Acute effects of stochastic whole-body vibration on executive function and balance in young healthy adults: a randomized controlled trial

Falls represent a major public health concern, leading to injuries and loss of independence, while also imposing substantial financial burden of millions of Swiss francs annually in Switzerland. Modifiable protective factors against falls include good cognitive abilities and good physical balance. The present study investigates the impact of stochastic whole-body vibration training (SR-WBV) on executive functions and balance and thus indirectly on fall prevention. To this end, 62 participants were randomly assigned to either an intervention or a control group. Both groups completed one training session of SR-WBV, with the intervention group exposed to 5 Hz and the control group to 2 Hz. The training on an SRT Zeptor® Medical plus noise device consisted of three one-minute intervals of vibration, separated by one-minute rest periods. Data on executive functions (updating, shifting, inhibition) and balance were collected before and after the intervention, complemented by subjective assessments of concentration and balance through questionnaires. Although most descriptive patterns were consistent with the hypothesized effects, none of the interaction terms reached statistical significance, suggesting that the difference in dose between the intervention and control conditions may have been insufficient to elicit measurable changes in young healthy adults. Future studies could increase contrasts from experimental to control conditions by slightly increasing the frequency in the experimental group or reducing it in the control group in order to test acute effects. The effects of varying frequency, amplitude, and other platform parameters also require more rigorous and systematic examination.