What do you intend to use your vibration machine for? Improving your balance and stability? Exercise recovery? Improved strength? Sports training? Or perhaps just to tone up? Studies have shown that to achieve specific results on a vibration machine, the speed of the platform should be at a specific frequency (Hz). For example, studies suggest that lower speeds of around 6Hz are best suited for balance and stability, whilst higher frequencies are better suited for vibration training. Therefore, in order to achieve your intended goals, it is vital that you know the frequency of the platform you are using.
Unfortunately, many machines being sold today do not have the ability to give you this essential information, instead, they give you a range of speed levels that have nothing to do with the frequency of the platform. For example, a machine might show 1-50 speed levels or 1-30 speed levels etc. Imagine if you bought a car, and instead of a speedometer that read from 0 to 220Kmph, it read 1-50 speed. Now imagine using this to try and keep to the speed limits as you drive through town, or as you try to slow to a suggested speed to approach a corner. No, a car has a speedometer given in km/ph for a reason, because this is how we measure how fast a car travels! Just as we measure room temperature in degrees, body weight in kilos, pool length in meters, and bottle volume in litres, we measure vibration speed in frequency (Hz), simple!

So you’ve ticked the first point off our list, and you own a machine that displays the speed of the vibrations in Hz and not speed levels, great! So how do you know that the Hz reading is accurate? Don’t just take the manufacturer at their word, tests performed in a number of research papers have shown that the readings displayed on a vibration machine, can often be entirely inaccurate. In other words what the manufacturer tells you about the machine performance, and what the real machine performance is, are two different things. We’ve found this on machines that cost as little as $300, all the way up to machines that cost $15,000, so price is certainly no indicator.
Unfortunately for the consumer, unless you have access to some pretty expensive engineering equipment, you’ll probably never know. Fortunately we can save you the hard work, as HyperVibe have independent engineering reports to show you the real frequency range of over 20 different machines on the market, and access to published independent research revealing the true output of various Whole Body Vibration devices. Request an information package via the home page to review the facts.

Ok, by now you’ve probably gathered that frequency (Hz) is quite important, but why? Because vibration TRAINING, rather than vibration MASSAGE, is dependent on the stretch reflex, and the stretch reflex is dependent on frequency. The stretch reflex causes a very rapid contraction of the muscles against the upward force produced by the platform, and this is part of what produces the TRAINING effect. To initiate a stretch reflex a muscle must be stretched rapidly, if it is not stretched rapidly, there will be no stretch reflex and no muscle contractions. Consider when the doctor taps your knee with a tendon hammer, if he only taps your knee lightly, there will be no reflex. However, if he strikes fast enough a reflex knee jerk reaction will follow. This same principle can be applied to vibration training. For most people, the stretch reflex will initiate at 12-15Hz, and at around 30Hz the muscle reaches its greatest activity. When the frequency is below 12Hz the stimulus is not fast enough to initiate the stretch reflex and therefore the machine is being operated at massage settings.
If you own a machine or are looking to buy a machine which does not produce more than 12Hz, then you have yourself a vibration MASSAGE machine only. To be certain you are getting yourself a TRAINING machine, you’ll want a machine that displays Hz, you want a machine that has been independently tested, and you’ll want a machine which produces over 12Hz. But that’s not all.....

We’ve now discussed the importance of frequency and how that is relevant to the stretch reflex. Well, the other key to Whole Body Vibration is the gravitational loading, or acceleration. Standing here on Earth we are all exposed to Earth’s gravity (1g). If we all woke up tomorrow and the Earth’s gravitational field had doubled (2g’s), we would all weigh twice as much on the scales, and our muscles would need to work extra hard to carry around twice our body weight. The HyperVibe Performance can produce up to 17.4g’s, sounds excessive right? Well fortunately our bodies can absorb high g forces, provided we are only exposed to them for a very short time. This is one of the key principles to Whole Body Vibration, it exposes us to very short and rapid bursts of hyper gravity. So depending on our strength, we are able to tolerate very high bursts of gravitational loading. Generally speaking below 8g’s would be considered vibration THERAPY, whereas over 8g’s would be sufficient for vibration TRAINING. Certain populations would find the THERAPY settings sufficient for their strengthening needs, the type of people who require the strengthening benefits they would seek from a physiotherapist. Others need more of a challenge and require the TRAINING g force settings to gain the strengthening benefits they would seek from a gym or personal trainer.
Once again, finding out the accurate g rating of a machine is not an easy task, and you should not simply take a manufacturer at their word. Ask for independent testing, if they don’t have it, request an information package via the home page, you might find the machine you are looking for within the independent test report.

In summing up there are basically 3 machine types, MASSAGE, THERAPY, & TRAINING.

• MASSAGE – Will not produce more than 12Hz
• THERAPY – Produces more than 12Hz, but below 8g’s
• TRAINING – Produces more than 12Hz, and more than 8g’s