Vibration mimics exercise to improve bone health
Doctors often tell patients that exercise is the most effective way to protect bone strength.
Why? Because the stress on bones that occurs during exercise, known as mechanical loading, causes our bones to strengthen. Increasing this loading safely helps bones grow stronger.
Not all exercise is equal. High impact exercise like jogging or jumping jacks is the best way to stimulate our bone’s natural formation process.
Tennis players often have measurably stronger bones in the dominant arm thanks to mechanical loading.
It all starts with bone remodeling
To understand how targeted vibration therapy reduces the loss of bone density, it’s important to understand bone remodeling: the natural process whereby old or damaged bone is resorbed by your body, followed by the formation of new bone matrix.
BONE RESORPTION
Our bones are constantly being remodeled and repaired. To start this process, small areas of old, calcified bone tissue are removed, or resorbed, by one type of bone cell, the osteoclast.
BONE FORMATION
After the old bone tissue is removed, a second type of bone cell, the osteoblast, moves in to lay down new bone tissue.
BONE MINERALIZATION
Over time, the new bone tissue absorbs calcium and becomes mineralized.
WHY BONES TURN OSTEOPOROTIC
Bone remodeling and low bone density
From birth to our 20s, the bone remodeling process balances in the favor of building new bone. Bone resorption happens more slowly than bone formation, resulting in net new bone mass.
By your mid 30s, the scales tilt again. Bone resorption accelerates, and bone formation slows.
Bone mass loss is particularly severe for women after menopause. The rapid reduction in estrogen production causes osteoclasts to remove much more bone than osteoblasts lay down. This results in a high loss of bone mass, making postmenopausal women especially at risk for devastating bone fractures.
Large body of research proves vibration mechanically stimulates bone formation
In third-party studies conducted over the past 10-15 years, vibration has been proven to stimulate mechanical loading and have a positive effect on bone density.
Cellular research
On a cellular level, mechanical vibration has been proven in a lab to produced key markers of bone formation.(2)
Female rats
In postmenopausal female rats, 4-8 weeks of daily vibration increased bone formation and bone cross-sectional area.(3)
Adult female sheep
In one study, 1 year of daily vibration in adult female sheep increased bone strength and bone mineral content.(4)
THE NASA RESEARCH
Astronauts and gravity’s effect on bone density
Did you know that NASA astronauts can lose up to 1% to 2% of bone density per month in the hip and spine due to lack of mechanical forces on their bones from gravity? For context, post-menopausal women lose between 1% to 2.5% per year.
This phenomenon prompted researchers, funded by NASA, to apply the previous lab research to people and investigate vibration therapy—ultimately inspiring the proprietary, precision-targeted technology that powers Osteoboost today.(1)
How Osteoboost uses the science of vibration to change the game
Osteoboost applies the core fundamental principles of mechanical stimulation based on extensive scientific research. Its singular goal is to increase bone density and strength in the regions of the body most vulnerable to devestating, debilitating fractures – the lumbar spine and hips.
The comfortable, wearable belt delivers a patented precision-targeted therapeutic vibration in a unique combination of frequency and amplitude that is dynamically calibrated and auto-dosed.
FUN FACTS ABOUT THE HISTORY OF VIBRATION THERAPY
From carriage rides to vibrating chairs
Did you know that ancient Greeks used vibration to speed up recovery time in warriors after battle? They created vibration by sawing wood or plucking large instruments.
And in the 18th and 19th centuries, scientists like Abbéde St. Pierre and Dr. Jégu created vibrating chairs to treat melancholia, liver disease, and even Parkinsons after noticing that carraige rides over bumpy cobblestone streets improved the conditions of their patients.
References
(1)A Low-Intensity Mechanical Countermeasure to Prohibit Osteoporosis in Astronauts During Long-Term Spaceflight. Principal Investigator: Rubin, Clinton, Co-Investigator: Judex, Stefan, Agency: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
(2)Vibrational stimulation induces osteoblast differentiation and the upregulation of osteogenic gene expression in vitro, T Ota, M Chiba, corresponding author and H Hayashi, published online 2016 Sep 17. doi: 10.1007/s10616-016-0023-x
(3)Possible Mechanisms for the Effects of Sound Vibration on Human Health, L Bartel, A Mosabbir, Published online 2021 May 18. doi: 10.3390/healthcare9050597