Whole Body Vibration

​One of the best ways to manage the pain of fibromyalgia is regular and gentle movement. Most exercise programs are too strenuous for the average person with fibromyalgia and result in rebound pain. It thus makes sense to start very slowly with gentle activities such as walking, and then gradually work your way up to a more demanding routine.

I'm pretty much a penny pincher so I don't recommend buying any products unless they're absolutely worth it. The full body vibration platform is absolutely something that can improve the quality of your life.

The currency for fibro folks is spoons. You have a limited amount of spoons and as good as exercise may be for you, you can't afford to hand out two or three precious spoons each time you execise. The true value of a vibration platform stuck me the other day when I walked past my wife while she was using the device. If you browse the internet you'll find pictures of athletic looking people in athletic looking poses standing on these devices. My wife however, was in her pajamas with a smartphone in one hand scrolling through YouTube. It stuck me that 10 minutes a day takes zero spoons. Even less than you would need for the rebounder I bought for her which she doesn't use.

how whole body vibration may help fibromyalgia sufferers

This new technique is becoming quite popular amongst spoonies because it is a very passive and low impact form of exercise that actually helps greatly. You simply stand, sit, or kneel on the vibration platform while it oscillates at a variety of speeds. To avoid boredom you can watch TV or surf the net on you phone while exercising.

Low impact

Whole Body Vibration is a very low-impact way to work out. In fact, you don't have to move at all. I did find that different postures and poses do target different areas of the body. For example when I lean forward the muscles (and belly fat) in my abdomen wobble around much more, while if I lean backward my back muscles get a good workout.

How it works

When you stand on the vibrating platform your muscles alternately contract and expand. The vibrations cause a sense in the body that it is unstable or falling. To correct this the muscles contract or expand to counterbalance the vibrations. This counter-balancing reflex is what produces the results.

Studies

A study published in the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine found that whole body vibration could reduce pain and fatigue in those with fibromyalgia. In the study a women with fibromyalgia were divided into three groups. No exercise, exercise, and exercise that included full body vibration. After six weeks, the whole body vibraion group showed significantly lower pain and fatigue scores than the exercise only, and no exercise groups.