Can vibration plates cause back pain?
Can vibration plates cause back pain?
The vibration plates you find at gyms and homes are designed to be low-impact. These plates are accessible for all ages. Vibration plates stimulate your muscles at a much higher rate with minimal effort. Hence, older people or patients often use these machines to strengthen their muscles without performing high-intensity workout routines. Having said that, whether vibration plates cause back pain or not widely differs. While some studies encourage the use of vibration plates to relieve lower back pain, others completely disregard it.
Did you know? The vibration plates or vibration exercise machines that you find in the market today are actually based on machines that Russian astronauts used in space during the 1960s and 1970s. The main aim of these machines was to lower bone density and delay muscle atrophy in space against the lack of gravity.
If you want to find out more about either claim, just read on! Let’s first discuss how vibration plates can cause back pain, then move on to the benefits of vibration therapy in lowering back pain and improving body posture.
Contents
How can Vibration Plates cause back pain?
You already know that vibration plates work by sending vibration throughout your body at a great rate to cause your muscles to contract and relax. However, note that vibration plates stimulate your muscles at a much higher rate than any normal exercise routine would. Hence, if you use such a high-intensity machine without any basic exercise, it can harm your back muscles. Additionally, experts recommend you not to use vibration exercise machines for more than 15 minutes in one session. Overuse can not only cause back pain but also cause some serious damages to your body. If you are interested in knowing more about vibration plates and which one is the best for you, we recommend you to check out our in depth article: Vibration plates reviews.
Another reason why vibration plates may cause back pain is that it causes rapid, involuntary muscle contracts, making your muscles contract and relax at a much quicker rate than by regular exercises. For instance, a 30-second squat on a vibration platform at a low-setting is equal to performing 900 squats manually. While such greater intensity can immensely help you strengthen those muscles, yet we cannot deny the risk of potential back pain. Also, if you move incorrectly on the vibration plates, this mistake can also be intensified, leading to further body damage.
By now, you have a clearer idea about the risks involved in using vibration plates. The only way to prevent possible muscle damage is by consulting your physician before incorporating a vibration machine into your workout regime. Make sure to follow general guidelines and don’t use the plates over its recommended usage time, and you’re good to go!
Nevertheless, vibration machines do offer several benefits when used in the right way. There are many evidence and studies that bring out the benefits of vibration therapy in treating people who suffer from back pain. Let’s have a closer look at it!
How can Vibration Plates Relieve Back Pain?
Whole-body vibration (WBV) training and its effect on lower back pain (LBP) have been a contradicting discussion for many years now. Traditionally, WBV was demonstrated as one major factor leading to LBP. However, further studies disregarded this claim by establishing an association between LBP and WBV in occupational exposure, which included prolonged sitting in a vehicle that contributed to LBP.
With time, more researchers developed studies that brought out the potential benefits of WBV in relieving LBP. A particular study showed WBV training below 20Hz might reduce LBP by improving the strength of the back extensor and abdominal muscles. In another research led by Maddalozzo and Yang, the results supported WBV therapy in managing LBP.
Lower back pain affects the majority of people, irrespective of age. It is usually the outcome of the weakening of the lower back muscles. This weakening may arise from prolonged sitting (one of the most common causes). Especially if you work behind a computer, you are probably sitting for an extended period, which will eventually tighten some muscles in your body while weakening others, further putting stress on your back.
WBV training can help you strengthen your muscles without putting much pressure on your back. It may also reinforce troubled muscle areas and cause it to rotate while already under strain. In this way, WBV therapy helps you strengthen your muscles as well as your back and prepare your body for a longer workout. Additionally, some studies suggest that vibration therapy leads to endorphin release, which may aid in relieving back pain.
On the whole, there are some potential benefits of vibration plates in relieving back pain. The results are mixed. Yet, whole-body vibration therapy, when combined with some basic exercise, appears to be promising.
If you want to incorporate vibration plates in your workout routine, we strongly recommend you to consult your physician/ doctor first. Without medical guidance, you may end up hurting your body more.
Once you get a suitable vibration plate on your doctor’s recommendation, you may want some exercise tips to get you started! And we’ll help you with that as well. Here are some vibration plate exercises for you that you can follow to relieve back pain.
3 Vibration Plate Exercises to relieve back pain
Lower Back Extensions
This is one of the most effective exercises that you can perform on a vibration plate to relieve lower right back pain. All you have to do is sit on the vibration plate. Then, put your arms in front of you between your legs on the floor. Stretch out your back and relax your spine. Hold this position for 60 seconds, then return to your original sitting position and star for another 20 seconds. And repeat.
Forward Bend
This is another simple exercise to release tension in your lower back. Get on your vibration plate and soften your knees. Then, gently bend forward, trying to touch your toes. You don’t necessarily have to bend all the way down. Just make sure to bend in a comfortable position. Then, hold that position, take in some slow deep breaths and gently rock up and down and side to side.
Downward Dog
Downward Dog is a yoga position which you can easily perform using a vibration platform. This exercise is also beneficial for people who sit for long hours. To perform this exercise, stand on the floor with legs apart; keep your legs parallel. Then, bend down and place your hands on the vibration platform. Make sure that you place your hands shoulder-width apart and spread your fingers.
This exercise will decrease tension in the body as well as increase blood circulation.
Back pain is now widespread. With more and more people, sitting for hours in front of the computer leads to incorrect strains on the spine. Women are significantly more likely than men to suffer from back problems. As we get older, the susceptibility to back pain continues to increase. Special vibration plates, which are already successfully used in physiotherapy and in many rehabilitation clinics, are suitable for pain relief and for increasing freedom of movement.
When is it useful to use vibrating platforms?
Regular training on the vibrating platform strengthens the back and promotes the mobility of the back muscles. Users should not simply stand on the machine, but move their body on the vibrating platform. While exercising, you perspire quickly. Vibration training also reaches the lower muscles, which is not used in conventional training.
The use of a vibrating platform is now an integral part of back therapy in many rehabilitation clinics. The use of the platform to improve health is particularly useful for the following back problems:
- scoliosis
- posture
- back pain after injuries or accidents
- Muscular hypertension Herniated disc (except in the acute phase)
- degenerative diseases of the spine
The use of the compact vibrating platform is also useful in prevention and strengthening of back muscles. Training strengthens ligaments and joints while improving flexibility and balance. As a positive side effect, the exercises on the vibrating platform also shrinks the body and stimulates the burning of calories.
If the affected muscle groups are not used for a long period of time, mobility may be limited. Back pain can be relieved by movement and even muscular effort, such as training with vibrating platforms.
Vibration Plates: simple and effective workouts
Due to the alternating lateral movement of some vibrating platforms, reflex-triggered muscle contractions can extend to the back. The lateral alternation allows the muscles to alternately tighten and relax laterally.
The following objectives are at the forefront of vibration training :
- Relaxation of tense muscles
- Gradual reduction of back pain
- Increased mobility in the neck, shoulder and back area
- Increased flexibility
- Improvement of posture
- Strengthening of weak muscle structures
- Improve mobility, strength and endurance
The vibration drive is particularly gentle, because the natural movement is imitated and the load on the joints and the disc is not minimal.
Vibrating platform: Suitable for disc problems
Vibration training can also help to solve disc problems (except in the acute phase!). The intervertebral disc structures of the connective tissue form a kind of buffer between the individual vertebral bodies. Due to many years of inappropriate stress, the intervertebral discs are subjected to high pressure which can be expressed in pain up to disc herniation. Vibration training promotes the elasticity and resilience of the intervertebral discs. The improved muscle relaxation after back pain due to vibration training is effectively and lastingly relieved. Regular movements cause an inhibition of the pain receptors. Training should only be temporarily suppressed with severe back pain. Experts even recommend training sessions to strengthen the back muscles. High muscle performance has a strengthening effect on the back muscles and increases the stability of the spine.
References:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3024201/
https://www.practicalpainmanagement.com/treatments/rehabilitation/whole-body-vibration-potential-benefits-management-pain-physical-function
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4395719/
