Whole Body Vibrations

[jenspen]

Does anybody have data on the effectiveness of these machines? Specifically for an elderly woman?

http://www.soloflex.com/

 

[DangerousBeliefs]

Sounds like *****

But does it come with attachments?

Remember rule 10 please

Replying to this modbox in thread will be off topic  Posted By: Miss Anthrope

 

[ben m]

An article in the New York Times is pretty skeptical:

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/26/style/tmagazine/t_w_1033_face_personal_.html

and the Boston Globe article doesn't inspire any confidence:

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2006/07/08/new_buzz_on_an_old_workout_fad/?page=1

They say there are "some preliminary studies" in animals, and few or none in humans, all of which (if I'm reading this correctly) involved vibration so intense that it tires you out to resist it. Based on this, Soloflex waltzes up with a $300 machine which provides much gentler vibrations ... with their most prominent advertising claim being

The gentle vibrations help increase circulation

Ugh. "helps increase circulation", to my ears, is a few inches to the right of "harnesses your body's healing powers". If they had better evidence, why don't they make stronger claims?

The Soloflex web page links to some research articles, only one of which I can access (http://www.getcited.org/pub/100556430), which describes the successful use of a 44 Hz, 2mm-amplitude vibration. Soloflex's 44Hz "gentle vibration", if I'm doing the math correctly, has an amplitude of about 90 microns.

Draw your own conclusions. It looks like the strong-vibration exercise research is valid---and if it holds up, it's pretty exciting---but Soloflex may be extrapolating way too far.

 

[Miss Anthrope]

Excellent, thanks so much for that info ben m.

 

[DangerousBeliefs]

Remember rule 11 please

Replying to this modbox in thread will be off topic  Posted By: Miss Anthrope

[/QUOTE]

11. Posts must be on topic to the thread subject.

???

I think you mean 10.

I did not disguise my choice words. It's like saying "heck" or "darn" or "crap".

You're censoring a word that nuns use. Phil, ruler of heck, would be proud of you.

Anyway, I think it sounds like crap. (I can say crap, can't I? Would fecal matter be more PC?)

 

[jenspen]

Thanks Ben m. But she went ahead and bought it anyway. Sigh.

 

[jenspen]

Sounds like *****

But does it come with attachments?

Remember rule 11 please

Replying to this modbox in thread will be off topic  Posted By: Miss Anthrope

On reflexion, I could have phrased that question better. But to the pure of mind...

 

[ben m]

Thanks Ben m. But she went ahead and bought it anyway. Sigh.

Oh well. If you stand on top of it while you do a normal exercise routine, I guess it can't hurt. A $300 exercise mat whose Amazing Placebo Power reminds you to exercise is better than nothing. It's like having a tube of Head-On with the label "Apply directly to forehead ... while eating dark green vegetables and whole grains!"

Keep an eye on her and make sure she doesn't do what the woman in the Globe article did --- sit in an easy chair and do crosswords with her feet on the machine.

 

[Miss Anthrope]

???

I think you mean 10.

I did not disguise my choice words. It's like saying "heck" or "darn" or "crap".

You're censoring a word that nuns use. Phil, ruler of heck, would be proud of you.

Anyway, I think it sounds like crap. (I can say crap, can't I? Would fecal matter be more PC?)

Yep, total idiot moment on my part, rule ten. The word you used is only a one letter substitute for profanity. While fine in member's only, already discussed in forum management and not ok in the public areas.