help with bone loss

donut · 12-28-2004, 11:48 AM

I don't know where to pos this, so I'll do it here. I was reading a magazine a while back and there was a blurp in it about how NASA scientists are concerned about bone loss in weightless environments. They did a test on chickens, I believe, where they made the chickens' bones lose density by some form or another. Then they took the chickens and put them in cages/pens/etc. with vibrating floors. The article showed a cross-section of the bone before and after, and there was significant improvement in their density after the 'treatment' they recieved. My question is this: Is there such a thing for humans? Would it be safe? Seems like it could be effective for people when in their standing frames, if the vibrations did not have adverse effects on internal organs or anything.

SCI-Nurse · 12-29-2004, 08:07 AM

Good question, Donut. I saw a paper presented on this at the APS conference in September by Clinton Rubin, PhD. He has done a series of studies with turkeys (not chickens) standing on vibrating plates and shown that with a very specific type of low intensity vibration that bone density can be improved. Too little vibration is useless, and too much is actually harmful, so there are very specific parameters.

He has done some trials on AB post-menopausal women, and also on children with CP (who also can have osteoporosis similar to SCI) which are promising. He has been working with NASA on a prototype to be used in the space station as well. Although there is no commercially available product yet, it may be available in the future, and several centers are interested in doing clinical trials with people with SCI as part of this.

(KLD)

AO · 12-29-2004, 08:51 AM

Have a look at this thread.
I dont know how 'specific' it needs to be but these machines can vibrate at the required frequency. I suppose it depends on the amplitude too.

Pity they are not widely available.

12-28-2004, 11:48 AM	#1
donut Junior Member Join Date: Oct 2004 Posts: 25	help with bone loss I don't know where to pos this, so I'll do it here. I was reading a magazine a while back and there was a blurp in it about how NASA scientists are concerned about bone loss in weightless environments. They did a test on chickens, I believe, where they made the chickens' bones lose density by some form or another. Then they took the chickens and put them in cages/pens/etc. with vibrating floors. The article showed a cross-section of the bone before and after, and there was significant improvement in their density after the 'treatment' they recieved. My question is this: Is there such a thing for humans? Would it be safe? Seems like it could be effective for people when in their standing frames, if the vibrations did not have adverse effects on internal organs or anything.

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12-29-2004, 08:07 AM	#2
SCI-Nurse Moderator Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: USA Posts: 41,367	Good question, Donut. I saw a paper presented on this at the APS conference in September by Clinton Rubin, PhD. He has done a series of studies with turkeys (not chickens) standing on vibrating plates and shown that with a very specific type of low intensity vibration that bone density can be improved. Too little vibration is useless, and too much is actually harmful, so there are very specific parameters. He has done some trials on AB post-menopausal women, and also on children with CP (who also can have osteoporosis similar to SCI) which are promising. He has been working with NASA on a prototype to be used in the space station as well. Although there is no commercially available product yet, it may be available in the future, and several centers are interested in doing clinical trials with people with SCI as part of this. (KLD)

12-29-2004, 08:51 AM	#3
AO Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: SA Posts: 863	Have a look at this thread. I dont know how 'specific' it needs to be but these machines can vibrate at the required frequency. I suppose it depends on the amplitude too. Pity they are not widely available.