Acute Effects of Whole Body Vibration on Inhibition in Healthy Children

Abstract

ObjectivesWhole Body Vibration (WBV) is a passive exercise method known to have beneficial effects on various physical measures. Studies on adults furthermore demonstrated beneficial effects of WBV treatment on cognition (e.g. inhibition). The present study replicated these findings in healthy children and examined acute effects of WBV treatment on inhibition.MethodsFifty-five healthy children (aged 8–13) participated in this within-subject design study. WBV treatment was applied by having the children sit on a chair mounted to a vibrating platform. After each condition (vibration vs. non-vibration), inhibition was measured by using the Stroop Color-Word Interference Test. Repeated measures analyses were applied in order to explore the effects of WBV treatment on inhibition, and correlations were computed between the treatment effect and participant characteristics in order to explore individual differences in treatment sensitivity.ResultsThree-minute WBV treatments had significant beneficial effects on inhibition in this sample of healthy children. Especially the repeated application (three times) of WBV treatment appeared beneficial for cognition. Stronger WBV treatment effects were correlated with higher intelligence and younger age, but not with symptoms of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).ConclusionsThis study demonstrates that especially repeated WBV treatment improves inhibition in healthy children. As this cognitive function is often impaired in children with developmental disorders (e.g. ADHD), future studies should further explore the effects, working mechanism and potential applicability of WBV treatment for this target group.

Whole Body Vibration Improves Attention and Motor Performance in Mice Depending on the Duration of the Whole-Body Vibration Session

“…WBV is known to stimulate muscle activity (Bosco et al, 1999;Burke and Schiller, 1976), and the current findings of the Balance beam with improved motor performance after WBV are therefore in full support of these observations. The improved attention in the object recognition task corroborates the found improvements in attention in humans (Fuermaier et al, 2014 a,b ; Regterschot et al, 2014, den Heijer et al, 2015.…”

“…A series of studies in humans showed that two minutes of WBV applied via a chair mounted on a platform improved attention/cognitive interference in healthy (young) adults and adults with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) (Fuermaier et al, 2014a;Regterschot et al, 2014). Moreover, it was found that repeated WBV treatment (three times three minutes) improved cognitive interference in healthy children (den Heijer et al, 2015). The above mentioned studies show that acute or short-term WBV treatments improve cognitive performance, but it is not known whether this is true for chronic or long-term WBV treatments as well.…”

Passive exercise in a multisensory environment in order to manage adverse effects in physically inactive patients with dementia: a randomized controlled trial

“…It is also possible that the effects of passive exercise only last for a limited amount of time. Most studies that reported improved cognitive performance after WBV assessed this immediately after the WBV session [13,15,16]. For TMSim it is unknown whether effects are more likely to be short or long lasting.…”

“…Multiple studies reported increased muscle strength, mobility, balance and lower blood pressure after WBV [9][10][11][12]. Moreover, WBV was found to improve attention and inhibition, both acute (in schoolchildren, young adults (with ADHD)) as well as after 5 weeks (in older adults) [13][14][15][16]. Based on these findings it is thought that both TMSim and WBV will lead to a diffuse activation of different brain areas, but that the combination of TMSim + WBV will elicit the strongest effects [17].…”

Could whole body vibration exercises influence the risk factors for fractures in women with osteoporosis?

“…WBV exercise may also increase muscular strength and power [27] , [28] that would lead to a better neuromuscular function. Studies [29] , [30] have also described that WBV exercise could improve cognitive functions in children and young adults; all of these benefits could help reduce the risk of falls fragility and fractures.…”