Impact of Whole-body Vibration Training on Muscle Flexibility and Fatigue After Lower Extremity Thermal Burn Injury

Patients in the study group will receive the traditional physical therapy program first (passive and active ROM exercises, stretching and strengthening exercises) for 60 minutes, 3 days/ week for 12 weeks.This will be followed immediately by whole-body vibration training on the vibration platform (Power Plate International, Irvine, California, USA) at the same visit. The vibration frequency will be 30 Hz and the amplitude from 4 to 7 mm, with an increase of 1mm every two weeks. The WBV program will be three sessions a week for 12 weeks. WBV duration started with 10 min at the 1st week up to 35 min at the 12th week, with a regular increase of five minutes every two successive weeks.

The traditional physical therapy program will be three days a week for 12 weeks. The program will include 60 minutes of a supervised and individualized exercise program including passive and active exercises of the hip, knee, and ankle joints, stretching exercises for the Calf and hamstring muscles followed by strengthening exercises of the hip, knee, ankle, and foot muscles. To improve the strength, free weights will be used for all exercises. During the first week, 50 to 60% of the repetitions maximum test will be set as the starting weight. Then, from the second week to the sixth, the weight will be increased to 70%-75% of three repetitions maximum (3 sets, 4-10 repetitions). The training amplitude then will be raised to 80%-85% of the three-repetition maximum (3 sets, 8-12 repetitions) that will be continued through weeks 7 to 12, holding 5 seconds at the end of the range.