Page 2

3 Role of Vibration Exercise in Low Back Pain Difference between vibration exercise and occupational vibration When we mention vibration exercise, some health professionals tend to confuse the exercise programs with another term that is often associated with causing low back pain. There s a term called whole body vibration that originated years ago. This referred to occupational vibration, such as sitting in a truck, using a jack hammer, or working in environments where there is vibration. Unfortunately for vibration exercise, they also termed this whole body vibration exercise. That s where the confusion came from. However, there is a difference between both of these: Occupational vibration takes hours a day, and accumulates over years to produce any negative effects on the body. Vibration exercise is something that s done in as little as 10 minutes a day. Vibration exercise is based on providing a mechanical stimulus to your body, generating involuntary muscle contractions. This is similar to those electrical pads that therapists and doctors place on injured body parts. Electrodes are hooked up to a body part and the machine helps in contracting that injured muscle. Vibration does this without electrical impulses. That s why vibration exercise is starting to be called biomechanical muscle stimulation among therapists and doctors. This differentiates it from electrical muscle stimulation. The biggest factor is that this term actually describes what it does, rather than whole body vibration, which confuses the public and the health care field. Vibration exercise is researched in many Universities and hospitals across the world. To date, there are well over 500 research articles in credible journals that Copyright 2012 All Rights Reserved. VibrationExercise.com Page 3

4 show the positive benefits of vibration exercise. There have been several research studies that have pointed to the positive benefits of vibration for low back pain. Vibration exercise benefits Vibration exercise has been an effective treatment of low back pain. In the end of the day, it s just exercise. However, it has many advantages over conventional exercise programs when it comes to addressing low back pain: Vibration exercise can be done in a fraction of the time as conventional exercise. This is an advantage if you have difficulty exercising for longer periods of time. Vibration exercise produces an involuntary muscle contraction. This is an advantage if you have some form of limitation or disability that prevents you from getting the right muscles to contract. Some people may have poor leg strength and are unable to move around and get up from a chair. When they try to do regular strength training, it provides too much stress on their back or they don t have the strength or endurance to complete the exercise. However, with vibration exercise, you can easily find the most comfortable position to be in and allow the vibration machine to help contract your muscles for you. Vibration produces greater flexibility increases than conventional exercises. Research has shown the positive benefits of vibration exercise on flexibility. In fact, some studies have shown it to be twice as effective as regular stretching. Another study found that the increase in flexibility stayed even after one stopped stretching. With regular stretching exercises, the muscle went back to its original tight length. Copyright 2012 All Rights Reserved. VibrationExercise.com Page 4

5 Vibration increases the circulation and blood flow. This is extremely important for those with low back pain. Most people that have pain may limit their exercise program. This leads not only to a decrease in strength and flexibility, but also a decrease in circulation. When we start to do less activity, it affects our overall health. Research has shown that if you sit longer than 4 hours a day, your risk of death is greater than someone who moves around more through the day. Those with back pain are usually more sedentary than others. An increase in circulation allows one to offset the problems that arise from inactivity. Vibration and low back research Over the years, there have been several studies that have come out with respect to low back pain. The studies have involved those with chronic low back pain, to the effects of vibration for those with extended bed rest. Some of the studies involved the European Space Agency, which looked at the effects of vibration on weightlessness. This is a summary of some of these research studies. One of the first studies done on chronic low back pain was published in the peer reviewed journal Spine in The study looked at the treatment of chronic low back pain with extension exercises and vibration. The study found that well controlled vibration may be the cure rather than the cause of lower back pain. The study also found that exclusive muscle force strength wasn t the only cause of low back pain. This is important because in order to provide an effective exercise program, one needs to know that there are many causes of low back pain. Proprioception (body awareness) is another factor that is related to low back pain. Our muscles stop contracting at the right times, leading to poor proprioception and muscle control. A study that was published in the Australian Journal of Physiotherapy in 2005 looked at the effects of vibration on low Copyright 2012 All Rights Reserved. VibrationExercise.com Page 5

6 back proprioception. The study found a significant improvement of 39% in proprioception of the low back. These positive results in certain areas of low back pain led to another study that looked at different outcomes that can be improved upon with vibration. The study was published in the Journal of Rehabilitation Medicine in The study looked at vibration exercise over a 12 week time frame, with a frequency of two times per week. The advantage of this study was that it measured the same outcomes that therapists and doctors use in practice to measure success with any program. There was a 20.37% improvement in the Postural Stability Index. There was also a 25.15% reduction in the Oswestry Index, which is a measure of pain and disability. A lifting test also showed an improvement of %. All these favorable results show that vibration exercise is increasingly being used in therapy practices and is on the way to being an integral part of any rehabilitation program. The above studies looked at strength and proprioception for chronic low back pain. But what about those that have acute low back pain? Acute low back pain has many definitions, but we like to use the term to define back pain that has been around for less than 4 weeks. For this type of low back pain, the pain and limitation in movement may be greater. Any form of exercise or movement can increase the pain or discomfort. The exercises that are provided for chronic low back pain may not be used for those with acute low back pain. However, the exercises do not need to be as aggressive for acute low back pain. In order to understand what the benefits of vibration is for acute low back pain, we need to understand what we need to address to ensure that the pain is treated as fast as possible. It s common knowledge among health professionals that the majority of low back pain improves within 4 weeks all by itself. This has led some uninformed health professionals Copyright 2012 All Rights Reserved. VibrationExercise.com Page 6

7 to state that low back pain doesn t need any treatment. However, 80% of the cost and suffering of low back pain happens from the 20 percent of people that do not get better in 4 weeks. This truly shows that initial treatment or goals is crucial to ensuring that all back pain recovers. One of the most interesting findings is that there is considerable muscle wasting in the low back after an acute low back pain attack. What s more interesting is that even if low back pain gets better, the muscle wasting persists if it has not been addressed. This weakness produces a greater risk of recurrence of low back pain over time. That s why it s crucial for those with low back pain to address this muscle wasting. The studies by the European Space Agency provided some great insight into just how powerful vibration can be in helping prevent this muscle wasting. The results were published in the Journal Spine in The study found that vibration exercise reduced low back muscle wasting and spinal tissue deconditioning during bed rest. We should note that these individuals were not jumping on a vibration machine. They were simply getting vibration stimulation to their feet while they lay in bed. These types of positions are easy to do on a vibration platform. Current research shows some positive effects of vibration exercise on low back pain, whether it s acute or chronic. These results are in line with our own experience in treating hundreds of back pain sufferers with vibration exercise. We have been able to refine and customize the vibration exercise programs based upon the area of concern. The protocols outlined in the Back Vibe program are the result of years of treatment. Copyright 2012 All Rights Reserved. VibrationExercise.com Page 7

BACK VIBE PROGRAM STEP 3: INCREASE STRENGTH. Copyright 2012 All Rights Reserved. VibrationExercise.com Page 1

BACK VIBE PROGRAM STEP 3: INCREASE STRENGTH Copyright 2012 All Rights Reserved. VibrationExercise.com Page 1 COPYRIGHT NOTICE This website and its content is copyright of vibrationexercise.com 2012. All