Whole body vibration training promotes proprioceptive pathway for the treatment of stress urinary incontinence in rats.

Background: Stress urinary incontinence (SUI) is the most ubiquitous form of urinary incontinence in women. The therapeutic management of patients with SUI is challenging. The aim of this study is to evaluate the efficacy of whole body vibration training (WBVT) for SUI.

Methods: Thirty-five female rats were randomly divided into a sham group (Sham group, n=5), SUI + WBVT group (n=15) and SUI + whole body rest group (SUI + WBR group, n=15). The SUI + WBVT group was trained as follows: frequency 30 Hz, amplitude four mm, one min/repeat, four min rest, repeated 10 times, five days/week. After the intervention, five rats were taken on the 7, 14 and 21 day to observe the urodynamic changes, levator ani muscle and dorsal root ganglia (DRG) morphology, and to observe the expression of neurotrophic factor-3/tyrosine protein kinase C (NT-3/TrkC) by Western blot.

Results: The urodynamic results showed that the difference in bladder leak point pressure/abdominal leak point pressure (BLPP/ALPP) between the Sham group and the SUI + WBR group was statistically significant (P<0.001) on 7 day, indicating successful modeling. The BLPP/ALPP of the SUI + WBVT group and the SUI + WBR group improved on 7, 14, and 21 day, and the BLPP/ALPP of SUI + WBVT group was higher than the SUI + WBR group. Compared with the Sham group, pathological changes appeared in the muscle shuttles in the SUI + WBVT group and SUI + WBR group. Western blot showed a gradual up-regulation of NT-3/TrkC.

Conclusions: WBVT can be used to treat SUI by affecting the expression of NT-3/TrkC, improving the structural morphology of the proprioceptors, and restoring the urinary control function. This study provides evidence for the clinical practice of WBVT. Future studies could further refine the behavioral and electrophysiological aspects of the assessment.