Looking for an amazing way to exercise without putting in any actual effort, possibly while eating cookies and watching CSI? I haven’t got one. Sorry.
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Still, you might have heard of the whole-body vibration machines popping up in gyms everywhere. They’re basically vibrating platforms that you stand on while exercising. Well, guess what? A study at the University of Antwerp released this week found that these gizmos may actually help people lose fat, including the deep “hidden” blubber around the abdominal organs linked to type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease. And they’re also rumoured to help with back pain and to increase bone density and muscle mass. Too good to be true? Probably, as there appear to be risks.
Nevertheless, many people in the know do seem to agree there might be something to shaking things up.
What the experts say
“Guidelines for risks of exposure to whole-body vibration are based on workers exposed to machinery for eight hours a day. If we use workplace standards, we should not expose people to exercise machines for longer than 10 minutes a day, but these standards are very arbitrary. There are also no guidelines on the posture of the subjects using these platforms. People should not be sitting or lying down, because transmission to the spine and head is high [in those positions]. Motion sickness can occur, also perhaps some damage to internal organs, eyeballs, the brain, though we really don’t know much. Companies advertise positions on the machines that could be dangerous. WBV will benefit a population unable to exercise, such as the elderly or obese. We as scientists are far from understanding what this thing really does.”
MARCO CARDINALE, head of Sports Science for the British Olympic Association, London
“Some machines provide vertical oscillations, others lateral alternating oscillations. Most of the literature has looked at vertical oscillations. The machines in gyms are typically vertical. In general, these are safe, but some people should not be on them, including those who have kidney or bladder stones, migraines, abnormal heart rhythm, cancer, pregnant women, those who have had seizures, a pacemaker or any kind of implant. WBV has been shown to maintain or increase bone mass. If we expose bone to between 2,000 and 4,000 micro-stream, we stimulate bone formation, but less than that can cause bone loss, and a much higher microstream causes fractures. Most of the studies would not meet standards for the reporting of clinical trials.”
CATHERINE CRAVEN, clinician scientist, Toronto Rehabilitation Institute
“The research has problems. The most recent study that came out of New Zealand looked at the state of the research and found not only that there were methodological flaws but even research done somewhat responsibly doesn’t really paint the positive picture people who sell the equipment want you to believe. A lot of studies compare people who do WBV and exercise to people who do nothing.”
SAL MARINELLO, certified strength and conditioning specialist, Chatham, New Jersey
“There has to be a specific vibration frequency, usually around 20-40 hertz. It should be a vertical vibration rather than horizontal. When novices start doing bicep curls, they use only about 30 per cent of their muscle fibres. So in the first four to six weeks of weight training, they increase strength but not muscle mass. When you are on vibration, 95 per cent of fibres are stimulated, so you would reach the effect of about six weeks of weight training in about two sessions.”
MOHSEN KAZEMI, chiropractor, Toronto
“Caloric restriction remains the most important factor in weight loss and a healthy lifestyle – the main objective. Whole-body vibration could be an addition. The underlying mechanism for fighting abdominal fat remains unclear, but it’s possible that vibration exercise increases free fatty acids [fats] in the blood during the recovery period after short-term exercise.”
DIRK VISSERS, physiotherapist, University of Antwerp, author of study on vibration and fat
