Mild chronic whole body vibration does not affect bone mineral mass or density in young females.

Whole body vibration (WBV) is increasingly being used in several physical therapy settings. In order to evaluate the ability of WBV to affect bone mineral component, thirty-six young (mean age 25.3 ± 5.26 yrs) healthy females underwent eight weeks of WBV exercise (nineteen minutes per session, two session a week; vibration amplitude 2.0-5.0 mm, vibration frequency 40-60 Hz). Bone mineral content (BMC) and density (BMD) were evaluated before and after the WBV trial using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry in the whole body mode. Data were analyzed with repeated measures analysis of variance. Results show that neither BMC nor BMD were significantly affected by the WBV trial at the total body or regional skeletal level. It is concluded that, under the current experimental conditions, WBV exercise is not able to improve bone mineral parameters in young healthy females before the peak bone mass. Further investigation is required to recommend WBV for increasing bone quality parameters in premenopausal women.