Effects of Whole-Body Vibration on Static and Dynamic Balance in Children with Asperger's Autism

Children with autism have difficulties such as impaired social interaction and communication skills, sensory processing, and impaired motor function and balance, which balance is one of the basic abilities of daily life. This study aimed to study the effect of whole-body vibration on static and dynamic balance in children with Asperger's autism. The population of this quasi-experimental study was 20 juniors aged 8 to 10 years with Asperger's autism in Rasht city, who were randomly divided into control and experimental groups. These children took part in the whole-body vibration training program 3 sessions per week for 6 months. There were two balance tests to investigate balance disorders of the subjects before and after the training program. The flamingo test was used to measure static balance, and likewise, the heel-toe walking test was used to measure dynamic balance. The results of the independent t-test showed that the experimental group had a significant increase in static and dynamic balance compared to the control group (p<0.05). Intragroup changes showed that there was a significant difference between static and dynamic balances in the pre-test and posttest of the experimental group (p <0.05), but no significant difference was observed in the control group (p> 0.05). In conclusion, whole-body vibration training seems to affect static and dynamic balances, and children with autism can use this technique to improve their balance beneficially.