Background/Purpose . There are age-related declines in physiological functioning, functional capacity, and health-related quality of life (HRQL). Mitigating the rate of decline is an important focus of preventive health. Recent evidence suggests that whole-body-vibration (WBV) may be effective in improving physiological parameters and functional capacity in older adults and that the benefits may be comparable to traditional exercise modalities. Whether this holds true for HRQL is unclear. This study's purpose was to compare the effects of WBV to a community-based exercise program (CBEP) on older adults' HRQL.
Method . Twenty-eight participants (4 male, M age= 83.5 ±3.5, and 24 female, M age = 74.1±8.2) were randomly assigned to WBV or CBEP. The intervention lasted 6 months, with participants doing WBV 10-15 min, 5 d/wk on a TurboSonic® Deluxe WBV platform or CBEP 50 min, 2 d/wk. The SF-36 Health Survey was used to assess physical (i.e., physical function, role physical, bodily pain, and general health) and mental (i.e., mental health, role emotional, social function, and vitality) dimensions of health. Data were collected pre- post-intervention.
Analysis/Results . Controlling for age and gender, a 2 (group) × 2 (time) repeated measures ANCOVA, with Bonferonni correction, revealed a significant time effect for “role limitations due to physical health problems”,F (1, 27)=12.45, p < 0.005, which accounted for 34.2% of variance. No other time, group, or interaction effects were found.
Conclusions . Following 6-months of WBV or CBEP, older adults' physical functioning improved. No other differences were observed. The small sample size limits the generalizability of these findings.