I'm very excited to be adding Vibroacoustic Therapy to my practice. I have found it to be extremely therapeutic on a personal level and feel deeply privileged to share it with my clients. Although I encourage everyone to do their own research the following research quotes and links may be helpful in determining if it is the right therapy for you or a loved one.
“Vibroacoustic therapy is a new sound technology that uses audible sound vibrations to reduce symptoms, invoke relaxation, and alleviate stress. This technology is developed based on the recognition that external vibration can influence body function. Research demonstrates the effectiveness of vibroacoustic therapy. Implications for nurses include investigating the possibilities of vibroacoustic therapy in various nursing settings to promote patient well-being and improve the therapeutic environment.” https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15222599/
“Conclusion: In the present study, the LFSS treatment showed no adverse effects and patients receiving the LFSS treatment showed statistically and clinically relevant improvement. Further phase 2 and 3 trials are warranted.
Treatments involved 23 min of LFSS at 40 Hz, delivered using transducers in a supine position.
Measures (repeated before and after treatment) included the Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire, Jenkins Sleep Scale, Pain Disability Index, sitting and standing without pain (in minutes), cervical muscle range of motion and muscle tone. Mean percentages were calculated on end of treatment self-reports of improvement on pain, mood, insomnia and activities of daily living.
Results: Significant improvements were observed with median scores: Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire, 81% (P<0.0001); Jenkins Sleep Scale, 90% (P<0.0001); and Pain Disability Index, 49.1% (P<0.0001). Medication dose was reduced in 73.68% of patients and completely discontinued in 26.32%. Time sitting and standing without pain increased significantly (P<0.0001). Cervical muscle range of motion increased from 25% to 75% (P=0.001), while muscle tone changed from hypertonic to normal (P=0.0002)." https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4325896/
Professor Bartel of the Faculty of Music and his team in the Music and Health Research Collaboratory are exploring the medical effects of low frequency sound and have demonstrated it can play a key role in reducing the symptoms of Parkinsons Disease.
“Vibroacoustic therapy (VAT) consists of low sound frequencies that are transmitted to the body and mind through special transducers that convert the sound to inner body massage. MaHRC associates Heidi Ahonen and Quincy Almeida treated two groups of Parkinson’s patients (20 with dominant tremor symptoms and 20 with slow/rigid movement symptoms) with five minutes of 30 Hz vibration.”
Bartel points to research that shows that “several medical conditions including Parkinson’s and neuralgic pain like fibromyalgia, may be related to a common brain mechanism – a brain rhythm disorientation between the inner brain and the outer cortex. Since the rhythmic pulses of music can drive and stabilize these, we speculate that low frequency sound might help in fibromyalgia as well as Parkinson’s.” https://www.utoronto.ca/news/good-vibrations-using-sound-treat-disease
“In the present study vibroacoustic therapy was tried out in the case of body dissatisfaction, Vibroacoustic therapy promotes changes in the state of mood and comfort, which are important for bodily well-being. Vibroacoustic therapy can be used for reducing stress in a non clinical population and added to treatment programs, including interventions for diminishing body dissatisfaction.” https://docs.google.com/file/d/0ByfSfYOMMG5XSVFRcU4wSS1veUU/edit
“A significant improvement in sadness and depression as
assessed by the DMAS was shown in the 15 elderly NH residents (p<0.05) after 2 weeks of VAT. Overall, these findings suggest that VAT induced relaxation in the elderly NH residents with symptoms of depression." "These reports suggest that VAT has an effect similar to aerobic exercise through activation of the p38MAPK pathway." "Falempin et al. suggested that tendon vibration (120 Hz) applied to rat soleus muscle can be used as a strategy to counteract the atrophic process observed after hindlimb unloading" https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/jpts/24/3/24_291/_pdf
Conclusions: Low-frequency sound wave therapy may have the potential to promote well-being of frail elderly subjects via improved functional capacity, especially in subjects who are too frail to undertake exercise. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19717506/
"The preliminary findings showed that passive application of low frequency sound wave stimulation therapy through both hands and feet was effective in alleviating pain and improving functional ability in patients with chronic back pain." https://content.iospress.com/articles/journal-of-back-and-musculoskeletal-rehabilitation/bmr171042
“In conclusion, VA therapy influences both psychological and physiological processes. Music is received, processed and interpreted in the brain, and the emotional and associating effect of music stimulates psychological processes. At the same time, physical effects go alongside or are the result of psychological activity, and music has an active effect on physical behaviour. These experiments have not only identified further evidence of the way music affects us at a psychological level, but has also measured physical response. Because VA therapy is an intervention that presents a physical stimulus in the form of a pulsed sinusoidal low frequency tone, these studies have found some evidence of the effect of sound within this frequency range” https://www.wfmt.info/Musictherapyworld/modules/archive/stuff/papers/Wigram.pdf