Effects on leg muscular performance from whole‐body vibration exercise: a systematic review

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects on leg muscular performance from whole-body vibration exercise. Literature search was performed on the databases Pubmed, Cinahl, ISI web of science (Sci-expanded, SSCI) and Embase (Rehab & Physical Med). Rating of 19 relevant studies was performed (14 on long-term exercise and five on short-term exercise) using a score system for the methodological quality. Several randomized-controlled trial studies of high to moderate quality show similar improvements from long-term regimen on muscular performance in the legs after a period of whole-body vibration exercise. As there were few studies on short-term exercise and as they had no control groups, the same convincing improvements regarding muscular performance were not achieved. Preliminarily, there is strong to moderate evidence that long-term whole-body vibration exercise can have positive effects on the leg muscular performance among untrained people and elderly women. There is no clear evidence for effects on muscular performance after short-term vibration stimuli.

No Specific Effect of Whole-Body Vibration Training in Chronic Stroke: A Double-Blind Randomized Controlled Study

“…The intervention group (X; n=16) trained on a vibrating platform with an amplitude of 3.75 mm, which is the conventional amplitude-setting of the Xrsize b machine and also a common amplitude in other WBV studies. 23 The control group (Y; n=15) trained on a vibrating platform with an amplitude of 0.2 mm, which was specifically manufactured for the present study. This amplitude was considered to have no or limited effects and was therefore referred to as the "placebo" platform.…”

Strength-Training with Whole-Body Vibration in Long-Distance Runners: A Randomized Trial

“…The peak-to-peak displacement was maintained at 6 mm, and the frequency was increased progressively during the entire training period in the ST WBV group (Table 1). This progression was chosen because a variety of combinations of the applied amplitudes (1.7-5.0 mm) and frequencies (12-45 Hz) have been previously shown to be beneficial for muscular long-term exercise in the legs [22,24]. The foot position was standardized for all of the participants, and whole-body vibration was applied when the bar of the Smith machine was positioned on the shoulders of the runner.…”

“…The 1RM familiarization test was conducted at the end of the first and second visits with 20 min of passive recovery between the tests. All of the tests were performed at the same time of day at a constant room temperature (20)(21)(22)(23)(24) o C) at least 2 h after the most recent meal.…”

“…The constant changes in the acceleration vector produced by a whole-body vibration platform are believed to enhance neural activation and structural properties of skeletal muscles, resulting in a superior muscle adaptation [22,28]. Recently, Osawa and Oguma [20] demonstrated that ST WBV elicited a superior increase in muscle strength compared with ST alone.…”

“…Recently, Osawa and Oguma [20] demonstrated that ST WBV elicited a superior increase in muscle strength compared with ST alone. It has been proposed that exogenous stimulation of skeletal muscle with vibration could contribute to an increase in muscle mass [20] and motor unit recruitment [22], which may result in more pronounced muscular adaptation. Because the gains in muscle strength can increase performance in endurance sports [18], ST WBV could be a beneficial alternative training mode for long-distance athletes.…”