The Acute Effect of Whole Body Vibration Training on Vertical Jumping Ability of Young Women

Elenie Pispirikou, Vassilios Gerodimos, Nantia Karatrantou, Konstantina Chanou, Irine Papaioannou, & Theodora Kriki

Research and Assessment of Human Performance Centre,

Department of Physical Education and Sport Sciences, University of Thessaly, Trikala, Hellas

Abstract

Whole-Body Vibration (WBV) is a new form of neuromuscular training that seems to improve muscular performance. The aim of this study was to examine the acute effects of WBV on vertical jumping ability. Sixteen physically active young women volunteered to participate in the research (20.59±1.9 years old) performing two different protocols (vibration protocol and control protocol). During both interventions, participants were standing at an upright position, maintaining their knees semi-flexed on a vibrating platform (Galileo Fitness) for 6min,at a fixed frequency of 25Hz and an amplitude of 8mm, while in the control protocol no vibration was performed.For the evaluation of the vertical jumping ability, the squat jump (SJ) and the counter-movement jump (CMJ) tests were used and were performed on a force platform (Bertec). The measurements were set before, post and 15 min after the completion of the protocol. The subjects executed each vertical jump three times and the best performance was recorded. A two-way (protocol x measurement, 2x3) analysis of variance (ANOVA), with repeated measures on both factors, was used to examine the effects of WBV on vertical jumping ability. Tukey’s post-hoc pairwise analyses were used when appropriate. The results revealed no statistical interaction between the factors “protocol” and “measurement” for both jumps (SJ and CMJ). The performance on the SJ during the three measurements, before, post, after 15min, was 20.47±2.9, 20.46±2.7 and 19.75±2.9cm for the vibration protocol and 20.06±2.5, 19.4±3.0 and 19.15±2.8cm for the control protocol. Similarly, for the CMJ the performance during the three measurements was 21.73±2.7, 21.23±3.0 and 21.4±3.0cm for the vibration protocol and 21.5±2.6, 20.72±3.0 and 20.53±3.0 cm for the control protocol. Conclusively, it appears that WBV does not affect the vertical jumping ability of young women.

Key words: Vertical jumping ability, squat jump, counter-movement jump, power, whole body vibration (WBV), acute effects