Low-intensity vibration may help chronic wounds to heal quicker

Researchers have suggested that wounds may heal more quickly if exposed to low-intensity vibration.

The finding, in mice, may hold promise for the 18 million Americans who have type 2 diabetes, and especially the quarter of them who will eventually suffer from foot ulcers. Their wounds tend to heal slowly and can become chronic or worsen rapidly.

Timothy Koh, University of Illinois at Chicago professor of kinesiology and nutrition in the UIC College of Applied Health Sciences, said that this technique is already in clinical trials to see if vibration can improve bone health and prevent osteoporosis.

Koh and his coworkers at UIC collaborated with Stefan Judex of Stony Brook to investigate whether the same technique might improve wound healing in diabetes.

The researchers found that wounds exposed to vibration five times a week for 30 minutes healed more quickly than wounds in mice of a control group.

Wounds exposed to vibration formed more granulation tissue, a type of tissue important early in the wound-healing process. Vibration helped tissue to form new blood vessels-a process called angiogenesis-and also led to increased expression of pro-healing growth factors and signaling molecules called chemokines, Weinheimer-Haus said.

The new study has been published online in the journal PLOS One.