I tried a Vibration Plate for 6 months — is this legit??

this video is sponsored by element this

is a full body vibration plate I'm kind

of obsessed with them and I've been

using this one for the past 6

[Music]

months hey guys it's Robin and welcome

to the science of self-care on this

channel we talk about health science we

talk about life philosophy and we do a

whole lot of self-care experimentation

I'm very excited for today's video

because we are finally going to talk

about my six-month review of my

vibration plate and for those of you

wondering what a vibration plate is it's

essentially a device that has a plate

that vibrates as the name suggests but

it usually has up to three motors that

do micro vibrations in different

directions one goes up and down like

this one goes side to side like this and

one oscillates like this it's doing this

really fast micro vibration in all these

three directions and by doing that if

you stand on this plate those vibrations

Ripple up through your body through your

muscle your ligaments your bones you

basically vibrate and jiggle in places

that you might not have known that you

could even vibrate or jiggle it's a very

unique sensation some people love it

some people don't like it that much I

remember the first time I tried this 2

years ago at CES the Consumer Electronic

Show in Las Vegas I stepped on one and

was immediately addicted it was so

amazing it felt so good in my body and

my mind that I knew I had to own one of

these at some point here we are I I own

one and I love it and have a lot of

thoughts to share the first thing I'll

say is test one out at a local gym or a

health clinic you can usually find one

somewhere in your area test one out and

see if you like the sensation cuz if you

don't like the sensation the likelihood

that you're going to be using this

consistently and reaping the benefits

over time it's going to be very small

I've divided this video into a few parts

to kind of manage my thoughts this first

part we're going to talk about a few

science-based benefits that there's

actual literature on we're going to

review a few studies and I'll link it

all down below so that you can refer

back to the different things I touch

upon and if you want to do more research

you can the next part of this video is

going to be me talking about my personal

experience using it for 6 months there

were certain expectations I had that

were met some that were not and I also

had some experiences that I wasn't

expecting at all so I'm going to share

all of that and then I want to end this

video talking about who I think these

devices would be amazing for and who

might be disappointed by one of these

devices if you in the market for a full

body vibration plate this is definitely

the video for you let's get started what

is the science have to say before we

dive into specific studies I just want

to remind all of us that an absence of

evidence and an absence of research does

not necessarily mean that something

doesn't work or that there is no benefit

it just means we need to research it

further and I definitely think that

whole body vibration plates could use

more research there's a number of points

here that have been lightly researched

or research in small sample siiz studies

in general we're going to need to do

more research as a society to really

understand how these work in the body

that said there are several studies on

how full body vibration plates can help

our bone health specifically our bone

density so our bones are always

remodeling they're experiencing

resorption where our body takes minerals

and molecules out of our bones making

them less dense and Bone formation where

we're actually putting things inside

your bones making them more dense and

more strong as we get old our bodies

tend to resorb the bones more and our

bone density decreases especially for

postmenopausal women because the decline

in estrogen that coincides with

menopause also changes the balance of

bone resorption and Bone formation in

our bodies a postmenopausal woman will

experience more bone resorption and less

bone formation so it's very important

not just for women but for all of us

that we continue to take care of our

bone health into our old age not only

because our bones become weaker but also

because if we do become injured it's

harder to recover when you're older Dr

Peter Atia talks about this in his book

outlive I highly recommend reading this

book but he basically talks about how a

very intense injury at an older age can

basically result in a downward spiral of

Health that may be ultimately impossible

for someone to recover from as they lose

bone density and muscle mass with age

and then they become mobile and it

causes a bunch of health problems so

that's why it's really good to be

proactive as we age to work on our bone

density next there's some research on

Muscle Recovery and the lactate levels

in our muscles as we all know when we

work out intensely our muscles can

become very sore and stiff and this is

because of the lactate that's produced

in our muscles when we're really working

them hard anerobic but there is research

to support that these plates can

actually help clear lactate out of our

muscles and help our muscles recover f

faster so there's a study that looked at

people who were doing intense exercise

and half of them used a vibration chair

afterwards and the group that used the

full body vibration chair experienced a

much greater and significant reduction

in their lactate levels than those who

recovered without the vibration so

science says this can help with Muscle

Recovery the next thing that science

supports is that these plates are great

for joint health I specifically have a

paper here on

osteoarthritis we basically whole body

vibration reduced pain improved physical

function and enhanced muscle strength in

the osteoarthritis patients so I will

again link that study down below to me

this does make sense if it's giving you

micro vibrations helping blood flow to

your joints massaging the fascia and the

ligaments it makes sense that that would

improve joint pain I will definitely

touch upon these points in my own

experience as well but science says good

for joints there also studies on how

these full body vibration plates can

help older individuals I touched upon

this earlier but again as we get older

we experience not only a loss in bone

density but a loss in muscle mass called

sarcopenia and it's a lot harder to hold

on to our muscle mass as we age this

machine can help stimulate muscles in a

very gentle way so even someone who's

much older and maybe not as mobile as

they used to be they can still stand on

one of these plates and stimulate their

muscles so there is research to support

the benefits of muscle stimulation in

older adults and lastly I also looked at

a systematic review that discussed whole

body vibration and cognitive function it

seems like there's potential for whole

body vibration to be beneficial for

cognitive function in both healthy

individuals and people with cognitive

impairments it does need to be more

thoroughly researched but the idea is

just that increased blood flow to the

brain can improve cognitive function and

there is some evidence to support that

in this systematic review which I will

also link down below okay so that's a

quick run through of some things that I

found in the literature now I want to

discuss my personal experience how did I

feel after 6 months of using this how do

I feel today I used it earlier

today I have a lot of thoughts so to

start off let me talk about a few things

that I found related to the scientific

literature that we just discussed I 100%

have experienced the Improvement in

muscle soreness and stiffness I do a lot

of hot yoga and hot yoga can be very

intense I could in Theory come back with

very sore muscles and I have in the past

but now that I have this machine I

pretty much avoid having sore and stiff

muscles it really does help clear out

any lactate from the muscles and I

continue to feel good and because of

that I can recover more quickly from my

workouts and continue to do more

workouts and just feel really good in

the process so this has been an amazing

amendment to my hot yoga practice that

has just helped me feel really good in

my body another amendment to my hot yoga

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selfcare now let's get back to vibration

plates another benefit that I've

personally noticed related to the

scientific literature is the relief of

back pain and joint pain I have always

had a back issue my sister has this as

well where I stand like this this is not

how your back is supposed to stand this

is how you are supposed to stand in your

pelvis and your back and for whatever

reason I am prone to extending my back

maybe it's a lack of core strength I

don't know but I hang in my back that's

what my old yoga teacher used to call

this when you hang in your back because

of that I used to get really bad lower

back pain which is crazy because I'm

relatively young since using this plate

I never have lower back pain and I'm

actually able to stand with my pelvis in

the correct way any sort of imbalances

in the way that we're standing start at

our feet by vibrating kind of up from

the feet all the way up the body how I

experience this is it just kind of

vibrates and jiggles everything into the

correct position and my sister is

actually the one who noted that my

posture had really improved and and I

agree it really has more importantly

than how it looks it feels so good no

back pain another thing that I've

noticed is my circulation is so much

better since using this machine this

machine helps stimulate blood flow by

vibrating all of your body it's it's

kind of like a massage through vibration

and because of the stimulated blood flow

I noticed my extremities my hands and my

feet the areas of my body that typically

have struggled with circulation you know

I'm very long and tall they don't have

any issues anymore I feel like the

clarity of my skin on my legs and my

arms is much brighter because they're

getting more blood another funny thing

you might notice if you use these

machines is that you can get very very

itchy so I used to get itchy at the end

of every session now my tolerance has

kind of built up but the reason you

might experience itchiness is because of

this increased blood flow your skin is

getting more blood flow than usual and

that is actually triggering neurons in

your skin that make you feel an itchy

sensation so this not a bad thing at all

if you start to feel itchy using one of

these machines it just means your skin

is getting a little more blood flow than

usual as you use it more you become less

itchy but if I stand on this thing for

20 minutes I'm likely to feel itchy okay

so I'm now showing with shorts you can

see what's happening to my legs every

little piece of tissue in my legs is

being vibrated basically however you

place your body on this machine will

direct where the vibrations are going to

right now you can hear it's going more

into my face and my chest because you

can hear it in my voice but if I bend my

legs it's more stopping in my legs if I

bend over forward it's going more to the

front of my body if I bend more

backwards it's going more to the back of

my body so you can really direct where

you want the vibrations to go based on

your position on the machine another

funny thing I've noticed that I've never

seen any sort of research on or I've

never even heard anyone talk about but

this thing really helps stimulate bowel

movements more often than not when I use

this thing I go to the bathroom right

after and it's not in a bad urgent way

like an IBS oh my God I need to go to

the bathroom it's in a very comfortable

like my digestion has been stimulated my

bows have been stimulated and now I can

go number two I personally really like

that it feels comfortable it feels good

I don't struggle with constipation but

perhaps if you are someone who struggles

with constipation this might be able to

offer you some relief again it makes

sense it's just kind of micro massaging

all the little areas of your body

including your digestive system and your

intestines it makes a ton of sense that

that would get your pooping going I'm

curious if anyone else has experienced

this because I've never read anyone on

the internet talking about this but it's

definitely noticeable for me another

benefit that I've noticed is definitely

cognitive benefit I love to step on this

machine when I'm feeling like I'm in AET

and this happens to me typically in the

late afternoon my head is kind of foggy

my energy is low I'm just feeling antsy

it's basically just like a release of

tension a sudden shift in my physical

and mental state it's a mental and

physical pickme up I don't know how else

to describe it and I feel like it also

offers mental Clarity sometimes I'll

answer emails on there to me it's a

little bit similar to how I can think

more clearly when I'm walking just this

diffusive movement of my body this

physical movement for whatever reason it

helps me think more clearly it helps me

feel better it improves my mood I love

it and it's a wonderful pickme up that

doesn't involve any caffeine or any sort

of substance just stand on it for 10

minutes and if you like the sensation

you'll feel a lot better now let's get

into a few benefits I was expecting to

notice based on the marketing claims

that I've read about these plates that

didn't really pan out the first one is

cellulite reduction so the back of my

legs are the most celluli part of my

body and my butt right here I'm not

going to post the pictures because I

don't want this video to be demonetized

but using this machine has not really

made a difference to my cellulite

cellulite is very normal especially for

women they're more likely to have it

than men it's a totally normal thing but

I had read a lot of marketing materials

on how this would reduce cellulite now

my cellulite isn't extremely bad but it

just hasn't improved and hasn't changed

I do think my cellulite has improved

compared to 5 years ago but that that

has not so much to do with this plate

but has more to do with just general

lifestyle choices I've made like walking

a lot I do think the improved

circulation of this machine probably

could help to some degree but it's just

not a noticeable change another thing

that I haven't noticed is a major change

in my body composition and what I mean

by that is I haven't noticed that I've

lost a lot of fat or gained a lot of

muscle and there are again a lot of

marketing claims on how you can lose a

lot of fat and gain a lot of muscle I

think if you're someone someone who is

sedentary and you were to incorporate

this into your life you might be able to

build a little bit of muscle cuz it is

stimulating your muscles by standing on

it but I'm someone who leads a quite

active life adding this in hasn't really

been a workout for me it's been more of

a recovery tool and almost a type of

therapy I don't do workouts on it you

can turn it into more of a workout tool

by doing planks and lifting weights and

having kettle bells and lunges and

push-ups on the machine and that can add

an extra layer to your workout an extra

muscle stimulation as you're working out

and then you know I could imagine you

seeing extra benefits for me personally

I just didn't notice a difference in my

body composition something I'm really

interested in but did not yet have the

opportunity to test properly is what

this machine does to blood sugar so

there's a lot of research to show that

going for a walk after a meal helps

blunt a blood sugar Spike I'm really

curious if using this machine after you

eat a carbohydrate Rich meal if that

will help blood blunt the blood sugar

Spike just like a walkwood I haven't had

the opportunity to properly research

this with my continuous glucose monitor

but it's something that I imagine could

potentially help with blood sugar

management so I will continue to

experiment and test that theory now

let's talk about who I think this

machine is for I think this is a great

machine for post-menopausal women and

older adults who are looking to improve

their bone density and maintain their

muscle mass this is such an awesome tool

to just have in your home it's easy to

use it's easy to store under a bed I

typically have mine under my couch which

is very convenient most of these plates

will fit under a bed or a couch so it's

very easy to have accessible and ready

in your living room or bedroom but you

can tuck it away so it's not an ey sore

or that no one's tripping on it anyways

that was a bit of a tangent but for

older adults who may not be able to move

as much as they once were able to when

they were younger I think standing on

one of these plates is a very simple and

approachable way to get some extra bone

and muscle support into their routines

I've actually convinced my mom to get

one because I'm so obsessed with them

and she now uses it every single day in

the evening she does du lingo for 10

minutes on her machine and she's very

adamant about doing things for her bone

health she also takes special bone pills

to support her bone health and she was

actually hit by a car last year crazily

while she was on a scooter and she

didn't break any bones so she's my idol

in terms of taking care of my bones so

now now my mom is using one of these

every single day and I think she also

really likes it it's just fun to use I

think most people really love the

sensation I also think this machine is

great for anyone who experiences joint

or back pain there's research to support

it it's something I've personally

experienced if you are continuously

struggling with joint or back pain I

definitely look into purchasing one of

these machines and lastly another group

that I think would really really benefit

from one of these are people who are a

bit hyperactive so I would consider

myself in this category I can't sit

still for too long I go crazy I honestly

get depressed if I sit still for too

long moving my body makes me happy it

helps me think clearly it just brightens

my day if I need to pick me up in the

afternoon standing on this really helps

I feel so much better afterwards some

people who might be disappointed by this

machine I think are people who are

hoping to lose large amounts of weight

through using this machine only I think

this machine is a great addition to

other types of movement or even a

starting point if you're just starting

to get back into movement after an

injury or if you're just starting your

weight loss Journey this might be a

great option to ease into movement and

get your body going but I ultimately

think to see real results with weight

loss and with muscle mass increase

you're going to need to combine this

plate with other things the other group

that I think might be disappointed by

this are people who expect to see a

large reduction in cellulite I haven't

seen that personally but maybe some some

of you in the comments might say

otherwise again all of our bodies are so

unique and some people are more prone to

getting cellulite than others I

definitely have always had cellulite and

I think I always will have cellulite if

you're hoping for this to get rid of

your cellulite I don't think it will but

all in all I am kind of obsessed with

this a few things on the device itself I

have a LIF pro rumblex pro I will put a

link in the description life proo is a

very reputable reliable brand when it

comes to vibration plates I'm very happy

with this one if you are looking and

perusing this is the most expensive at

home model they sell I believe it's

around $500 but they also have models at

300 200 even 100 but just pay attention

to what you're buying because the models

at 100 to $200 usually don't have all

three types of Motors again going like

this like this and like this I want the

full-fledged benefits I want all three

types of vibration and I like to put the

setting to maximum strength and I do

that for 10 minutes and I just feel

reborn afterwards maybe you want

something a little more gentle so maybe

one of the cheaper models might be

helpful for that I know my sister has

the life Pro rumblex Max and I think she

really likes it and she actually got her

plate after visiting me and trying this

plate it's

itchy my thighs are

itchy how are you feeling after the

vibration plate 2 hours ago it's like a

feeling of ease in movement it did what

I try to do with stretching routines

this was much more effortless and

efficient got rid of all the stiffness

it jiggled me

up one thing that's kind of annoying

about this machine and I've noticed it

in other types of machines as well is

that it's quite easy to accidentally hit

the touchcreen and turn off the

vibration plate so if I accidentally

move my foot like this I've just turned

off the vibration plate as you can see

you will accidentally turn it off and

then you have to redo the settings one

con of many at home devices that I've

seen is that they don't have the best

interface here it's usually

unnecessarily complicated you have to

push a bunch of buttons I wish it could

just remember my favorite setting and I

could save it in one single button and

then I could just turn that button on

every single time and maybe even lock

the interface so that it wouldn't turn

off if I accidentally put my foot or my

butt on it I would love to know your

thoughts on vibration plates have you

used one do you own one what have you

noticed in your body all of our bodies

are going to be different so we're also

all going to experience this tool

differently and we're going to get

different things from it please share

down below I learned so much from you

guys I think you learn a lot from each

other it makes me so happy to have these

discussions in the comments thank you

guys so much for watching thank you for

your patience with this video and I look

forward to seeing you next time