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The PowerPlate / Foreword
At present time the media is a perfect mean to expose and introduce a large variety of products including medical and sports products. On television and in magazines for example the simplest products are praised with promising words like: "have a tight tummy in ten days," or "no more back problems", and "goodbye carpal tunnel syndrome". The medical knowledge I have acquired as a student in physical therapy serves me well when I listen to advertisers' reasoning to make the sale. I usually experience this as a commercial circus of sales and find it amusing.
About six months ago my attention was caught by a fitness machine that was incomparable to any other I know. It was the Power Plate. The explanation and instruction accompanying this machine was completely new to me and sounded too good to be true. The machine was not only praised as a sports/fitness product but also recommended as a therapeutic apparatus. As a future physical therapist I felt curious and it was my pleasure to explore this machine for my thesis.
A number of people cooperated with me while writing this thesis. People who were already familiar with the Power Plate (physical therapists and patients) who enthusiastically demonstrated and explained it as well as those who had heard of the Power Plate but were basically "non believers." Both groups taught me a lot. They forced me to draw my own conclusions and to stay objective but critical. I want to thank Erik Kirchof and Guus van der Meer for their cooperation and information. I want to thank all the people I interviewed for their time and efforts. I hope my thesis will give physical therapists a representative view of the Power Plate.
The PowerPlate / 1. Introduction
My motivation for this thesis came about from the fact that within the treatments of physical therapy, time is of the essence. A treatment should take as little time as possible.
This raises the demands on treatments and their applications. This trend has evolved because of stricter guidelines and regulations from the management of several big insurance companies. Therefore a new efficient method of training for physical therapy would be of great importance.
My goal for this thesis is to show an objective view for physical therapists in the application of a new method in training as with the PowerPlate. The question, if the PowerPlate is a new application of training in Physical therapy was the guiding principle for this study.
Vibration training or Whole Body Vibration (WBV) is the name of this new method of training performed on the PowerPlate.
The Power Plate / Synopsis
The Power Plate is a fitness machine used in the WBV method of training. The machine consists out of a vibrating plate that transfers vibrations on the body of the patients.
Research into the WBV concept has been going on since the 60s. WBV especially effects the neuromuscular system which is responsible for increases in muscle strength. As opposed to conventional training methods, greater and faster results can be achieved. For instance, increases in muscle strength by using this method of training. It also shows that training on a vibrating plate positively influences blood circulation, mobility, muscular tension, passive structures and pain reduction. These influences make it believable that training on the Power Plate can be of value for complaints pertaining to mobility.
Several contra-indications are emphasized for use of the PowerPlate. As a therapist it is imperative to know about the clear and clouded factors pertaining to the PowerPlate
before entering into a training program.
For two years the PowerPlate is used in physical therapy as a supplement to regular treatment. This is called an empirical application. From various interviews one can tell that the therapists using the machine are convinced of its usefulness within the Physical Therapy. They use the Power Plate for various conditions and there are great differences in exercises and settings per patient.
Patients using the Plate admit to having to get used to this form of training. But the exercises on the plate are pleasant and time saving. It is hard to give a concrete judgment about its results since they differ from patient to patient. Because there is no data about the results in groups sharing the same conditions it is hard to conclude exactly what the results are within the scope of Physical Therapy. Nevertheless the Power Plate is a promising machine for Physical Therapy and definitely deserving of a closer look.
The PowerPlate is a fitness machine used within a special method of training. This method is based on vibrational training. The goal of this method is mainly to increase the
muscle strength. The machine transfers the vibration to the human body. The Power Plate has been used for about a year and a half in the Netherlands. Originally it was used by top athletes who were introduced to it through their sports. Currently the Power Plate appears more and more in gyms and other fitness institutions. Within the medical world the PowerPlate is causing more and more curiosity while the number of users is growing consistently. The present number of Physical Therapists using the Power Plate is hard to calculate since the number is increasing so rapidly. To be able to give an indication we use the information that about 100 Physical Therapists used the PowerPlate in February 2001 within their methods of treatment. At this time (October
2001) the number has grown to about 300.
The PowerPlate / Execution of the exercises
The vibration exercises are performed on the vibrating plate. The distal ends of the lower extremities or of the upper extremities make contact with the vibrating plate. A static or
dynamic contraction will take place in which the joints associated to the affected chain, unlock. One holds a position passively (static) or actively engages in a motion (dynamic).
This way the vibrations are primarily absorbed by active structures and secondary by passive structures. The concept of the exercises is in its execution almost the same as those of the conventional methods. It remains an exercise and is therefore subject to adhere to the same rules as conventional training exercises. Because you work out large muscle groups you can make a distinction between upper and lower body. Within these two groups there are plenty of variations regarding the types of exercises, the performance and the multiple parameters.
The PowerPlate / Whole Body Vibrations (WBV)
The concept of the PowerPlate is based on Vibration Training. The initial thought behind it can be summarized as the transfer of mechanical vibrations onto the body (referred to
as Whole Body Vibrations in most studies).
History
The origin of this training goes back over 20 years, in Russia, where in the late 70s a lot of studies were done finding the effects of Body Vibration. Initially the studies were directed, one toward Vibration Training in various branches of sports (mountain biking or skating) the other toward the trainings and therapeutic methods of vibration training as mostly in the end of the 80s was done in the former USSR. The more recent studies of amongst others NAZAROV '87, ISSURIN '94, WEBER '97, and BOSCO'98 focus especially on the increase of muscle strength and the mechanics causing this increase.
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