%0 Journal Article %T Whole-body vibration in the skeleton: development of a resonance-based testing device %J Annals of biomedical engineering %D 1997 %A Fritton, J. C. %A Rubin, C. T. %A Qin, Y. X. %A McLeod, K. J. %V 25 %N 5 %P 831-839 %X Whole-body vibration (WBV) has been demonstrated to have a strong influence on physiological systems, ranging from severely destructive to potentially beneficial. Unfortunately, the study of WBV in a controlled manner is commonly constrained by space and budgetary factors, particularly where vibration in the low frequency range is considered. In the work presented here, a small, low-cost device for performing WBV of the human skeleton is developed to assist in studies of vertical acceleration in a clinical setting. The device design consists of a spring-supported plate driven by an 18 N peak-force electromagnetic actuator, and the associated driving and monitoring electronics. Animal and human lumped-mass models have been coupled with a model of the loading device to seek a resonance response in the vicinity of 30 Hz. This approach minimizes the loading requirements of such a device, and thus a major component of the cost, yet can provide peak accelerations of 0.15 g at a frequency of 30 Hz in a small, lightweight package capable of use in a clinical or laboratory setting.

Language: en

%G en %I Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group %@ 0090-6964 %U http://dx.doi.org/