Is whole-body vibration as beneficial as regular exercise?
Exercise is good for our health and wellbeing at any age. Physical activity can reduce many associated risks such as bone fractures and the negative metabolic effect of every ailment the body goes through.
But many people find it hard to start an exercise routine and stay with it regularly. This contributes many problems in our body including diabetes and obesity.
But what if there was a less strenuous form of exercise with the same effect on muscle and bone health as regular exercise?
The good news is that there is.
It is called Whole-body vibration (WBV) and has gained attention as a potential exercise mimetic to regular exercise and has shown improvement in muscle and bone health in mice.
WBV consists of a person standing, sitting or lying down on a vibrating platform. Vibrations send energy to the body which causes muscles to contract and relax many times during each second.
To test the effectiveness of WBV, researchers examined two groups of mice. One group consisted of normal mice and the other group was genetically unresponsive to the hormone leptin which makes the mice feel full after eating.
Whole-body vibration (WBV) study showed increased global bone formation in mice, suggesting longer-term treatments which could prevent bone loss.
Mice from each group were assigned to sedentary, WBV or treadmill exercise routines for three months.
The mice were given a week to get used to the exercise equipment before they began their 12 week regime.
The mice in the WBV group participated in 20 minutes of WBV at a frequency of 32 Hz with 0.5 g acceleration each day. The treadmill group walked for 45 minutes every day at a slight incline. The third control group did not exercise. Mice were weighed weekly during the study.
The genetically obese and diabetic mice showed similar metabolic benefits from both the WBV and treadmill exercise. Obese mice gained less weight after WBV or exercise than mice in the sedentary group, although they remained heavier than normal mice.
It was found that WBV and exercise improved muscle mass and insulin sensitivity in genetically obese mice.
There was no significant effect in young healthy mice. However, the low intensity exercise and WBV were successfully completed by obese mice with significant changes.
Researchers concluded that more testing needs to be conducted on humans to fully understand the effects of WBV on people but they suggest that WBV can be a useful supplemental therapy to combat metabolic dysfunction in obese people.
Obtaining the benefits of exercise just got easier with WBV which can help combat the negative effects of obesity and diabetes.
Source: Endocrinology
