Low-magnitude High-frequency Vibration Study on Fracture Rate in Community Elderly
Condition: Fractures
MeSH terms: Fractures, Bone
Study type: Interventional
Phase: Phase 2/Phase 3

Summary: 
      Fragility fracture is common due to global aging problem, incurring huge healthcare
      expenditure. The occurrence of fragility fracture is usually caused by a fall incidence of an
      elderly with low bone quality and poor balancing ability. Therefore, any approach to improve
      or retard both sarcopenia and osteoporosis will be helpful to prevent osteoporotic fracture
      incidence. With the intensive research on low magnitude high frequency vibration (LMHFV),
      many scientific evidences support the application of this biophysical modality on elderly to
      maintain or improve the musculoskeletal tissues in elderly.

      Many previous studies showed the osteogenic properties of vibration treatment and its
      positive effects on muscular performance and blood circulation. The investigators' previous
      reports also indicated that LMHFV could enhance the bone quality in spine and tibia in
      elderly after one-year intervention, as well as the balancing ability with high compliance.
      In animal studies, the application of LMHFV on fracture healing also demonstrated the
      significant acceleration of healing by inducing callus formation and maturation, from which
      upregulation of collagen I, II and BMP-2 gene expression was detected at molecular level. To
      date, the long-term efficacy of LMHFV on reducing fracture risks and fracture rate is,
      however, not available, which needs a systematic large-scale study to answer this important
      research question.

      Therefore, the hypothesis of this study is that LMHFV can maintain or enhance the performance
      of various tissues of the musculoskeletal system in community elderly, thus reducing the
      fracture risks and fracture rate. A large-scale prospective randomized clinical trial will be
      conducted in multiple communities to investigate the long-term effect of LMHFV on fracture
      rate and reduction of fracture risks in community elderly, in which multi-factorial effects,
      in terms of muscle and bone, on musculoskeletal system will also be evaluated. A total of 704
      elderly from 28 community centres will be recruited within 1.5-year time for a 18-month LMHFV
      treatment, who will be assessed on the fracture risks at fixed time points while their
      fracture rates on the third year of this study will be regarded as primary outcome for
      analysis. The findings of this study will provide very useful scientific data to support the
      application of LMHFV for elderly. The ultimate goal is to reduce the fracture rate and the
      quality of life of community-living elderly.
    


Intervention name(s): Low-magnitude high-frequency vibration treatment
Intervention type(s): Device
Intervention description(s): Stand on a vibration platform at 35Hz, 0.3g, 20mins/day and 5 days/week
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: Single (Outcomes Assessor)
Primary purpose: Treatment
Keywords: Fracture rate; Fracture risks