Circulation issues, cellular damage, and other musculoskeletal problems plague anyone from athletes to people who are just getting older. Without treatment, these problems can escalate and impact your quality of life. Luckily, there are a multitude of treatment options available to you, amongst which is vibration therapy.
What Is Vibration Therapy?
Vibration therapy is a form of physical therapy that relies on vibrations. It originated in 1867, when Russian physician Gustav Zander discovered that the vibration from a device he made helped to heal circulatory issues in the body. Since then, vibration has been found to have many therapeutic benefits, from relieving constipation, to increasing bone density, to improved circulation, leading to vibration therapy becoming common practice.
How Does It Work?
Vibration therapy utilizes rapid-fire vibrations to force your muscles to contract and release. This stimulates blood flow and circulation and tissue growth. Targeted vibrations also provide pain relief by disrupting pain signals. Vibration therapy enhances your body’s natural ability to heal itself and is non-invasive.
What Does Vibration Therapy Look Like?
When you schedule an appointment for vibration therapy, you’ll either receive localized treatment for problem areas or treatment for your whole body. Vibration therapy uses machines called vibration plates in order to create vibrations. Your physical therapist will have you either sit, stand, or lay on it, depending on what you’re trying to treat. The machine will then vibrate, forcing your muscles to contract. Vibration therapy appointments usually don’t take too long, making it a time-efficient treatment method.
Vibration therapy can be combined with other treatment options like other forms of physical therapy or massage therapy for the best results, but it is also effective on its own for certain issues.
What Is It Good For?
Because vibration therapy forces your muscles to contract, it relieves tense muscles. The increased blood flow promotes natural healing, with how the vibrations can target specific damaged areas of the body and assist your natural healing process by guiding the blood there. The vibrations can relieve pain of compressed nerves, and both ease the pain of and boost the healing in injured tissues, muscles, ligaments, and discs.
Vibration therapy also offers many other benefits. It can alleviate stress with how the vibrations make you feel like you’re exerting yourself, ergo reducing your cortisol – or stress hormone – levels, same as if you were working out, as well as boost your metabolism. It can increase your range of motion, due to bringing down inflammation and relieving tense muscles. It can improve your strength through promoting healing in your muscles.
Are There Any Risks?
Generally, vibration therapy is a very safe method of treatment. Same as anything else though, there are some risks associated with it. The primary risk of vibration therapy is the vibration level being set too high for the patient, which can result in back pain and potential injury. With a professional physical therapist, though, you likely won’t need to worry about that. You may also want to first consult with your physical therapist if you are pregnant, have heart disease, are on blood thinners, or have any other conditions that you think vibration therapy may aggravate.
How Do I Know If Vibration Therapy Is Right For Me?
You may consider vibration therapy if you suffer from chronic pain, inflammation, tissue damage, or muscle tension. In addition to these, vibration therapy has been found to be helpful for a number of other health issues, such as:
- Parkinson’s disease
- Cerebral palsy
- Fibromyalgia
- Lymphatic drainage
- Arthritis
- Cystic fibrosis
- And more.
If you’re considering vibration therapy, talk to a professional! They will be able to advise you on whether it is an option for you or if you should consider another method of treatment.
Do You Have Questions About Vibration Therapy?
Here at Elite Chiropractic, we offer vibration plate therapy, along with a multitude of other chiropractic treatment options. When you work with us, we’ll find the right method to help whatever issues you’re suffering from. For any questions about our services or to schedule an appointment, please contact us at Elite Chiropractic today!
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