A recent study evaluated the immediate effects of a local vibratory stimulation device on subjects with poor proprioception in certain areas of their bodies. In their rationale for conducting the study, the researchers write, “Postural instability owing to poor proprioception is considered a main cause of low-back pain and falls. However, the effect of local vibratory stimulation on a poor proprioceptor on proprioceptive control strategy has yet to be evaluated.”
The study was conducted by applying local vibratory stimulation to poor proprioceptors on six elderly patients with non-specific low-back pain (NSLBP). The researchers compared the proprioceptive control strategy before and after applying the intervention.
The authors write: “As our main finding in this study, patients with NSLBP showed improvements in the proprioceptive control strategy based on proprioceptive inputs from the muscle spindles that respond to a higher frequency. This improvement resulted from the activation of the poor proprioceptor after applying the local vibratory stimulation for one minute.”
Future studies are planned that will address the limitations of this study, including increasing the sample size and evaluating whether improved proprioceptive control strategies can be maintained long term.
Read the full article online at https://doi.org/10.3390/electronics10030341.