The effects of whole body vibration therapy on bone mineral density and leg muscle strength in older adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis:

Objective: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials was undertaken to determine whether whole body vibration improves bone mineral density and leg muscle strength in older adults.Data sources: Sources included MEDLINE, CINAHL, EMBASE, PEDro, PubMed, Science Citation Index and the reference list of each eligible article.Review methods: Article search and selection was performed independently by two researchers. The methodological quality of each selected article was rated by the PEDro scale.Results: Thirteen randomized trials (18 articles) totalling 896 subjects fulfilled the selection criteria. Four were considered to have good or excellent methodological quality and the rest were rated as fair. Meta-analyses revealed that whole body vibration has no significant effect on hip or lumbar spine bone mineral density in older women when compared with no intervention or active exercise (P > 0.05). Whole body vibration, however, had a significant treatment effect on knee extension dy...