Shake It Up!

Some old-time movies or newsreels used to show overweight women standing facing a machine which had a broad canvas band massaging their glutes and thighs; the idea was that they would lose fat and not develop cellulite. I don’t know how useful those machines were, but it seems that older folk can benefit considerably from new vibrations – delivered through a vibrating platform. This comes from an article in Current Sports Medicine Reports.

Whole body vibration (WBV) platforms increase muscle activity and thus improve muscle performance. They produce frequencies ranging from 15 to 60 Hertz and move about 1 to 11 mm up and down with an acceleration of between 2.2 g and 5.1 g.

In a study of 28 postmenopausal women over an 8-month period, standing on a WBV platform for six 1-minute cycles 3 times a week was associated with a significant increase in bone density in the hip. In another study WBV training inhibited bone loss in the spine and hip over a 1-year period.

It looks as if WBV training has benefits for older people, although these have not been fully defined, yet. In the meantime, “Im pickin’ up good vibrations” (Beach Boys).