Vibrating Machine May Build Bone Density in Cerebral Palsy Children

A new experimental study examining the effects of a vibrating machine in children with cerebral palsy provides hope for kids with the disorder.

The technique known as “dynamic motion” therapy is designed to increase bone density and improve muscle mass in cerebral palsy children who don’t build bone or muscle as strongly as their peers.

Bone bioengineer Clinton Rubin of State University of New York at Stony Brook, who launched the vibration technique, originally began studying the new treatment in animals. “Bone…is an active, alive tissue,” Rubin said.” He believes that the rapid, gentle vibration that puts low-level stress on bones helps them become active and responsive to treatment.

Muscles vibrate about 20 to 50 hertz a second, so Rubin developed a device, which vibrates at 30 hertz a second to generate force throughout the bones and muscles. He found that putting sheep on the machine for 20 minutes a day for a year significantly improved the quality and mass of their back legs. The sheep bones were 12 percent stiffer and 27 percent stronger as a result of the vibration therapy.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has deemed Rubin’s machine safe, and now Rubin and other experts are administering more studies to show the device is medically useful.

Tishya Wren, a biomechanical engineer who leads the cerebral palsy study out of Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, says the vibration stimulation has shown gains in bone density and also slows down bone loss.

The study found that the bones of children with cerebral palsy who used the machine grew in density up to six percent. The bones of the children who didn’t participate in vibration therapy thinned by almost 12 percent.

Vibration therapy has also been tested in post-menopausal women who suffer from bone loss, and younger women who have low bone density. It will also be studied in astronauts as a way to keep bones and muscles strong in space.

If your child or someone you love, contact a cerebral palsy lawyer who can explain the legal rights of cerebral palsy patients.