Vibrationsträning vid knäledsartros
In cooperation with Hälsoteamet Halmstad a pilot study was made to see if whole body vibration exercise has any effect on muscle strength, movement and experience of pain in people with knee osteoarthritis. Today whole body vibration exercise is a revolutionary exercise method that needs more studies to show the positive and negative effects. Osteoarthritis is a degenerative disease where more cartilage is destroyed than replaced. The most common symptoms are pain, stiffness, restricted movement, muscularly atrophy, tenderness and instability. The cartilage needs pressure to rebuild, it is therefore important that the patient exercise. Studies have shown that whole body vibration exercise with low amplitude and frequency has effects like alleviation of pain, increased movement and muscle strength. The aim of this study was to see if strength training on an Xrsize vibration plate has an effect on muscle strength, movement and experience pain in people with knee osteoarthritis. The subject group has included six women and one man between the ages of 56 to 70 years, with knee osteoarthritis verified by x-ray. Following methods was made before and after intervention to measure muscle strength, movement and experience pain: KOOS, interview, VAS, Elektrogoniometer, MuscleLab, chair stands, six minute walk test and one leg jump. The vibration programme included three dynamic exercises, performed at the frequency of 25 Hz.The test results show that three people have increased their muscle strength and movement and also decreased the experience of pain from the osteoarthritis. According to the subject group, four people experienced positive effects and three experienced negative or no effect. The subject group was too small to make a general conclusion of the effects on knee osteoarthritis from whole body vibration exercise. The positive and negative effects from this study indicate a need for a larger study including a control group.