Acute effects of whole body vibration on foot sole sensitivity and plantar pressures during gait initiation
- Martin Alfuth1,
- Anne Beiring1,
- Dieter Klein1 and
- Dieter Rosenbaum1Email author
https://doi.org/10.1186/1757-1146-5-S1-O24
© Alfuth et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2012
Published: 10 April 2012
Keywords
Background
Sensory receptors in the skin of the foot sole show a site-specific sensitivity to local pressures and vibrations [1] and provide feedback during foot loading activities. Impaired plantar feedback has been shown to affect plantar pressures and kinematics during gait [2–5]. The present study investigated the acute effects of whole body vibration on plantar sensitivity and foot loading during gait.
Materials and methods
Fifteen healthy subjects (28.4 ± 4.4 years) were tested before and after 3 minutes of whole body vibrations at a frequency of 30 Hz (bilateral stance on a Galileo® Med M Plus vibration trainer with slightly bent knees). Semmes-Weinstein monofilaments were used to test plantar sensitivity to light touch at the hallux and the heel. Plantar pressures during gait initiation were recorded using an EMED-ST4 platform.
Results
Boxplots with plantar sensitivity thresholds of the hallux and the heel before and after whole body vibration (*p < 0.025).
Conclusions
In conclusion, high-intensity whole-body vibration affects plantar sensitivity by slightly increasing the sensory perception thresholds. However, this decrease in plantar feedback does not seem to be functionally relevant with respect to foot loading during gait initiation.
Authors’ Affiliations
References
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Copyright
This article is published under license to BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
