THE EFFECT OF WHOLE BODY VIBRATION ON BONE DENSITY AND OTHER PARAMETERS IN THE EXERCISING HORSE

Abstract

Maintenance of bone density has implications in preventing catastrophic bone failure in the horse, while whole body vibration (WBV) may have an osteogenic effect. It was hypothesized WBV would increase bone density in the exercising horse, with similar changes in markers of bone metabolism. Radiographs of the third metacarpal were taken of a control group (CON, n = 5), and a treatment group that received WBV (VIB, n = 6) to determine bone mineral content (BMC) via radiographic bone aluminum equivalence over a 28 d treatment period, while serum pyridinoline crosslinks (PYD) and plasma osteocalcin (OC) were analyzed throughout. No differences were observed in BMC due to treatment in the medial (P = 0.99), dorsal (P = 0.48), lateral (P = 0.38) or palmar (P = 0.45) cortices nor in PYD (P = 0.95) or OC (P = 0.70). These results suggest WBV had little impact on BMC or bone markers in the exercising horse.