Evaluating Equipment Quality and Value

BBC Sounds, Music, Radio Podcasts Hi, I'm Xing Singh, and I'm Simon Jack, and together we host Good Bad Billionaire, the podcast exploring how some of the world's richest people made their fortunes . And we're back for a new season with a brand new lineup of billionaires. Yeah, global pop icon Beyonce. Hollywood movie director Steven Spielberg. Football superstar Christiana Renalo, anyone? And as ever, we're asking you to decide whether they're good, bad or just another billionaire. That's good, bad, billionaire. Listen first and BBC Sounds. Hello, I'm Greg Foot and welcome to Slice Bread, the show that investigates the Wonder Products promising to make you happier, healthier, or greener. Each episode, we follow the crumbs of evidence to find out if one of your suggested Wonder Products is indeed the best thing since Sliced Bread or Marketing BS and today's suggestion comes from not one but two listeners Tash and Steve Ettie Edwards who are calling in from Dubai. Welcome you two. Hi Greg. Hello, hello. Tell us the Wonder Product then that you 'd like us to investigate today and why ? We are looking to investigate vibration plates. We have a friend here who purchased one around Christmas time and we didn't really know what it did we were really keen to hear what exactly the benefits are. How mid two thousands of your friend ? I mean, I remember these being all the rage back then were,n't they? But they are definitely having a resurgence. So I feel like your friend is very on trend. For anyone who hasn't seen one, can you describe what you saw when you walked in and you saw your friend on one of these? It was essentially a kind of plate on the floor. It was quite a hefty piece of kit and big enough to stand on. Yeah, it had a control and then the control basically decided how long you stayed on it for and how strong the vibrations were depending on what. You want it from it? Did you try it yourself? No, we didn't. You didn't , I wouldn't be able to stop myself . And what do fans of vibration plates say it does ? After we left her house because we didn't want to insult her whilst we were still there . We kind of researched it a little bit and there were claims which said that it increased bone density . It makes your legs stronger. It can help with body fat loss, cellulite. It's a recovery tool. There were just loads of different things that it said it did. And we were like, all of this in one item is didn't sound too real to us. Well, looking back in our sliced bread inbox, listeners have been sending emails in to sliced. BBC. co for a few years actually asking us to investigate this one. A number of listeners have seen the same claims as you both around vibration plates being equivalent to exercise . Listener Lizzie read that fifteen minutes use is better than going for a run . Yep, I've heard it was equivalent to a one mile run, a hundred press ups and a hundred situps . Just fifteen minutes standing still on the plate. And depending on what stance you have, it can determine what kind of workout you have. So if you've got a narrower stance, you might have a walking workout , you've got a wider stance and it's a running workout and we want to understand it a bit more. Oh yeah, me too. Listener Ruth is wondering whether a vibration plate could help maintain her muscle mass and her bone density post menopause. We've had some voice notes sent in via our WhatsApp on these as well. Here is one from Anna Logan in Northern Ireland. Hi Greg. I'm interested in knowing what your experts would think of vibration plates , particularly if they're any good for arthritic joints and also if they're any good for lymphatic drainage. I get puffy ankles if I'm on my feet all day, especially in warm weather. Looking forward to hearing what they have to say. Thank you. Thanks, Anna. And if you would like to send us a voice note, our WhatsApp number is zero seven five forty three six eight zero seven . Lymphatic drainage, have you heard claims around that? Yes, yes. Yes. I didn't realise we all needed to drain Allen's fatic system so badly but it seems to be quite a common thing . Anna also mentioned to the team that she has tinnitus and is wondering if there are any risks with her using a vibration plate. And in Ruth's email, she mentioned that she has high blood pressure, so we'll check on any concerns there too . Well, I've got two experts in the studio with me today who I'm sure are absolutely buzzing to be here . They're going to give us their balanced view of the research. They know their stuff. They are not going to oscillate . Yeah, that's enough. First up is a visiting professor at Leeds Beckett University and founder of the rehabilitation and conditioning educational platform Get Back to Sport. Dr. Claire Minchall. Welcome Claire. Hi there. And sat alongside Claire is the author of the book Human Response to Vibration and Executive Dean of Research at Nottingham Trent University, Professor Neil Mansfield. Welcome Neil. Yeah, it's great to be here. Claire, you have brought along a vibration plate. I have indeed. Apparently this one is a highly accurate medical grade one from the brand Galile o and because of that it costs close to five thousand pounds . It does. It's one of the more expensive ones on the market. Can I give it a try? Absolutely. If you remove your shoes and stand on the platform with your feet about hip width apart. Okay . And then you just want to bend your knees a little bit, so adopt a kind of semi squat position. Seemi squat position. To confirm the vibration plate is switched off right now. There's a small screen on the plate that says ten hurts hert being frequency. That's correct. So that means that the vibration is going to happen ten times within a second. Okay, I'm squatting and I am ready. Here we go . Whoa . Oh , okay, right. Firstly, I thought I was gonna go up and down. I'm not. I'm rocking side to side. Yeah, this is a side oscillating plate. The other devices, the whole platform goes up and down at the same time. I'm shaking a heck of a lot more than I thought I was going to shake. Okay, so at that lower vibrational frequency, the main thing that we're going to be challenging is the balance. Your balance, your something called proprioception, your awareness of your body in space. There is some muscle contraction happening and we can compare how that feels when we increase the vibrational frequen cy. Okay, can we turn it up? Okay, let's do that. How far are we going? We've got twenty five or thirty . Let's just go thirty, why not? Okay, so we're assuming that you're healthy, fit, you haven't got any recent injuries. Nothing unaware of reasonably fit . Whoa. Whoa . How different is that? Okay, so it's much harder to balance. Whoa, my goodness me. Keep your knees b.urnt That's nuts not. okay I feel the strength of the muscle contractions behind. Oh yeah, my muscle I now have no control over my legs. I can feel there's a lot of shaken the feet on the platform actually how do your calves feel . I feel like they're working. Everything's working very hard .. So R weight're probably going to go for maybe ten to fifteen seconds mat. You said seconds at this intensity and then we'd want to go. Seating . It's hard work. Okay, are we done? Yep. Grab itself. It's tingling all up my calves and around my ankles right now. Intense . It was a lot more intense than I thought it would be actually. Claire, as I was stood on there shaking away, what was happening in my body ? Those vibrations create muscle contraction without you needing to do it yourself. Obviously you need to contract your muscles to maintain that semi squat position, but the vibrational stimulus causes additional muscle contraction. Why does this happen? Well, if you've been to the doctors or the physiotherapist and they've taken out a tendon hammer, they knock it on your knee. They do just below the kneecap on the tendon. And what that does , it causes a very brief stretch in something called the muscle spindles. When we stretch your muscle spindles, it causes the same muscle to contract. Your lower leg kicks out in front of you, doesn't it? Yeah, that's just one stretch. If you're standing on a vibration plate and you repeat that multiple times in a second , you can suddenly then start to see the muscle contraction increasing in strength and it's repeated and this is called a tonic vibration reflex . So it sounds like there's there is something in this . Neil, does the whole body experience this muscle contraction or just the legs? Because it in the marketing these products talk a lot about whole body vibration. Yeah, so this is definitely whole body vibration because it is your whole body which could be vibrated in this case. So if you look at any high level skier or horse rider or mountain biker, they will always be in a position where you see all their limbs are very much in what we call a ready position. They'll be bent and that's so that they're isolated from the thing that they're on, the horse or the skis or the mountain bike. And what that's doing is that's keeping all the vibration in that low area so it doesn't get transmitted all the way through your body. So in this case, because the way you're standing, yes, it is staying very close to the bit that's being vibrated. In this case, your feet. So the squat position I was in was olating the vibrations predominantly to my to my lower legs. But we could see my hands were moving slightly kind of my whole body was vibrating. Claire, is this tonic vibration a good thing? I mean, is it good to have our muscles contracting in this way? It's important for us to use our musc and particularly now when we're leading ever more sedentary lives . And also when we get older we have this thing happen to us called sarcopenia, which is a reduction in muscle mass, muscle qual ity, muscle strength, so it actually becomes even more important as we age to use our muscles. Well, let's go through some of these benefits and see if the science supports them. Let's start with strength . Most, if not all these products , say that that whole body vibration is useful for anyone looking to strengthen their muscles or accelerate strength training. So Claire you've said that these vibrations can help develop strength. How does this actually work though? How does standing on there, the muscle contractions that I was experiencing? How does that develop my strength? If you stand on the floor and you do some body weight squats, for many people that might not be very challenging at all. Now, if you think about a way to make that harder, you would maybe add weight. So the harder the challenge, the more the body needs to respond to become stronger. Now, when we stand on a vibration plate , particularly at those higher vibrational frequencies, we are requiring a very strong muscle contraction. It recruits a lot from the muscle fibers within the musculature, which then provokes a strengthening stimul us. That can almost be similar to that resistance training equivalent. Neil, have we got evidence that these devices do actually improve strength ? We have, but there's a big caveat , which is if people are already strong , then the benefit of doing this is negligible . Interesting . But if someone is in a position where they can't move very well. They're not healthy enough to move very well. They haven't got the balance, for example, to move very well, then that's where the best benefit will come from. Right. So if you are older, perhaps, if you would have difficulty doing strength training, for example, maybe our listener Anna 's got arthritic joints. That's where this could be useful. Absolutely. Claire, you're nodding. Those populations that are unable that are lift heavier weights because possibly of pain , because of range of motion restrictions, maybe lack of control , this is where this type of technology can be a great adjunct . What would you both say to someone who says, Oh, I don't need to go to the gym then. I'll just stand on one of these instead or indeed sit on the sofa and I'll put my feet on it. I would say they're probably going to be misguided. I think these need to be considered as a way of getting you into natural normal movement . I think when the comparison is nothing, these are an absolute game changer. That being said, this does not replace the benefits of resistance training. With resistance training , when for example we can go to the gym, we can increase the weight as we become progressively stronger. With vibration training, yes, we can increase the frequency, we can increase the amplitude . That will be a means to progress the exercise, but if we are already particularly strong , then there's going to be no additional benefits in my view. Tash, Steve, what are you thinking? So I think it's been markedet as something that is useful for everyone. Whereas I'm writing notes here and I'm thinking it's a way to get into exercise rather than people who are already fit and well versed in resistance training. Well, we saw that one of these the revival fusion suggests that you should add gentle mechanical oscillations to familiar movements like squats, push ups, or stretches, and other boards suggest similar. Would I also get a training b enefit if I did other workout movements on the plate ? Well, the key is how challenging is that exercise in the first place. If you could do thirty press ups in a row without a problem and then go onto the vibration plate up and then you do press ups, it becomes much more challenging. So you have the press up itself , plus then the additional muscle contraction that's overlaid on top of that caused by the vibration . So that does suggest then that if you're at home doing body weight exercises, you could progress faster if you are doing them on a vibration plate. But I wouldn't suggest that that's the best way to do it. You could easily achieve that strengthening stimulus by going to the gym adding weight, but in answer to your question, yes it makes it harder and yes you're more likely to get a strength adaptation with vibration versus without. Cash asked whether a wider or a narrower stance would make a difference. Yes, on some types of plates . So if we have one that oscillates from side to side , if you imagine you're standing in the middle of a seaweed and it doesn't move very much, if you're at the very end then, it goes up and down much, much more . So if your feet are further apart, you will get a lot more vibration. Well, let's move from strength to cardio. Claire, I mentioned earlier that listener Lizzie had read that fifteen minutes use is better than going for a run. Anything to that? I would not use one of these for cardiovascular training. So doing some resistance work or doing some squatting, some press ups on a vibration plate is more challenging the muscle strength, maybe muscle endurance , muscle power . Whereas going for a run is very much more cardiovascular exercise. So for me it's comparing apples and oranges . Power plates say that the tiny micro vibrations burn more calories. Is that the case, Nil? If there is any, it's a tiny, tiny amount. They don't seem to be particularly effective at reducing body fat . Any muscle contraction, any exercise needs energy, so it's not the fact that it's the vibration that is suddenly this magic bullet to reduce body fat. It's a mode to elicit muscle contraction, that involves an energy requirement and therefore calories are expended in that way. So it's not particularly rocket science from that perspective. But compared to standing still for thirty seconds that's what I was saying. It depends what the comparison is . So is the comparison doing nothing? In which case it's tremendous , but as a means to improve cardiovascular fitness , I would use a cardiovascular fitness intervention yeah . Lots of brands talk about improving balance . Neil, this is something that you've looked into in your research. Tell us all about it. We wanted to look at people who are risk of falls and whether it would change the amount of falls that they had and how resilient they were to those . And the biggest benefit that we see from these plates is that it seems to improve bone density , but bone grows really slowly and so it takes a long, long time for that bone density improve with these. But it is definitely true that over a long period of time that this could be part of helping someone who is got issues with osteoporosis, for example, at a clinical level, that this could be part of a treatment if they're unable to do other things. What is vibration doing to the bone to increase its density? So vibration seems to be increasing the speed of bone turnover . So the cells in the bone that lay down fresh bone material seem to work more effectively, maybe work quicker than the bone dissolves because there's other cells in the bone that takes away the old bone that perhaps isn't quite good as it used to be. So vibration accelerates that and it lays down fresh bone material. I think there's two opinions on this and whether it's the vibrational stress itself that impacts the cells and causes this potential change in bone mineral density or it's the subsequent contraction that applies a stress on the bone that creates that remodeling. Could one of these potentially helplistener Ruth who's looking to maintain her bone density post menopause? It comes down to a few factors. One of which is the type of equipment, the quality of that equipment . And then the regular usage of that and the ability to stimulate high level muscle contractions. And indeed, if you can get into a comfortable position onto a vibrating plate and it's able to deliver a high enough stimul us, then that could be potentially very effective for muscle and for bone. So potentially for listener Anna with arthritis in her joints , a vibration plate could help reduce her pain. So yes , we know that muscle strength is related to experience of age related knee pain so that you think about the muscles being your kind of biological scaffolding around the joint that helps its function. If they are stronger, then arguably then the experience of knee pain can be less Lew . I'll be really careful in just going in and saying I've bought the plate and I'm just going to get on with it. I think that you need to be very careful to make sure that you use the right type of interventions with the right type of exercises on it. Tash, Steve, we are rocketing through the claims that you've seen around these. You taken good notes, there, Steve? Yes, great stuff. On to the final health claim I'd like to discuss lymphatic drainage. Now this is something we see lots of manufacturers Reviver, LifePro, Bluefin, PowerPlate . They all claim to boost or enhance your lymphatic drainage and often they link this with supporting blood flow as well. Now the lymphatic or the lymph system runs in parallel to the blood circulatory system. It collects excess fluid from the spaces between tissues and it funnels it via vessels through lymph nodes where it filters out pathogens and returns it to the blood. It also has other functions, including transporting lymphocytes, which are a key type of white blood cell for immune defense. So lymphatic drainage is this natural circulation of the lymphatic system. And the question, Claire is, can using a vibration plate boost it? In healthy populations , we're pretty good at doing that on our own. Do we need to really boost lymphatic drainage? If we do, then that's a completely different consideration, it's a medical consideration . So what we know whole body vibration is that it can increase peripheral blood flow . And that might be a good thing if somebody's potentially stood still for a long period of time. But again, we can achieve this through movement and through exercise . Neil, in her voice note, listener Anna asked about lymphatic drainage. She said she gets puffy ankles if she's on her feet all day. I should add that puffy ankles are common. Lots of people get them from time to time, but it's if they stay puffy for multiple days or the puffiness is getting worse, that's when you should go see a doctor. We got in touch with the British lymphology society to get their take on whether vibration plates can help with lymphatic drainage. And here is their co chair Lorraine Brown. There's limited robust evidence to support the use of vibration plates for lymphatic health and there's actually no published clinical trials specifically focusing on this. But if people are in good health then they are very unlikely to cause any harm . And like anything, we'd recommend starting slowly, building up gently to check that it's a tolerated device for them. Thanks Lorraine. Tasha, Steve, where does that leave you onymphatic drainage ? Well, I would say that is the claim that I think you see marketed the most. So that was quite shocking to hear that there's very little evidence supporting it. Sounds very similar to like a detox juice where your body does your body's doing it . Yeah . So you don't need a juice that does it for you because your body does it well enough and I just think like many things when it comes to health, it's either moderation or go off for a walk or do resistance training and you'll be fine. Yeah. Claire, listen to Anna asked if a vibration plate might be bad for her tinnitus . Same with listener Ruth who's worried about a vibration plate because she has high blood pressure. Any risks ? I'm unaware of any studies that have reported this and I think probably more of that comes from prolonged exposure would be my guess. If you're under the care of a medical professional or you are a patient just seek their guidance before you jump onto a vibrational plate as you know you would do with any new type of exercise program. That being said , exercise is one of the most effective ways to help blood pressure . Okay, if someone listening would like to go and get a vibration plate, there are a number of different features it can have. So let's whiz through some of these and see if you think any of them are worth the money. So one way they differ is in the direction of their vibrations . Most of them seem to oscillate like a seaweed, like the Galile o that I tried, but power plates say that they can make the surface vibrate in multiple directions, what they call tripl anar vibration, and Bluefin Fitness have a four D model that similarly claims to combine vertical vibrations, horizontal vibrations and micro oscillation, which by my calculation is three dimensions, so I guess their fourth might be time. Anyway, Claire , what do you make of these various movements? Do different direction vibrations have different effects on us ? You might need a higher vibrational frequency for the plates that go up and down to listen to the same level of muscle contraction compared to the one side to side. Now if we're going forwards and backwards then that's probably not going to do much really for that stretch reflex . For me, really, it's just about trying to elicit that that muscle contraction in a quality way. So Neil , if you want the same benefit without as much shake eye at a lower frequency, it sounds like the side oscillating device might be preferable. I'm sorry to burst your bubble, Greg, but there are actually six directions because what we have is what? Well, so we get forwards and backwards, left and right up and down , but we also have a rotation around either of those. So in some cases, you can have six types of motion all at the same time with all of those combined. But what it means is that it's such a complicated thing to study that the evidence just isn't there . Maybe some of these other directions may be very effective, but the studies just aren't there because the vertical is the one that's the most logical because it's pushing against body weight , so I would stick to the ones that go vertical rather than the other ones just because of the uncertainties. Another way that these devices differ is in the frequency ranges that they offer. Claire rem,inds us what the benefit of low frequency versus high frequency is. The lower frequency train a little bit more the balance , maybe some flexibility as well . The higher vibrational frequencies where you can really feel that muscle contraction is more akin to strength and power type training. Lots of these boards seem to offer speeds or speed levels. Quite a few models offer ninety nine speeds . I'll be really careful. If it isn't calibrated, you don't know what you're getting. You're not going to know what those numbers on that plate will relate to when it comes to the frequency inherts , which is the key metric that you need to be looking for. So that's a bit of a red flag if it doesn't put a number on the frequency and just talks about speed levels . And I wouldn't say that having a hundred different frequencies would be beneficial. You need a low frequency and you need a high frequency. As Claire said, ten and twenty five or thirty hertz are the only two that you really need. What about amplitude? Because some of them talk about that as well. I mean, if frequency is how much the board shake essentially is amplitude how far they shake, how far they move. Because the Galileo models say they move your feet seven millimeters and revival fusion they, say that their plate moves your feet twice that fourteen millimeters . It's the displacement of the plate so how much that is moving is more better? It's one way of progressing the exercise intensity so the greater the displacement the exercise become harder. The amplitude that you're describing there though is not going to be the amplitude that you get on the plates at every frequency. It's not plausible that you could do fourteen millimeters at fifty hertz. It might be that at one frequency it does one amplitude , at another frequency, it does a completely different amplitude. So this one you brought in for me to use Claire is a Galileo Med twenty five T . As you say, it's a medical grade vibration plate . Galileo's website says to contact them for a quote for how much these cost. We did that. And it sounds like this is going to be around five thousand pounds . I doubt many people looking for an everyday home vibration plate are going to want to spend five grand for a medical grade one. So looking at the home use ones, we saw their prices range from one hundred forty kid for the Life Pro Waver Mini Vibration plate up to PowerPlate's personal power plate which sells for one thousand seven hundred and twenty five pounds . Is it the case, Claire that the more you pay the better the quality? Yeah, I think the thing to say about medical grade equipment it means that it's been scrutinized and what comes with those more expensive devices is the componentry is the build , the quality of the plate itself such that if a, I say a hundred kilo person stands on it and you select a vibrational frequency and amplitude, it will deliver that and it will deliver exactly that for somebody who's half that size and half that mass . And I certainly won't be purchasing a hundred pound one hundred dollars plate off the internet and standing on that . So it's time for the final question then, experts. Claire , when it comes to fitness and improving muscle strength and bone density, is a home vibration plate the best thing since sliced bread or is it marketing BS ? Vibrational training delivered by the right device i. e. your quality device for the right reason with the right person can be an absolute g ame changer and can improve profoundly health outcomes in terms of muscle strength and potentially bone mineral density. But those cheaper devices from the internet are unlikely to be able to deliver what we need. And don't forget, this does not replace the benefits of exercise. It can be a helpful adjunct . Neil, same question to you. Are vibration plates SB or BS ? So I think there is a place , but they're expensive. If you only got two hundred and fifty pounds to spend , then I think a physio would be able to give you a personalised, customized plan , and I think that would be much better use of your money. Tash and Steve, have you found this helpful? Really interesting and really helpful, I think, Claire and Neil , what you've said is exactly where we're at at the end of this conversation. It's a shame how far it's been almost bastardized to a product just to sell when there is something at the core of it which is helpful but it's actually a real shame . Well with that I shall wrap up this episode of Sliced Bread. big A thank you to Tash and Ste ve and Claire and Neil for joining me. And if you are listening to this and you're thinking, Greg, I have a wonder product. I would really like you to investigate it. Please do send it over either on email to sliced. Bread at bbc. co or as a message or a voiceoicemail on WhatsApp two zero seven five six eight seven Next time I'll be looking at computer keyboards and mice that promise to help you smash out those emails and reports in comfort from ergonomic keyboards that come in two separate harbs to alternative letter layouts and vertical mice. Are any of these tech hacks the real deal? I'll be finding out. See ya This episode of Slice Bread was researched by Phil Sansom and produced by Simon Hoban and me, Greg Foot. Our studio manager was Kelly Young and Slice Bread is an audio north production for BBC Radio four.