The Effects of Whole-Body Vibration Training on Pulmonary Rehabilitation in Patients With COPD

Abstract

Background:

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is characterized by chronic airway inflammation. Respiratory symptoms and acute exacerbation result in a decline of cardiopulmonary function and exercise tolerance in COPD patients, which in turn seriously affects their daily activities and health-related quality of life. However, effects of high-frequency chest wall oscillation vibratory vest in combination with whole-body vibration on COPD patients were not been reported.

Methods:

We enrolled 24 COPD outpatients from the Pulmonary Rehabilitation Center of Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital. All the research subjects received a regular rehabilitation program by using a HFCWO vibratory vest; 13 of them were randomized to the intervention group (the WBVT group) and received additional WBVT (twice a week for a period of eight weeks; three sessions each time, vibrating at an amplitude of 2mm and a frequency of 20Hz, and each session included vibration lasting three minutes and a sixty-second interval), and the remaining 11 subjects were in the control group without WBVT treatment. The parameters including demographic data, cardiopulmonary parameters including 6-min walking distance (6MWD) test, lung function test, and upper- and lower-limb muscle strength and endurance), chest radiography, and health-related quality of life (including sputum assessment, modified British Medical Research Council (mMRC) Dyspnoea Scale, COPD Assessment Test (CAT), and SGRQ were analyzed.

Results:

All the research subjects completed the eight-week rehabilitation program. The mean age was 67.4 ± 19.6, and the male-female ratio was 2.4. A significant improvement in the 6MWD test was observed in the WBVT group. The subjects in the WBVT group improved more than those in the control group in terms of two symptomatic measures, including CAT scores (WBVT: 11 points, control: 7 points, P = .01) and SGRQ (WBVT: 41.69 points, control: 26.86 points, with a between-group difference of 14.09 points, P = .001). The lower-limb muscle strength and endurance increased significantly after WBVT treatment. No difference was observed in sputum clearance ability and lung function test.

Conclusions:

Our results demonstrated WBVT is a new, safe, and time-efficient exercise modality and should be recommended as part of the regular pulmonary rehabilitation program, aiming at reducing symptoms and improving lower-limb muscle strength and the quality of life for COPD outpatients.