Non-drug therapies for patients with vibration disease associated with exposure to local vibration
Authors: Rusanova Dina V. , Slivnitsyna Natalya V. , Katamanova Еlena V. , Kuleshova Marina V. , Lakhman Oleg L. , Kuptsova Natalya G. 
Published: May 2024

Non-drug methods include acupuncture, the most effective way to regulate the body's energy system. Pulsed magnetic stimulation (PMS) is based on the application of the principles of electromagnetic induction, causes hyperpolarization or depolarization of nerve cells. The methods are practically not used in the clinic of occupational diseases, and their effectiveness in the treatment of vibration disease (VD) has not been established.
The study aims to evaluate changes in the central nervous system and peripheral nerves, as well as in the psychological status of patients with vibration disease after sessions of acupuncture and pulsed magnetic stimulation.
Using the acupuncture method, 24 male patients were treated with a diagnosis of VD associated with exposure to local vibration (average age 49.9±3.8 years, average length of service — 19.4±4.3 years), PMS — 24 people with a diagnosis of VD associated with exposure to local vibration (average age 48.8±3.4 years, average length of service — 18.1±3.4 years).
The treatment methods performed made it possible to improve the quality of therapy, which was confirmed by a positive change in the indicators of visual and somatosensory evoked potentials, data from electroneuromyographic studies, vibration sensitivity and algesimetry, the state of the mnestic and attentional spheres of activity improved.
The use of the acupuncture method allowed to improve the indicators of bioelectric activity of the brain: the amplitude of the peak N1 of visual evoked potentials increased (from 3.2 to 6.7 MV, p<0.05), the latency of the peak P200 decreased from 178.0 to 142.5 ms, p<0.05. The threshold of pain sensitivity on the zygomatic bone, on the phalanx of the 2nd finger of the hand and on the protruding part of the inner ankle decreased by 63, 125 and 250 Hz, p<0.05. Vibration sensitivity improved (on the ulnar process, phalanx of 2 fingers of the hand, p<0.01, on the tubercle of the tibia, p<0.05).
Magnetic stimulation contributed to the improvement of cerebral changes in the treated patients — the latency of auditory evoked potentials decreased (p<0.03 for peak P1 and p<0.05 for peak P2), the amplitude of visual evoked potentials increased (p<0.05), the bioelectric activity of the occipital lobes of the brain increased. The duration of the afferent excitation wave at the level of the cervical region (latency N11 and N13, p<0.05) and thalamic structures (latency P25, p<0.05) increased.
Non-drug therapy allowed to restore the time of excitation by the motor component of axons in patients on the upper extremities during acupuncture, on the upper and lower extremities during treatment with magnetic stimulation (p<0.05), improved indicators characterizing the mnestic-attentional and psychoemotional spheres of the treated.
Ethics. Conclusion of the MEС of the Federal State Budgetary Scientific Institution "East Siberian Institute of Medical and Environmental Research" No. 32 dated 09/10/2019.