The aim of this systematic review was to identify and evaluate the evidence of the efficacy of stochastic resonance whole-body vibration (SR-WBV) on static, dynamic and functional balance in the elderly and in patients with neurodegenerative diseases. English and German studies were consulted in the CINAHL, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, ISI Web of Knowledge, PEDro and PubMed databases. Eight of 138 eligible studies were included, involving 381 participants. The included studies showed a low to high risk of bias. Three studies focused on long-term effects after SR-WBV. One study evaluated SR-WBV impact over three days while four studies examined its immediate effects. There is only limited evidence that SR-WBV may be effective in improving static, dynamic and functional balance among elderly individuals and patients with neurodegenerative diseases. In the future, more studies of high methodological quality are needed to improve the level of evidence.
Keywords: dynamic balance; functional balance; random vibration; static balance.