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Evidence for an additional effect of whole-body vibration above resistive exercise alone in preventing bone loss during prolonged bed rest

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Abstract

Summary

The addition of whole-body vibration to high-load resistive exercise may provide a better stimulus for the reduction of bone loss during prolonged bed rest (spaceflight simulation) than high-load resistive exercise alone.

Introduction

Prior work suggests that the addition of whole-body vibration to high-load resistive exercise (RVE) may be more effective in preventing bone loss in spaceflight and its simulation (bed rest) than resistive exercise alone (RE), though this hypothesis has not been tested in humans.

Methods

Twenty-four male subjects as part of the 2nd Berlin Bed Rest Study performed RVE (n = 7), RE (n = 8) or no exercise (control, n = 9) during 60-day head-down tilt bed rest. Whole-body, spine and total hip dual X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) measurements as well as peripheral quantitative computed tomography measurements of the tibia were conducted during bed rest and up to 90 days afterwards.

Results

A better retention of bone mass in RVE than RE was seen at the tibial diaphysis and proximal femur (p ≤ 0.024). Compared to control, RVE retained bone mass at the distal tibia and DXA leg sub-region (p ≤ 0.020), but with no significant difference to RE (p ≥ 0.10). RE impacted significantly (p = 0.038) on DXA leg sub-region bone mass only. Calf muscle size was impacted similarly by both RVE and RE. On lumbar spine DXA, whole-body DXA and calcium excretion measures, few differences between the groups were observed.

Conclusions

Whilst further countermeasure optimisation is required, the results provide evidence that (1) combining whole-body vibration and high-load resistance exercise may be more efficient than high-load resistive exercise alone in preventing bone loss at some skeletal sites during and after prolonged bed rest and (2) the effects of exercise during bed rest impact upon bone recovery up to 3 months afterwards.

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Acknowledgments

Inge Armbrecht, Martina Kratzsch, Erika May and Frank Touby are thanked for their assistance with the radiological measures. The 2nd Berlin Bed Rest Study (BBR2-2) was supported by grant 14431/02/NL/SH2 from the European Space Agency and grant 50WB0720 from the German Aerospace Center (DLR). The 2nd Berlin Bed Rest Study was also sponsored by Novotec Medical, Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Siemens, Osteomedical Group, Wyeth Pharma, Servier Deutschland, P&G, Kubivent, Seca, Astra-Zeneka and General Electric. Daniel L. Belavý was supported by a post-doctoral fellowship from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.

Conflicts of interest

Dieter Felsenberg acts as a consultant to the European Space Agency and Novotec Medical for the exploitation of this study’s results. All other authors have no conflicts of interest.

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Correspondence to D. L. Belavý.

Electronic supplementary material

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ESM Table 1

p values from ANOVA models incorporating all three groups. (DOC 45 kb)

ESM Table 2

p values for the group × study date interaction from two-group ANOVAs (absolute data) (DOC 39 kb)

ESM Table 3

p values from two-group ANOVAs examining percentage change in each variable compared to its baseline value are detailed here. (DOC 76 kb)

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Belavý, D.L., Beller, G., Armbrecht, G. et al. Evidence for an additional effect of whole-body vibration above resistive exercise alone in preventing bone loss during prolonged bed rest. Osteoporos Int 22, 1581–1591 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00198-010-1371-6

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