Effects of 3 Months of Controlled Whole Body Vibrations on the Risk of Falls Among Nursing Home Residents

Effects of 3 Months of Controlled Whole Body Vibrations With Low Exposure Period on the Risk of Falls Among Nursing Home Residents

Status

Completed

Phases

Study type

Interventional

Source

ClinicalTrials.gov

Registry ID

NCT01759680

Enrollment

Registered

2013-01-03

Start date

2012-01-31

Completion date

2012-04-30

Last updated

2013-01-03

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Falls

Keywords

Risk of falls, Whole Body Vibration, Nursing Home

Brief summary

Tiredness, lack of motivation and low compliance can be observed in nursing home residents during the practice of physical activity. Because exercises should not be too vigorous, whole body vibration could potentially be an effective alternative. The objective of this randomized controlled trial is to assess the impact of 3-month training by whole body vibration on the risk of falls among nursing home residents. Patients were randomized into two groups: the whole body vibration group which received 3 training sessions every week composed of 5 series of only 15 seconds of vibrations at 30 Hz intensity and a control group with normal daily life for the whole study period. The impact of this training on the risk of falls was assessed blindly by three tests: the Tinetti Test, the Timed Up and Go test and a quantitative evaluation of a 10-second walk performed with a tri-axial accelerometer.

Interventions

DEVICEVibrosphère device

Vertical Sinusoidal vibration

Study design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Intervention model

PARALLEL

Primary purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

SINGLE (Investigator)

Eligibility

Sex/Gender

ALL

Healthy volunteers

Yes

Inclusion criteria

* Resident of nursing home * Able to move

Exclusion criteria

* weighing more than 150 kg * having electronic implants (e.g. pacemaker, brain stimulators) * having prosthetic hips or knees * suffering from epilepsy, bleeding disorders, inflammatory abdominal disorders or at high risk of thromboembolism.

Design outcomes

Primary

Measure	Time frame	Description
Risk of fall	3 months	Tinetti test \< 19 points = high risk of falls

Secondary

Measure	Time frame	Description
Risk of fall evaluated by the Timed up and Go test	3 months	A timed Up and Go \> 14 seconds = high risk of falls
Risk of falls evaluated by the Locometrix	3 months	Locometrix is a walking test

Countries

Belgium

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Mar 23, 2026