Efeitos do treinamento físico de vibração de corpo inteiro nos níveis de força de membros inferiores em idosos

Abstract

The present study was to analyze the effects of whole-body vibration exercise on strength levels in the lower limbs in elderly subjects. The sample consisted of 15 physically active individuals (62.5±2.62 years old). All volunteers were male gender. They were submitted to eight weeks of training with a vibrating platform were carried out, with sessions of 20 minutes of vibration using increasing frequencies from 15 to 30 Hz, with exposure of 30 seconds of vibration and 30 seconds of rest. Every two minutes there was an increase in the frequency of 1 Hz. The individuals were instructed to stay in the standing position with their feet shoulder-width apart, knees flexed at 130º, arms outstretched holding firmly on the machine's hand rests. The procedure was performed twice a week with an interval of one day. Strength was assessed using a dorsal dynamometer in the knee extension and lumbar spine extension exercises. Strength tests were performed in the fourth and eighth weeks after the last training session. Results: At the end of eight weeks, it was possible to observe significant gains in strength in the muscles involved in the knee extension exercise (p = 0.0001) and in the lumbar spine extension (p = 0.031) after the eight weeks of intervention. Conclusion: It was possible to observe that the whole-body vibration training promoted an improvement in the strength levels of the elderly participants in the study.