Weight bearing aerobic exercises versus whole body vibration on bone mineral density post thyroidectomy

One of the health problems occurring post thyroidectomy is osteoporosis which has a greater impact on the patients' lives as it affects the strength and quality of bone and increases the fracture risk. This study was conducted to identify the beneficial therapeutic effect of weight bearing aerobic exercises and whole-body vibration training on bone mineral density post thyroidectomy and also to compare between their effects. In this study, forty-five patients of both sexes underwent thyroidectomy and had osteoporosis were included. Fifteen patients performed weight bearing aerobic exercises in addition to their routine medications and fifteen patients were trained on whole body vibration in addition to their routine medications, while remaining fifteen cases received only their routine medications. Dual Energy X-ray Absorptiometry (DEXA) is used to evaluate the bone mineral density before and after six months of treatment (28 weeks) for all groups. The mean values of BMD of lumbar spine and neck of femur in all groups were significantly increased. The percentages of bone mineral density improvement for lumbar spine and femoral neck in the weight bearing exercise group were 18.63% and 19.82%, in the whole-body vibration group were 22.17% and 29.82%, while in the control group were 7.47% and 3.63%. So, it can be concluded that the weight bearing aerobic exercises and WBV training have a therapeutic beneficial effect on improving the bone mineral density in patient underwent thyroidectomy, but the whole-body vibration was more effective than weight bearing aerobic exercises.