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Sports sciences > Whole body vibration training - can it be used to enhance performance?
Whole body vibration training - can it be used to enhance performance?
Issue: Volume 27 Number 4
Vibration training is a relatively recent innovation that is currently being used both for rehabilitation purposes and by elite athletes to finetune their conditioning. Whole body vibration (WBV) involves standing or exercising on a vibrating platform. This technique has been touted as an efficient tool for improving power output (both acutely and longitudinally via improved training), as an aid for facilitating flexibility and recovery and may even improve bone density. The mechanisms behind the apparent performance enhancement effects of whole body vibration remain somewhat uncertain. Nevertheless, it is likely that the hyper-gravity induced by whole body vibration (up to 14g , where g is the Earth’s gravitational field or 9.81m.s -2: Cardinale and Bosco 2003) due to the high accelerations of the platform and a phenomenon known as the ‘tonic vibration reflex’ may be at least partly responsible. These mechanisms and some of the possible benefits of whole body vibration are further discussed below.
Background
The first commercially available vibration plate was the German-produced Galileo, which is a tilting platform that can vary between 5 and 30Hz and has been available since the mid-nineties. There are now a number of other commercially available plates, such as Nemes and Powerplate but, unlike the original Galileo system, these plates use a vertical movement where the plate oscillates up and down. As a result, the literature is somewhat confusing and results that occur on one type of plate may not necessarily be what would be experienced on another. Nonetheless, vibration training has become increasingly popular and there do appear to be legitimate gains to be had from its use.
How fast should the platform be vibrating?
This is a matter of some debate and potentially the optimal vibration frequency may be highly individual. A brief look at the available literature demonstrates that experiments have been conducted with vibration frequencies from 10–120Hz. However, recent work suggests that the optimal frequency in terms of maximising muscle activation (at least for the athletes tested in the study) may be at about 30Hz (Cardinale and Lim 2003) . Indeed, the Nemes whole body vibration system provides a simple electromyography set-up to assess muscle activation to theoretically allow the best possible training frequency to be determined for each individual. It has been suggested that at frequencies significantly greater than 30Hz, the muscle spindles are unable to respond quickly enough to alter muscle activation and, as such, adaptations to these frequencies are less than optimal.
What sort of benefits can be expected in terms of strength and power outputs?
Once again the literature is somewhat divided on the benefits of whole body vibration in terms of enhancing power and strength, although positive effects on these parameters have been reported both acutely following a single whole body vibration session, and as a result of using whole body vibration as a training stimulus over weeks or months. Acute enhancement of force and power output has been reported immediately after a whole body vibration intervention (Bosco et al. 1999; 2000; Torvinen et al. 2002) . Bosco et al. ( 2000) reported that the increased power output occurred with either no change or decreased electromyography levels, suggesting that somehow the whole body vibration induces a period of enhanced neuromuscular efficiency. The duration of this acute enhancement period appears to be limited to less than an hour, so the timing of whole body vibration needs to be as close as possible to competition or training (Torvinen et al. 2002) . The acute enhancement of power qualities may be due to a reflex muscle contraction in response to the vibration (the tonic vibration reflex), and it is thought that this acts on the muscle spindles and enhances the stretch reflex (Cardinale and Bosco 2003) . Training studies using whole body vibration have shown mixed results, with some showing no enhancement of knee extensor strength (de Ruiter et al. 2003) while others have reported increased jumping power (Torvinen et al. CPFI, 2002) . It seems likely that whole body vibration may help with training, but for athletic populations vibration alone may provide insufficient stress for significant adaptation; however, in conjunction with additional training, it may provide a useful additional stimulus.
Hormonal effects of vibration
Whole body vibration has been shown in one study to induce similar changes in hormonal concentrations to that seen in traditional strength training (Bosco et al. 2000) with acute increases in testosterone, growth hormone and decreased cortisol reported in response to 10 × 60 seconds (60 seconds recovery between sets, and six minutes after fifth repetition) of 26Hz vibration on a Nemes plate using team-sport athletes. More recently, however, with a slightly older population (mean age 39) no acute hormonal changes were reported in response to 25 minutes at 30Hz (Di Loreto et al. 2004) .
Does vibration work help flexibility training?
Anecdotally, the answer to this is a strong ‘yes’, with numerous athletes reporting superior flexibility gains when stretching on a vibration plate as compared to without. Scientific evaluation of this, however, is limited, with only one paper describing flexibility changes with vibration training (Issurin et al. 1994) and this was using vibrating pulleys rather than a platform. Nonetheless, Issurin and associates demonstrated significant improvements in flexibility gains and suggested this may be due to the decrease in pain and subsequently greater muscle relaxation with vibration.
Conclusions
Whole body vibration appears to have genuine potential as a training tool for athletic performance enhancement in a number of areas and may be particularly useful as a novel stimulus to push a mature training-age athlete through a plateau. Some of the areas where it has been shown to be potentially beneficial (for example, as a strength training tool), however, can perhaps be addressed equally well (or better) by traditional training means and, given the expense of such a system, perhaps money could be better spent elsewhere. Nevertheless, there are perhaps some relatively unique advantages of whole body vibration, such as for flexibility work and acute enhancement of performance, which may offer potential performance gains over other types of training.
References
Bosco, C, Cardinale, M, Tsarpela, O, Madella, A, Tihanyi, J and Viru, A 1999. ‘Adaptive responses of human skeletal muscle to vibration exposure’, Clinical Physiology, 19:183–7.
Bosco, C, Iacovelli, M, Tsarpela, O, Cardinale, M, Bonifazi, M, Tihanyi, J, Viru, M, De Lorenzo, A and Viru, A 2000. ‘Hormonal reponses to whole-body vibration in men’, European Journal of Applied Physiology, 81:449–54.
Cardinale, M and Bosco, C 2003. ‘The use of vibration as an exercise intervention’, Exercise and Sports Science Reviews, 31:3–7.
Cardinale, M and Lim, J 2003. ‘Electromyography activity of vastus lateralis muscle during whole-body vibrations of different frequencies’, Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 17:621–4.
de Ruiter, CJ, van Raak, SM, Schilperoort, JV, Hollander, AP and de Haan, A 2003. ‘The effects of 11 weeks of whole body vibration training on jump height contractile properties and activation of human knee extensors’, European Journal of Applied Physiology, 90:595–600.
Di Loreto, C, Ranchelli, A, Lucidi, P, Murdolo, G, Parlanti, N, De Cicco, A, Tsarpela, O, Annino, G, Bosco, C, Santeusanio, F, Bolli, GB and De Feo, P 2004. ‘Effects of whole-body vibration exercise on the endocrine system of healthy men’, Journal of Endocrinological Investigation, 27:323–7.
Issurin, VB, Liebermann, DG and Tenenbaum, G 1994. ‘Effect of vibratory stimulation training on maximal force and flexibility’, Journal of Sports Sciences, 12:561–6.
Torvinen, S, Kannus, P, Sievanen, H, Jarvinen, M, Pasanen, M, Kontulainen, S, Jarvinen, M, Jarvinen, P, Oja, P and Vuori, I 2002. ‘Effect of a vibration exposure on muscular performance and body balance. Randomised cross-over study’, Clinical Physiology and Functional Immunology, 22:145–52.
Torvinen, S, Kannus, P, Sievanen, H, Jarvinen, TAH, Pasanen, M, Kontulainen, S, Jarvinen, TLN, Jarvinen, M, Oja, P and Vuori, I 2002. ‘Effect of four-month vertical whole body vibration on performance and balance’, Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 34:1523–8.
