Vibration training and delayed onset muscle soreness

 ____  15th October 2020  ____

Vibration training helps prevent and reduce symptoms of DOMS

Delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) is the pain and stiffness felt in muscles approximately 24-72 hours after unaccustomed or strenuous exercise.

DOMS is most prevalent after an increase of training intensity and volume. DOMS is also common when athletes are first introduced to certain types of activities regardless of the time of year, especially during high intensity eccentric activities.

DOMS can be considered as a type I muscle strain which causes small-scale damage (microtrauma) to the muscle fibers. The main symptoms are a decrease in the pain threshold, an increase in pain level perception (visual analogue scale or VAS) and an increase in creatine kinase levels.

A number of treatment strategies aimed at preventing and reducing symptoms related to the onset of late muscle pain have been studied: pharmacological, therapeutic treatments through different physical modalities and interventions with nutritional supplements.

Several studies have clearly demonstrated the effectiveness of exercise with vibration in the prevention and control of DOMS symptoms, in both the lower and upper extremities.

Practical tips

Based on the scientific evidence and practical experience of many fitness professionals, we are going to give you some general guidelines to effectively include small doses of vibratory training in your workouts to prevent and control DOMS.

Before the main part of the training, we recommend that you first do a small vibrating training session to stimulate the main muscle groups that will be involved in the workout.

To do this, vibration can be applied directly to the targeted muscle belly or tendon with sets of 30-60 s with a 30-s rest period in between. You can perform 3 to 5 sets. In this case, the Viroller is ideal since it allows the vibration to be directly applied to the muscle or tendon using a wide variety of positions and exercises, and modifying the level of external resistance.

With a similar doses, 3 to 5 sets of 30-60 s, vibration can applied indirectly to the targeted muscles using the Vibalance 2.0, the Vislide, and even with the Viroller: with the Vibalance 2.0 you can include different situations of instability and disturbance; the Vislide will allow you to combine vibratory stimulation with movement with sliding and low joint impact.

You can combine static and dynamic vibration exercises, vary joint angles, and use similar degrees of flexo-extension to those used in the main part of your training. Do not use excessive overloads during vibration training so as not to induce excess fatigue before the main training session.

If you can’t do this short vibratory training session before the main part of your training session, you can do it at the end of your training or even a few hours later; you will also notice the benefits.

Conclusion

The physiological and neuromuscular effects induced by vibratory training, such a muscle pain reduction, increased flexibility, increased skin blood flow and temperature, improved proprioceptive function, inflammation control, increased motor units synchronization and the appearance of hormonal responses that lead to pain reduction, help prevent and reduce symptoms of DOMS.

Recommended readings

Bakhtiary AH, Safavi-Farokhi Z, Aminian-Far A. Influence of vibration on delayed onset of muscle soreness following eccentric exercise. Br J Sports Med. 2007;41(3):145-8.

Hough T. Ergographic studies in muscular soreness. Am J Physiol. 1902;7(1):76-92.

Romero-Moraleda B, González-García J, Cuéllar-Rayo A, Balsalobre-Fernández C, Muñoz-García D, Morencos E. Effects of Vibration and Non-Vibration Foam Rolling on Recovery After Exercise With Induced Muscle Damage. J Sports Sci Med. 2019 Feb 11;18(1):172-180.

Veqar Z, Imtiyaz S. Vibration Therapy in Management of Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS). J Clin Diagn Res. 2014;8(6):LE01-4.

Wheeler AA, Jacobson BH. Effect of whole-body vibration on delayed onset muscular soreness, flexibility, and power. J Strength Cond Res. 2013;27(9):2527-32.

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