Whole Body Vibration Machines stimulate and activate muscles, joints, and reflexology zones in ways that other forms of exercise can’t — without harmful impact or stress on the body.
Stimulation of Muscle & Other Reflexes
An Increase in Gravitational Load
Mobilisation of Joints & Muscles
Rapid Heating of Joints & Muscles
FACT - Not all Whole Body Vibration machines can generate these effects on the body to a significant degree, in fact, most cannot. Read the rest of this page to find out why. 
Your brain is constantly monitoring the position of your joints and will increase muscle activation in an attempt to stabilise your posture when there is a risk of you becoming unbalanced.
Further, if the stretching and vibration of tissues is sufficient, microscopic sensors inside your body detect these changes and quickly activate reflexes that cause the muscles to contract 1, keeping joints and soft tissues protected from excessive movement. The strength of muscle contraction depends on the strength of the energy pulse coming up from the platform and the health of your nerves and muscles.
Repetitive pulses of sufficient energy cause rhythmic muscles contractions. In a short time, the cumulative effect of exercising warms 4 and mobilises the joints and muscles 1 as well as the increased circulation caused by muscle pumping, leaves you with a pleasant feeling, makes movement easier and prepares the body for working optimally.
The Frequency of vibration is a measure of how many times the platform moves up and down each second. For example, a Hypervibe G17 PRO machine has a minimum frequency of 5Hz (five times a second) and a maximum of 35Hz.
NOTE: Many Whole Body Vibration Machines either do not display the frequency of vibration or display inaccurate, lower than expected readings. Download the FREE WBV MACHINE REVIEW REPORT to see the real output of 57 vibration machines as tested by independent engineers.Higher frequencies generate a faster platform movement and deliver more energy to your body however the way that muscles respond to vibration stimulus is complicated. The frequencies that are best for YOU to train with will depend on your body type, your level of fitness and your desired outcomes. While setting an optimal vibration frequency appears to be highly individualized, one thing is very clear; scientists commonly choose to use frequencies between 20-45Hz in their research. A review of Whole Body Vibration research by veteran researcher Jorn Rittweger6 revealed that all studies showing positive training effects used frequencies of 20-45Hz.
It is also important to consider the vibration amplitude before determining if a certain frequency range is appropriate for your goals. If the amplitude is too low, altering the frequency will make little difference.
Read more and discuss Frequency in Which Frequency Is Best For
Whole Body Vibration.
Along with frequency, the amplitude of the plate movement is also a key factor that determines how much energy is delivered to your body. Amplitude is a measure of how high the platform moves above its horizontal resting place. The total distance a platform moves up and down is called its peak-to-peak Amplitude or its Displacement.
Larger amplitudes cause a greater amount of movement of muscles and joints and generate a stronger response from the organs controlling muscle reflexes. If however, the amplitude became so large that it caused you to bounce up and down off the platform, the exercise would become ineffective.
Small amplitudes are more comfortable for doing upper body work on the platform however they will reduce the stimulation to your body and for lower body work could render the exercise ineffective. You should exercise with the largest amplitude you feel comfortable with.
Read more and discuss G-force in The Convincing Case For Higher G’s In Vibration Training
As decades of research with Astronauts has revealed, Gravity is vitally important for the health of your muscles, bones, cardiovascular and practically every other system of your body.
Reducing the amount of gravity on your body leads to degeneration of those same body systems. Even if you continue to exercise regularly, without constant exposure to gravity pulling vertically through your body (as in the standing position), without sufficient stimulus from gravity the body will break down. Dr. Joan Vernikos of NASA illustrates this point:
“In spite of strenuous exercise in space, for several hours every day, loss in bone, muscle and cardiovascular function happens ten times faster in space than on Earth. Exercise without gravity is not as effective.”
You may never visit the microgravity of space but even here on Earth, the same ‘gravity reduction’ occurs when we sit or lie down. According to NASA, prolonged sitting closely resembles being in microgravity and has the same outcome; accelerated aging.
The good news according Dr. Vernikos is that this is reversible. When Astronauts return to full gravity their health returns. Similarly when people who spend too much time avoiding gravity by sitting get up and expose themselves to full gravity, they get stronger and healthier and this includes the elderly.
Whole Body Vibration is a unique way of increasing your exposure to gravity.2 The upward movement of the platform causes the body to accelerate upwards. Imagine the example of standing in an elevator. If the elevator was to move downwards at high speed it would make you feel light, almost like floating. If however it suddenly slowed to a stop and immediately moved upwards with rapidly increasing speed it would feel like your body just became a lot heavier and you would have to push down with your legs to keep yourself upright. Whole Body Vibration creates an effect similar to the elevator moving upwards, it’s as if your body just became heavier. You feel this acceleration as a force on your body, a force called G-force which is adding to the force of gravity pulling you toward the Earth.
Where conventional exercise has failed, researchers at the European Space Agency have successfully used Whole Body Vibration to completely prevent the degeneration in bone and muscle during prolonged weightlessness by using Whole Body Vibration.
At this point it becomes important to distinguish between Vibration Training machines and Vibration Massage machines. In the European Space Agency experiments the most successful outcomes came from using a G-force of 15G 7. Reducing that to 10G resulted in partial success. Reducing to 5G or less reduced the effectiveness by 70-100% ie. if muscle, bone and body conditioning are your goals, using low G-force is ineffective for all but the most frail and deconditioned individuals.
This becomes important information to be aware of before buying a vibration machine as most vibration machines are not capable of producing high G-forces and are really only suitable as massage machines. This includes all machines for under $1000 and most machines from $2000 – $3000.
G-force is the most important factor when it comes to stimulating the body to improve with Whole Body Vibration. If you want maximum results with minimum time and effort your aim should be to use the highest G-forces you feel comfortable with.
Read more and discuss value for money in How Much Should You Pay For A Vibration Machine?
