Vibratior and the Nervous system
As regards the nervous system, vibration reduces super-sensibility, and hence certain abnormalities of sensation— paresthesias of different kinds—not due to inflammation and not aggravated by motion, are often relieved. (Paresthesia is an abnormal spontaneous sensation, such as a burning, prick¬ing, or crawling.) The aches and other discomforts of fatigue are quickly dispelled. This accounts for the feeling of rest and the refreshing effect produced by vibration. The constant tired feeling so frequently present in neurasthenia, often a toxic fatigue, almost immediately disappears after vibration to the spine, though other therapeutic agents must, of course, be employed to overcome this symptom permanently.
Head¬aches, sciatica, lumbago, and other neuralgias, heaviness in the head and a great variety of other neurasthenic symptoms yield to vibration, often more quickly than to almost any other form of treatment, except neuralgias, which usually are more quickly relieved by heat. The numerous disagreeable head symptoms often found in neurasthenia-constriction about or weight upon the head, giddiness, light-headedness, and so forth—are often very promptly relieved, though in some cases they may be aggravated unless the vibration is very gentle. In paralytic disorders vibration is valuable, since it is a form of passive exercise, the active form being denied the patient.