TRANSMISSIBILITY OF WHOLE BODY VIBRATIONS TO THE TRICEPS SURAE

Abstract

In order to evaluate potential risks of long term whole body vibration (WBV) training, the transmissibility of vibrations from the WBV platform to the muscles needs to be determined. The purpose of this study was to quantify the transmissibility of vibrations from the WBV platform to the triceps surae muscle. Sixteen healthy male subjects were exposed to WBV at 2.5 mm amplitude and to frequencies of 10, 17 and 28 Hz. Transmissibility of peak acceleration, frequency, and amplitude were quantified using tri-axial accelerometers. The results showed high transmissibility of acceleration and amplitude, especially at low platform frequencies. Since high amounts of acceleration were related to tissue damage, animal or computational muscle models might use the current results as input parameters to study eventual long term risks of WBV training.