A Comparison of Muscle Activity Responses of Adults and Children during Whole Body Vibration

Author

Dustin Blair Nash, Utah State University

Date of Award

12-2010

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Departmental Honors

Department

Health, Physical Education, and Recreation

Abstract

Results of recent studies have suggested that attenuation and transmissibility of WBV in adults and children are similar, but due to anatomical differences, it is hypothesized that children employ different strategies. One suggested strategy is that of muscle tuning, whereby muscle activity levels are adjusted to control potentially dangerous accelerations produced by vibration resonance. The purpose of the study was to compare muscle activity responses between children and adults exposed to whole body vibration. It was hypothesized that the muscle activity in children would be greater than that in adults due to muscle tuning strategies. Eleven adults and fourteen children were exposed to WBV at three different frequencies while the EMG at the VL, TA, BF and GC were recorded. The results of this study suggest that muscle activity levels of children are greater than that of adults who are exposed to standing WBV. This suggests that children may be utilizing muscle tuning in order to attenuate standing WBV. This is important to understand before the application of therapeutic WBV to children so as to avoid its application in cases where harm could occur.

Comments

This work made publicly available electronically on January 3, 2011.

Recommended Citation

Nash, Dustin Blair, "A Comparison of Muscle Activity Responses of Adults and Children during Whole Body Vibration" (2010). Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects. 71.
https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/honors/71