Effects of Whole-Body Vibration versus Pilates Exercise on Bone Mineral Density among Geriatric Population

Background: Impact exercises can help control the prevalent issue of decreased bone mineral density in older persons. Whole-body vibration and muscle-strengthening workouts are two of the activities that have been researched. Objective: This study aimed to compare the effects of Whole-body vibration and Pilates exercises on bone mineral density in the elderly. Methodology: In this study, 38 elder adults were randomly assigned to one of two groups: Pilates (n = 19) or vibration (n = 19). Areal bone mineral density was measured by dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry at baseline and follow-up for the lumbar spine, femoral neck, whole hip, trochanter, intertrochanter, and ward area. The intervention took place three times a week for twelve weeks, for a total of thirty-six sessions. The duration of this study was from March 2024 to October 2024 and analysis of data was done using SPSS version 25. The categorical data was presented as frequency and percentages and quantitative using mean and standard deviations. Results: The within-group analysis revealed significant improvements in areal bone mineral density values across both groups, with the vibration group showing greater increases compared to the Pilates group in all measured areas (p<0.05). The between-group analysis confirmed that the vibration group achieved significantly higher bone mineral density gains than the Pilates group, particularly in the lumbar spine and trochanter regions (p<0.01). Effect sizes (Cohen’s d) indicate strong practical significance, with values over 1.0 in several areas suggesting a substantial impact of vibration therapy on bone density improvement among older adults. Overall, vibration therapy was more effective than Pilates in enhancing bone mineral density. Conclusion: Both whole-body vibration and Pilates exercises had a comparable impact on bone mineral density in older people, however, whole-body vibration's effects were more noticeable.