Top Benefits of Using Vibration Therapy for Chronic Pain
Chronic pain is a long-standing pain typically lasting over three months.
The physical side effects of chronic pain can include fatigue, sleep disturbances, a weakened immune system, and decreased mobility. Among many chronic sufferers, the pain goes beyond the physical, often causing emotional and psychological imbalance.
Ultimately, it disrupts a person’s work, appetite, and physical activity and prevents them from enjoying life.
Vibration therapy for pain has gained significant attention for treating chronic pain. That’s due in part to its ability to improve circulatory system function and potentially accelerate healing.
Let’s learn what whole-body vibration treatment means and how vibration machines or plates help relieve muscle pain, back pain, and more.
Understanding Vibration Therapy
Vibration therapy stimulates your tissues, muscles, and ligaments through vibrations and causes them to contract and relax. Vibration therapy, therefore, helps muscles, joints, and soft tissues feel better, unlike high-impact exercise which can make them tense and tight.
Different vibration frequencies bring about different results. Patients seeking physiotherapy use lower frequency treatment to improve their level of strength and conditioning. Higher frequency produces exercise-level benefits, but it must be done under supervision.
Vibration for pain relief can be achieved through vibration machines or vibration plates. Some equipment produces vibrations by moving vertically, whereas others go up-down, front-back, and sideways.
Types of Vibration Therapy
There are two primary types of vibration therapy:
- Whole-body vibration (WBV) – In whole-body vibration treatment, a person can stand, sit or lie on the vibrating platform. Vibrations are transmitted throughout the body, making it ideal for widespread pain relief.
- Localized vibration therapy (LVT) – It allows targeted vibrations on a specific body part or area. It is generally accomplished using handheld devices.
Top Benefits of Vibration Therapy for Chronic Pain Relief
Chronic pain disorder has raised many questions over the years, such as what causes it and how it can be treated.
But now, a ray of light is at the end of the tunnel.
These data from the studies suggest that vibration therapy and whole-body vibration treatment positively affect patients with CLBP (chronic low back pain) and chronic musculoskeletal pain, respectively. Some of the benefits include:
- Pain reduction – Patients using vibration plates for back pain experienced pain relief due to the release of endorphins and disrupting pain signals in the nervous system.
- Improved blood circulation – Whole-body vibration treatment increased skin blood circulation and nitric oxide production for patients with neurovascular complications.
- Muscle relaxation – Chronic pain sufferers using vibration machines for muscle pain seem to have increased muscle activation, thus reducing muscle soreness.
- Enhanced mobility – The mechanical stimulation delivered by vibration therapy for pain can promote tissue extensibility, improving muscle flexibility and joint mobility.
Targeted Application Areas for Chronic Pain Relief
Higher vibration frequencies and longer sessions increase the amount of oxygen used, muscle temperature, and skin blood flow.
Here are the effects of vibration therapy on targeted body parts:
Back pain
The vibration therapy can effectively relieve pain and improve lumbar dysfunction in patients with CLBP.
Also, WBV can significantly activate trunk muscle fibers and improve their strength. It also enhances proprioceptive function, improving spinal dysfunction.
Neck and shoulder pain
Neck and shoulder pain is a musculoskeletal system disease causing headaches, limiting range of motion, and functional limitations.
Vibration therapy using a shoulder joint and flexi-bar is proven effective for relieving the pain and functional disability of chronic backache patients.
Joint pain
Whole-body vibration treatment improves pain, strength, and knee osteoarthritis (OA) functioning with squats and exercise.
Safety Considerations and Precautions
Many workers experience adverse health effects from occupational exposure to vibration. These movements can lead to health issues in different professions. However, this typically represents long-term exposure to vibration.
For example, truck drivers may experience back pain. Construction workers may have circulation problems. Other issues can include nerve problems, hearing loss, blurry vision, ringing in the ears, headaches, and joint pain.
The International Organization for Standardization has set Threshold Limit Values (ISO-TLV) for vibration intensity. These values aim to prevent harm to organs and tissues.
Even though vibration therapy is becoming more popular for pain relief, it’s important to be careful. Using too much intensity, duration, or frequency could cause the injury you’re trying to avoid.
Manufacturers, therapy centers, and clinics involved in vibration therapy for pain should consider the frequency and intensity parameters of whole-body vibration treatment devices.
Safety and Contraindications
The best safety measure one can take while using a vibration machine for muscle/back or chronic pain relief is to perform under a trained physician. That is, of course, after you have consulted your GP, doctor, or healthcare provider.
The contraindications of vibration therapy for pain are as follows:
A wide range of individuals, from normal healthy to chronic pain sufferers, want to experience vibration therapy for pain relief.
However, new contraindications are continuously emerging due to studies and research suggesting the limitation of vibration for pain relief under the following conditions:
Musculoskeletal:
- Hip or knee endoprosthesis
- Osteosynthesis with metal implant in lower body
- Acute vertebral disk herniation
- Recent fracture
- Acute soft tissue injury
- Joint inflammation
- Osteoporosis with vertebral fracture
Cardiovascular:
- Recent myocardial infarction
- Pacemaker
- Artificial heart valves
- Uncontrolled hypertension
- Venous thrombosis
- Aortic aneurysm
Neurological:
- Epilepsy
- Migraine
- Peripheral neuropathy
- Impaired cognition that precludes exercise training
- Deep brain and/or spinal cord stimulation
Other:
- Pregnancy
- Blood-thinning medications
- Advanced diabetes
- Acute limb edema
- Impaired skin integrity
- Tumors or metastases
- Recent surgery
- Bladder and/or bowel incontinence
How to Incorporate Vibration Therapy into Your Chronic Pain Management Plan?
Foremost, you’ll need to determine which vibration platform fits well in your workout space. Various effective smaller models have grown in popularity because of the trend of working out at home.
For example, vibration plates for back pain may occupy less space than WBV devices.
To get the best results from vibration therapy for pain, make sure to also eat healthy and stay active every day.”
For the best results, try doing whole-body vibration treatment for 15 minutes a day, three times a week.
Wrapping Up
Vibration therapy has shown promise in reducing pain and providing significant benefits. These benefits include improved muscle strength, bone density, blood circulation, flexibility, mobility, weight loss, and faster recovery.
Vibration therapy works on the principle of mechanotransduction, which converts mechanical forces into biochemical signals. In other words, it is a non-invasive treatment utilizing mechanical vibrations to stimulate muscles and tissues.
If you are suffering from chronic pain, it is time to give vibration therapy a chance.