Why did the FDA just approve this wearable belt device?

Have you seen the movie, The Road to Wellville, where Matthew Broderick plays an eccentric doctor?

He uses an opportunistic approach to health—prescribing different “devices” to achieve certain wellness goals. (You can imagine what some of the devices looked like.)

Now, this sort of fiction is becoming fact…

As proven by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) recent approval of a wearable belt device.

Vibrations pack a punch

The device is known as Osteoboost. It’s the first non-drug prescription treatment for postmenopausal women with osteopenia (low bone density).

Of course, there’s a catch: It hasn’t been tested for its ability to reduce fracture risk.

So, please don’t give up your weight-bearing exercises just yet!

(Leave it to the FDA to approve something without a specific endpoint that would show clinical significance! They would never do such a thing for a nutritional supplement. But a device that can rake in the dough? Why not. But that’s enough of my cynicism for today.)

In short, you wear the device around your hips and a vibration pack is mounted to the back of the belt. Ultimately, it delivers calibrated, mild vibrations to the hips and lumbar spine.

The goal is to help preserve bone strength and density.

(When I had a gym in my office, we had a vibration plate to help stimulate bone growth. People thought I was wacky, but let’s see if there’s any clinical significance.)

Safe and non-invasive

A recent double-blinded study observed women with osteopenia either wearing Osteboost for a minimum of three times per week, or another device that only emitted sound (no vibration).

Researchers measured vertebral strength with CT scans. They were looking at bone density of the first lumbar vertebra (L1).

The women who used Osteoboost lost, on average, 0.48 percent of bone strength, compared to a 2.84 percent loss in the control group. (That equates to nearly five times the amount of bone loss.)

And that’s certainly promising. Especially when you consider the side effects of the popular, yet wicked, osteoporosis medications out there. (They often destroy bones even further… from the inside, out!)

Of course, this device has only been tested in women. But men experience bone loss, too!

The bottom line?

“Bone building” drugs are terrible—but Osteoboost is a non-invasive, safe technique. I’m excited to see research looking into its potential. And I encourage you to check it out .

In fact, it will probably become commercially available later this year. (Hopefully we’ll have more data about its fracture-reducing potential at that point.)

So, ask your physician about it, especially if you’re younger. I personally think this could have greater potential before osteopenia or greater bone loss, like osteoporosis, sets in.

In the meantime, continue nourishing your bones with smart supplementation, like vitamin D, calcium, magnesium, and vitamin K2.

Or, for more guidance, check out the April 2022 issue of my monthly Logical Health Alternatives newsletter, where I outline how to rescue your skeleton with six key supplements.

Subscribers can access that issue—after logging in with their credentials—by clicking here. Not yet a member? Scroll down to learn about becoming one.

Source:

“FDA Approves Vibrating Belt to Help Women With Osteopenia Keep Bone Strength.” Medscape, 01/25/2024. (medscape.com/viewarticle/fda-approves-vibrating-belt-help-women-osteopenia-keep-bone-2024a10001u2)