Abstract

Nelson S. Pinto , Milena B. Monteiro , Sebastião D. Santos-Filho , Dulciane Paiva4 , Tavares, A, Sotiris Missailidis , Pedro J. Marín, Mario Bernardo-Filho

The alteration of the bone mineral density (BMD) in the postmenopausal is related directly with the osteoporosis which frequently causes impaired in the physical, psychological and social life of the patients due to possible fractures or pain. Investigations about the effectiveness of the action of the vibration produced in oscillating platforms to treat postmenopausal women would be welcome. The aim of this work is to present a review about the published papers found in the PubMed in which there are information about the use of the whole body vibration (WBV) in postmenopausal women. As the increase of scientific interest in postmenopausal is evident, it was also evaluated, in the PubMed, the number of publications (NP) related with postmenopausal, some modalities of treatment and possible symptoms. The NP found in the PubMed in three keywords that can be used to study phenomena related with old women. It is verified that with the term menopause is found the biggest NP in the PubMed. The symptom with the biggest scientific interest, considering the NP is the hot flashes. A limited NP involving WBV exercises is found, that was bigger with postmenopausal than menopause. It is observed a strong interest in the studies involving osteoporosis and BMD. A small NP in menopause or postmenopausal with keywords involving BMD or osteoporosis and WBV was found. Twenty-six publications were analyzed and thirteen of them were common in at least two analyses. Eight papers were selected to be discussed. In general, all the authors agree that the WBV exercise can be a suitable therapeutic for preventing/reversing sarcopenia and possibly osteoporosis. In conclusion, the use of the PubMed to evaluate the scientific interest in menopause/postmenopausal is important; however the appropriate chose of the keyword is necessary. Although authors have described the relevance of the WBV exercises for the older women in menopause/postmenopausal, a small NP is found.