What You Need To Know About Whole Body Vibration Therapy

The origins of whole body therapy is very interesting. The problem of bone and muscle loss during prolonged space missions by american and Russian cosmonauts. 
Basically, gravity makes our muscles and bones regrow and strengthen. A simple law called wolfs law states the bone responds to stress by laying down more bone. Bone is lost every day, due to re-absorption and just the body constantly replacing its cells. However, new bone will only grow and increase with stress. Muscles work the same way. Everyone know that if you do resistance exercises, muscles will grow. If you are not active, then muscles atrophy, or shrink.
Well, in space, these two natural stressed are virtually removed due to low gravity. The space programs had to figure out a way to induce stress to the muscles and bones of the cosmonauts or, severe bone and muscle loss would damage, or even kill them.
The soviet union was the first to implement whole body vibration therapy. Upon the first experiment, soviet cosmonauts were able to be in space for over a year, 420 days, without any signification health effects from space. The Americans who did not use the whole body vibration, only lasted 120 days and had to quit due to severe muscle weakness and lowered bone density.
Whole body vibration uses a machine, with a vibration plate on the bottom, that people stand on, and can exercise on, that produces constant vibration. The machine basically oscillates, either in left to right motion, or 360 degree motion. This places stress on the bones, muscles and ligaments. The small movement causes the body to make thousands of muscle contractions per second, just to stand still on the machine. The person can then do specific exercises, or positions which stress different areas of the body.
In terms of muscles contractions and stress to the muscles and bones, 10 minutes of vibration therapy is equal to 60 mins of jogging outside. Best yet, you barely move on the machine, and probably wont even break a sweat. Vibration therapy is great for exercise, but it it can also be used to specifically treat or rehab muscles that are weak, due to a physical problem, or illness or disease.
Some conditions that have been successfully treated with whole body vibration include: emphysema, multiple sclerosis, ALS, osteoporosis, arthritis, lower back pain, neck pain, pelvic instability, excess body fat, cellulite, and stress.
Whole body vibration is a great exercise and a great therapy. However, the therapy is not for everyone. You should consult a physician before beginning any program. If the following conditions apply to you, vibration therapy may not be for you, unless cleared by your doctor: pacemaker, epilepsy, pregnancy, heart problems, hip, knee, or shoulder implants, herniated discs, diabetes, hernia, tumor, infection, surgery, and some other spinal conditions.
Whole body vibration therapy can be tremendously beneficial if undertaken in a supervised facilely  with proper direction. Please consults a physician before beginning any new exercise or rehab program.
Dr. James R. Fedich has been practicing in Northwest NJ for over 5 years and has taken a special interest in patients with chronic pain. He is an author for chirorpractic economics and frequent public speaker and has done health evaluation for UPS and other large companies. To Contact Dr. Fedich for public speaking, writing, or chiropractic, you can reach him via email at drfedich@villagefamilychiro.com, or call his main office at (908) 813-8200 for a fun interview.