TikTokers tout vibration plates for their health benefits, but do they work?

“Are you feeling okay?”

It’s a question that’s popping up more and more often on TikTok, as users flood the platform with videos of themselves balancing on trembling vibration plates, their bodies shaking, often trying to tout the devices as the latest cure-all.

Their efforts certainly made waves. Since April, online searches for vibration plates – which look like a hybrid of a barbecue and a shaking surfboard – have skyrocketed, and products on TikTok Shop have sold tens of thousands of units.

People use them in different ways. Some people focus on an upright position while the plate shakes them; others go further and do different exercises such as squats or push-ups.

The purported health benefits of whole body vibration range from weight loss and increased bone density to aiding lymphatic drainage, improving circulation, and more.

But what does the evidence actually say?

Do vibration plates have health benefits?

“It’s not a silver bullet, but it has its advantages,” said Dr. Jörn Rittweger, head of the department of muscle and bone metabolism at the German Aerospace Center and professor of space physiology at the University of Cologne in Germany.

He said the calorie burn and cardiovascular benefits are similar to “walking briskly for the same amount of time.”

It’s also important how much exercise you’re already doing. “If people do nothing” in terms of exercise, Rittweger said, “then the effects are moderate or even better. For the general public, if they do exercise, the effect is marginal or non-existent.”

For example, Rittweger said he uses the device in a pediatric rehabilitation unit to prevent muscle atrophy in children who cannot walk.

What about strengthening your bones? Rittweger says the evidence is mixed. “The effects are probably not spectacular,” he said.

In terms of improving circulation and lymphatic drainage, Rittweger stated that there is “evidence to suggest that vibration does help remove fluid from the legs,” although it is unclear whether the fluid is removed from the lymphatic system or from the veins.

Two related conditions have also received a lot of attention on TikTok due to the vibration’s potential to aid: lymphedema, a form of swelling resulting from a more severe build-up of lymphatic fluid, and lipedema, a form of swelling typically seen in women caused by fatty deposits that are typically difficult to burn off .

“There is no convincing evidence that vibration plates alleviate lymphedema or lipid edema,” Dr. Håkan Brorson, professor of plastic surgery at the Lund University Oncology Center in Sweden and former president of the International Lymphological Society, wrote in an email.

Although the evidence is mixed, it may be helpful for people who cannot exercise otherwise.

But how you use the device is also important. Rittweger recommends seeking advice from an expert, such as a physical therapist, who can ensure you’re maximizing the benefits without harming yourself.

Are vibration plates safe?

People exposed to whole-body vibration for long periods of time, such as bus drivers and heavy machinery operators, are known to experience lower back pain.

Peter W. Johnson, a professor emeritus at the University of Washington’s School of Public Health who studies ergonomics, said this probably doesn’t worry most vibration plate users. “I don’t think these vibrating plates pose much of a problem because most of them are only used for six- to 15-minute sessions,” he said.

“The other important thing is the frequencies that the plates operate at,” Johnson said. “A lot of people use records at higher frequencies,” which don’t affect the spine.

Devices often contain warnings for certain people.

“Any active clotting disorder is important. If you have a clot, you can dislodge it,” Rittweger said. A displaced clot can travel to the brain and cause a stroke or to the heart and cause a heart attack.

He also said that the vibrations can dislodge kidney stones, which can be extremely painful.

Lifepro, a popular brand of vibration plates, states on its website that the devices should not be used by people suffering from heart disease, muscle or bone injuries, as well as people with medical implants such as pacemakers, as well as pregnant women and young children .

Lifepro did not respond to a request for comment.

While vibration plates are safe for most people, ultimately, Johnson says, “when we make changes, we’re telling people to listen to their bodies.”

Deja Mason from Roanoke, Virginia, said she first heard about vibration plates on TikTok.

“I heard it helps with poor circulation,” Mason, 29, said. Instead, she said it made her feel even worse.

“I used it for a maximum of three minutes and immediately became very light-headed and light-headed, and I couldn’t stand up straight or focus on anything with my eyes,” she said.

The only thing people don’t need to worry about is the itching sensation they may experience when using the vibration plate for the first time.

Rittweger said it’s a reflex that results from the skin vibrating and sliding against blood vessels, which causes the release of a chemical called histamine, which dilates the vessels and causes the skin to itch.

“It’s something that goes away after one, two or three sessions,” he said, adding that “it’s not harmful.”

Wait, haven’t we seen these before?

As vibration plates experience a renaissance, some are hearing echoes of past fitness trends.

“It seems rather retro to me,” said Natalia Mehlman Petrzela, a history professor at the New School in New York and author of “Fit Nation: The Gains and Pains of America’s Exercise Obsession.” “It probably has to do with the cultural resurgence of the early 21st century.”

Beyond the intensity of training, there’s something enticing about how easy it seems, she said. “You don’t even have to sprint on a treadmill to benefit from it. You can just stand there and it will do something.

Modern vibration plates are the latest development in a long history of vibrating exercise equipment, from belts to couches. From the 1940s to the 1960s, “the concept of passive exercise was sold almost exclusively to women,” she said, something “that did not at all disturb the concept of a ‘properly feminine movement.’

“It would be completely inappropriate for her to lift heavy weights or run, God forbid,” Petrzela said.

So why did they become popular at the turn of the millennium?

“There was a lot of enthusiasm about what the technology could achieve,” she said. “Remember this is the Y2K dot-com era. So I have a feeling it was a little bit about, “How can we make the gym high-tech?”

But soon they disappeared. “Trends come and go,” she said, pointing to other trends that have displaced vibration platforms such as group fitness and CrossFit.

They are fashionable for now. But just as vibrating plates rapidly shake users up and down, trends are always changing. Something that is high today may drop just as quickly tomorrow.