Vibration, to be effective, must be
Mechano-Acoustic, Focused, Square Wave
The first documented attempts at using vibration
mechanics on humans can be dated to 1870, the year in which the neurologist Jean-Martin Charcot (1825-1893) treated Parkinson's patients with his Vibrating Chair .
The Professor had developed it having traced the better recovery of patients coming from outside Paris to the vibration they suffered with the movement of the train.
His chair caused a sensation at the time but the effects were transitory.
Jean-Martin Charcot - vibrating chair
Georges Gilles de la Tourette , his student and discoverer of ALS, applied the same concept to the treatment of schizophrenia and migraines by designing a vibrating helmet.
Considerable interest in Vibrations arose when Pavlov demonstrated the Plasticity of the Central Nervous System . Many perceived that Vibration could be a suitable method to try to interact through the periphery with the CNS.
After Pavlov and the world war, many contributed with their studies to understand how Vibration should be used.
Ivan P. Pavlov
Lectures on the work of the great cerebral hemispheres (1927)
Below we summarize the most significant steps.
1960 – Kandel and Rosenkranz: associate Mechanical Vibrations with the phenomena of LTC and LTP;
1962 – Melzack and Wall: action of Vibration on pain control at 120 Hz;
1975 – GE Lucier: The maximum activation of Alpha Motor Neurons occurs at a frequency of 300 Hz;
1975 – B. Bishop: curb expectations. Mechanical vibration does not work on humans;
1976 – (various authors) the Tonic Vibrational Reflex seems to operate predominantly, if not exclusively, through the Alpha motor neurons and does not use the same efferent cortical patterns used by voluntary movement;
1980 – Wolpaw it is possible to produce plastic enhancements of the proprioceptive network using mechanical stimuli according to the LTC-LTP phenomena;
1994 – Carmelo Bosco develops his vibrating platform;
2000 – J. Rothwell and K. Rosenkranz: The vibrated muscle activates specific neuronal circuits, modifying the distribution of excitability of the brain circuits (this modulation continues even at the end of the stimulus);
2003 – Rosenkranz: the effects of reprogramming of muscular capacity through the modulation of brain circuits are obtained only if the Mechanical Vibration is focal;
2005 – Wolpaw JR: demonstrates the phenomena of LTC–LTP (Cellular Memory);
2005 – Kandel: writes that new synapses are created in selected neural networks;
Science shows us the way
Why Meccano- Acoustic
The great intuition was to use air to produce a high frequency vibration. Thanks to the flow modulator it is possible to treat many muscle areas simultaneously, with identical effects for each transducer thanks to the high frequency/intensity ratio; unlike percussion or acceleration systems (platforms), it does not cause damage. The mechanical vibration transmitted by the air is elastic and manages to interact on the mechanoreceptors at any depth without causing tissue or vascular damage;
By varying the frequency of the wave, it is possible to selectively activate different types of muscle fibers and obtain different therapeutic effects.
Focused and at frequencies of 120 – 300 Hz
- Because Rosenkranz demonstrated that vibration has an exclusively focal effect;
- Because the Pacinian Corpuscles have the maximum activation factor at 300 Hz;
- Because Melzack and Wall demonstrated the action on pain control at 120 Hz;
- Because Wolpaw wrote that the activation of the LTP and LTC paradigms occurs only at biologically high frequencies;
- Because Lucier proved that the maximum activation capacity of alpha motor neurons occurs at 300Hz;
- Because Kandel demonstrated that at biologically high frequency and intensity the vibration creates new synapses in selected neural networks.
Square wave
Because to obtain Alpha-type conditioning we must interact with the High Threshold Mechanical Receptors (for our purpose with the Pacinian Corpuscles) and the Mechanical receptors are:
Type I exteroreceptors: they recognize external stimuli and are nerve endings covered by numerous layers of collagen lamellae;
Unimodal: they are activated exclusively by pressure;
Rapidly adapting phasics: They follow the “All or Nothing” principle, i.e. they are either activated or not.
in particular, the Pacinian corpuscles have these characteristics:
Activation: variable depending on the frequency and the subject but in general it has the range between 60 and 300 Hz;
Receptor sensitivity: the Pacinian corpuscle has maximum sensitivity to the frequency of 250–300 Hz, a frequency at which minimal pressure is sufficient to activate.
Discharge Capacity: the Discharge Capacity is the intensity that the single receptor emits and is directly proportional to the intensity of the afferent signal, i.e. the information that the receptors send to the CNS and the intensity of the afferent signal is directly proportional to the number of activated receptors.
The importance of the square wave
These receptors send information to the neural network. The message that the receptor emits lasts only for the time in which it is activated (deformed). The square wave activates the receptor for a period of time that lasts 3 times longer than a sinusoidal stimulus of the same energy. Furthermore, stretches greater than 0.12 mm are harmful to muscle fibers. It is, therefore, useless and harmful to use unnecessary energy.
In fact, only ViSS® allows negative half-waves to be minimized, making the treatment very efficient by limiting the use of energy.
Using air cones in close succession, ViSS® emits specific frequencies of square wave mechanical sound waves that exclusively stimulate the muscles treated with a mechanical action directed at the neuro-motor control modules.
ViSS® therefore acts as a neuromodulator.
This particular type of vibration is transferred to the skin by means of autostatic transducers, activating the so-called "high threshold" mechanical receptors, i.e. the Pacini Corpuscles.
Mechanical receptors send a coherent and physiological signal to the Central Nervous System which produces an efferent response that modulates and reprograms the activity of muscle fibers.
At least as important as activation is the discharge capacity, i.e. the intensity of the signal that the single receptor emits and the population (the number) of activated receptors. The greater the intensity of the afferent signal (discharge capacity) sent by it to the CNS, the greater the efferent response. An intense efferent signal allows you to activate more motor units, therefore more muscle fibres, obtaining a practically instantaneous change in performance. Better performance therefore, very quickly. This remodulation of the afferent message and the consequent neural response produces plastic enhancements of the nervous network that remain in memory for a long time (LTC/LTP), probably creating new synapses in selected neural networks (Kendel 2005) .