Vibration training is a novel method of muscle training that achieves great success especially in the areas of mobility, pain relief, balance, muscle relaxation and blood circulation. Older, less able-bodied people in particular benefit from this gentle method. But also for athletes and high-performance athletes this is a very effective training for strength building. The patient is in various body positions (e.g. standing or lying) on a vibration plate, which vibrates vertically with a frequency and stroke height adapted to the training objective. Vibration training is also known by the following names:
- Whole body vibration (WBV)
- Rhythmic neuromuscular stimulation (RNS).
- Biomechanical stimulation (BMS).
Indications (areas of application)
- Loss of power and strength
- Limited mobility (elderly patients).
- Osteopenia (reduction in bone density).
- Osteoporosis (bone loss)
- Muscle tension
- Non-acute back pain
- Circulatory disorders (of the legs and feet).
- Urinary incontinence (bladder weakness)
- Sarcopenia (muscle atrophy or weakness).
- Sports injuries
- Tendon diseases, chronic
- Increase in sport-specific maximum strength, high-speed strength and strength endurance (for health and competitive athletes).
- Overweight (for accompanying weight loss).
- Neurological diseases (eg apoplexy (stroke), multiple sclerosis or Parkinson’s disease – shaking paralysis).
Especially in osteoporosis (bone loss) vibration training has a particularly positive effect. In patients with osteoporosis is an increased degradation of bone substance. The bone substance is porous and the bone is more prone to fracture. By specifically stressing the muscles and thus the bones, it is possible to intervene in this process both preventively and alleviatively. Studies have shown that regularly performed vibration therapy greatly increases bone density.
Absolute contraindications (contraindications)
- Pregnancy
- Acute diseases
- Musculoskeletal system (e.g., activated osteoarthritis or arthropathy/joint disease).
- Acute discopathies (intervertebral disc disease).
- Acute hernias (prolapse of peritoneum through a muscle gap in the abdominal wall or diaphragm).
- Acute migraine attacks
- Acute tendinopathy (tendon disease) in stimulated body regions.
- Acute thrombosis (blood clot in a blood vessel).
- Artificial joints (e.g. knee prosthesis, hip prosthesis / esp. cemented prostheses) or implants in stimulated body regions.
- Fresh fractures in trained body regions.
- Higher grade osteoporosis with fractures (broken bones).
- Severe diabetes mellitus (with microangiopathy).
- Untreated hypertension (high blood pressure).
- Condition immediately after surgery
- Fresh wounds and scars in trained body regions.
- Heart and brain pacemakers
Relative contraindications
- Cholelithiasis (presence of stones in gallbladder or bile ducts).
- Implants
- Cardiovascular diseases / cardiovascular diseases (in case of pronounced insufficiency (functional weakness) and inflammation no vibration training!)
- Non-acute back pain (Note: No vibration training in ankylosing spondylitis).
- Urolithiasis (formation or the presence of concretions (urinary stones) in the urinary tract).
Before treatment
- Before starting treatment, there should be an educational and counseling discussion between the doctor and the patient.
- Patients with absolute contraindications should be excluded from treatment; in the presence of a relative contraindication, a careful risk-benefit assessment is required.
The procedure
The procedure uses the principle of reflex-induced muscle contraction.During vibration, the muscle is passively stretched, which causes muscle spindles (sensors in the muscle tissue that register the activity or length of the muscle at any time) to be activated and send a signal to the spinal cord. There, the signal is switched and sent back to the muscle, causing it to contract reflexively. An example of such a spindle reflex is the patellar tendon reflex (PSR): the physician strikes the patellar tendon below the knee with a hammer and the lower leg snaps forward.Training should not be too complex at the beginning. Beginners should start with exercises where both legs are on the vibration plate.The following effects are attributed to vibration training:
- Strengthening of the muscles: the training increases maximum strength, speed strength and strength endurance and reaches muscles that are otherwise difficult to target.
- Pelvic floor training
- Increase blood circulation
- Improving skin texture: vibration training can have a positive effect on cellulite.
- Increase mobility and coordination (improve balance).
- Pain relief
- Rapid rehabilitation: due to increased metabolism, healing processes progress faster.
- Increase bone density: vibration training prevents osteoporosis (bone loss).
Benefits
Vibration training is a valuable method in the field of fitness as well as in the field of medical therapy, with which good therapeutic results can be achieved. Vibration training allows very effective stimulation of many muscle groups. In this way, the effect of a usual 60-minute workout can be achieved in 10 minutes. Vibration training increases strength, improves mobility, coordination and blood circulation, and increases bone density and energy consumption.