Galileo Research Fact Sheet #48: Can Galileo Therapy increase bone mass and decrease fracture risk?

One question frequently asked about Galileo Therapy is whether it safe to be used in the elderly or if it might be too intense for them. What people forget is, that more than 20 years ago Hans Shießl invented Galileo for exactly this purpose: to allow an effective therapy of osteoporotic elderly. The astonishing fact is therefore not that Galileo Therapy can be used in frail osteoporotic elderly ladies but that the same device can also be used to generate significant training effects in athletes (#GRFS33, #GRFS46, #GRFS100, #GRFS119).

This study shows how Galileo Therapy can be used in the elderly. Many studies showed that Galileo Mechanostimulation can improve balance (#GRFS38, #GRFS43) and muscle function / muscle power (#GRFS10, #GRFS26, #GRFS32, #GRFS42) and therefore also fall risk (#GRFS27, #GRFS53). But if a therapy can increase muscle function and make the elderly to use their muscle in every-day living again (e.g. stair climbing) then a long-term effect on bone parameter is to be expected.

In this study elderly women used Galileo only 6 minutes at 12.5Hz, slightly bent knees, 3 times per week over a period of 8 months.
The control group did an extensive walking training (60 minutes) plus stretching exercises (5 minutes). While the control group could not prevent bone-loss the Galileo Therapy group increased bone mass at the upper leg (trochanter and femoral neck) by more than +2% and inside the femoral neck (the so-called Ward's triangle, where the loss of bone mass is usually most obvious) even over +6%.

This is astonishing considering that young men after a bedrest period of 2 months (ESA Bedrest studies: #BBR #GRFS45) only increase their bone mass by 2% in average per year. Therefore, this increase of bone mass over a period of 8 months is close to the maximum expected bone acquisition rate.
 

Therapy - Bone Mass & Fracture Risk  
#GRFS48 #GRFS