Vibration Plate FAQ
- Vibration plate movement patterns
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Vibration plates in the market can be classified into four categories, each characterized by its distinctive movement pattern.
Each movement pattern has their unique affects on the human body.
- Frequency, amplitude, and G-force
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- Frequency - the number of times a vibration plate move up and down in each second.
- Amplitude - the distance between the highest point and the lowest point of the movement of a vibration plate.
- G-force - the acceleration of vibration movement expressed using the acceleration of gravity G as the unit.
- Speed level - a non-standard speed ratio defined by each individual manufacturer to represent the speed of vibration movement, not comparable from one machine model to another.
- Who should NOT use vibration plate?
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Vibration plates should not be used by individuals with certain medical conditions, which include but not limited to:
- Pregnancy
- Knee replacement
- Hip replacement
- Pacemaker
- Heart disease
- Epilepsy
- Seizures
- Migraines
- Kidney stones
- bladder stone
- Motion sickness
- Recent surgery
- Acute arthritis
- Orthopedic injuries
- Retinal detachment
If you have a serious medical condition, please consult your doctor to determine if vibration intervention is appropriate.
- Hazardous effects of vibration
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Prolonged or excessive exposure to intensive vibration may lead to health problems. However, as attested by millions of users over the years, using a whole-body vibration plate for 20 minutes a day is considered safe and not harmful.
Clinical trial based scientific studies support that proper use of vibration plate does not pose a health hazard.
There is not a set of regulated safety standard for vibration exposure. US Labor Department and National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health published advisory information on profession related vibration exposure, which is for prolonged continuous use of vibrational equipment and machineries.
Just like it can positively influence your body, vibration intervention can also have adverse impact if used improperly or under inappropriate conditions.
- Negative experiences
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Nausea and dizziness are the most commonly reported negative experiences associated with using a vibration plate.
About 2% of our linear vibration plate users reported nausea or dizziness.
You may get nauseous when your stomach is upset by vibration. You may also get dizziness due to a natural reflex related to the sense on abnormal hearing and sight caused by vibration.
Knee bent and calf raise can help avoid vibration from transmitting to the upper body and therefore avoid the nausea and dizziness. Starting from low intensity and short exercise time, most people can gradually build up tolerance to vibration.
Linear vibrations are more likely to cause nausea and dizziness because the vertical movement can be transmitted to the upper body. On the other hand, pivotal oscillation plates cause less nausea or dizziness since they do not transmit significant vertical movement to the upper body.
Some users have reported experiencing vision blur while using a vibration plate, but the blurriness resolves as soon as the vibration is stopped.
Improper types of vibration and incorrect exercise poses can impact your joints and place undue stress on your tendons and ligaments, leading to potential injuries.
In a vibration exercise, your muscles, tendons, ligaments, and bones are impacted similarly to a regular exercise. However, the key distinction lies in the rapidly repetitive impact at high G-force, which can amplify both the positive and negative effects.
Our suggestion is to avoid letting vibration directly impact your ligaments, cartilages, and bones. Instead, begin by allowing the vibration to induce muscle contractions, and then let the force of muscle contractions act on the connecting tissues. It is crucial to use the correct exercise poses to achieve this.
- Vibration may damage your house.
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Vibration plate should be used on a solid floor that can resist vibration, like a concrete floor, or a wood floor that is tightly attached to a concrete substrate.
If you live in a wood frame structure house, you should use your vibration plate in the basement or the garage. If used on a wood frame floor, the machine will vibrate the floor. The floor joist will further transmit the vibration to the connecting stud walls, shaking your house. Over time, the vibration will loose the house structure.
You can put a thick EVA foam exercise mat beneath your vibration plate to reduce the vibration transmitted to the floor. The effectiveness depends on the solidity of your floor.
Never use a vibration plate in a mobile home.
- How does vibration therapy work?
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We attribute the therapeutic effectiveness of vibration therapy to the enhanced muscle training resulting from the rapidly repeated skeletal muscle contractions induced by vibration stimulation.
Enhanced muscle training more effectively promotes cell generation processes in muscles and connecting tissues, such as ligaments, tendons, bones, and nerves, improving their functionality.
The rapidly repeated skeletal muscle contraction also improve circulation through the skeletal muscle pump effect.
- Is vibration therapy scientifically approved?
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Scientific research on vibration therapy has been gaining momentum in recent years, yet there is still a lack of consistent results proving its efficacy across various modalities, and no documented guidelines exist for any specific applications.
- Does a vibration plate help lose weight?
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The concept that vibration can shake off fat is unfounded. It is a marketing hype that other manufacturers and sellers use without a logic of science.
Vibration exercise, like other physical exercises, can improve overall health conditions, contributing to weight management. However, it's important to note that losing weight is not the primary purpose of vibration exercise.
- Exercises on vibration plate
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Some of the most popular and significant strength exercises can be performed on a vibration plate to enhance muscle training effectiveness.
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a) High effective exercises utilizing a vibration plate:
- Squat - muscle groups around knee joints and hip joints.
- L-squat - concentrate on muscle groups around hip joints and lower back.
- Calf-raise - calf muscles and plantar of the foot.
- Tiptoe - concentrate on foot intrinsic muscles
- Deadlift - muscle groups at lower back and hips b) Less effective exercises utilizing a vibration plate:
- Push-up - for chest muscles, shoulder muscles and triceps.
- V-sit - for abdominal muscles.
- Plank - for abdominal muscles and lower back muscles
Other exercises may not effectively utilize the movement of vibration plate.
Standing straight on a vibration plate does not engage the muscles significantly and may have an adverse impact on the knee joint cartilage.
Please consult a physical therapies about your exercise plan on a vibration plate.
- Common misconceptions about vibration plate
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- Vibration plates are complicated machines.
- Vibration plates are high tech products.
- The parameters of vibration plate are proprietary information.
- The efficacy of vibration plate is scientifically approved.
- Vibration motion pattern, the more complex the better.
- Vibration plate with 180 speed levels runs faster than vibration plate with 60 speed levels.
- A 10 minute vibration exercise equals a 60 minute jogging
- Common quality issues of VT vibration plate
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- Control circuit burned or malfunction due to inferior electronic components or soldering problems.
- Fuse burned due to power surge or circuit issue.
- Machine assemblies becomes loose due to the vibration, usually indicated by excessive mechanical noises.
- Motor burned or motor carbon brush wear-out shortly.
- Parts broken due to material fatigue over time.
- Remote control issues
Quality issues listed in 3, 4, 5 rarely happen in VT series vibration plates.
- Where to order VT replacement parts?
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You can order replacement parts from our website. All replacement parts are free of charge, free shipping for any US destinations, a flat shipping charge of $25 for all most other countries where FedEx services.
We keep sufficient inventory of replacement parts in our Minnesota warehouse for instant order, usually shipped the same day or the next day.
Replacement parts are available for at least 10 years after the vibration plate is sold.
- Vibration plate can jump or drift on the floor
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If there is no body weight on a vibration plate, when the frequency reaches a certain level, the vibration force can overcome the machine weight and cause the machine to jump or drift on the floor.
Pivotal oscillation plate has a higher amplitude so it appears more like jumping on the floor. Linear vibration plate has a lower amplitude, so it appears as drifting on the floor, similar to a cell phone drifting on the desk on its own vibration.
This is not an issue as long as you keep your body on the machine when it is running.
VT vibration plates come with suction cup style rubber feet which can hold onto a flat floor. However sometimes the floor is not so smooth and clean and the suction feet may not function well.
We recommend using a vibration plate on a carpeted floor. The carpet provides some buffer and friction that can prevent the machine from jumping or drifting.
Always stay on your vibration plate when it is running. Never leave your machine running unattended.
- Noise level of vibration plate
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Vibration plate does not produce much noise when the frequency is below 20Hz. Pivotal oscillation plates usually runs very quietly because they usually vibrate below 15Hz.
Linear vibration plates produce more noise than pivotal vibration plates, especially when they vibrate above 30Hz.
Excessive mechanical noise indicates a low quality vibration machine. Harsh noise usually means malfunction.
In terms of loudness and annoyance factor, human ears perceive the same dBA level differently depending the sound frequency. For example, 50 dBA at 30Hz sounds much louder than 50 dBA at 20Hz.
VT007 is a very quite linear vibration plate even vibrating at high frequency. It not just achieves lower dBA level, but also largely eliminates annoying high frequency mechanical noise.
- EMF produced by vibration plate
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Like all household electric appliances, vibration plate generates electromagnetic fields (EMF).
The type of EMF generated by a vibration plate is called extremely low frequency EMF, in comparison with radio frequency EMF generated by microwave oven or cell phone.