The effect of whole-body vibration training on selected anthropometric and biochemical parameters in sedentary men

Abstract

The information on the use of whole-body vibration training (WBVT) on some health-related risk factors such as body composition and biochemical parameters is limited. The purpose of the study was therefore, to assess the effect of progressive WBVT on selected anthropometric and biochemical parameters in healthy sedentary men. Fifty (50) sedentary male volunteers aged 18- 40 years were recruited and randomly assigned to two equal groups of 25 each (i.e. an intervention group (IG) that had underwent 12 weeks of progressive WBV training and a control group (CG) that remained sedentary). The baseline assessment included a full blood lipid profile from capillary whole blood, following a fasting period of 12 hours, and some anthropometric measurements, namely body weight (BW), waist circumference (WC), body mass index (BMI) and percentage body fat (%BF). The intervention programme consisted of supervised progressive WBVT, three times per week for 12 weeks. All pre-test measurements were repeated after the intervention. Twenty-three participants in the intervention group and 17 in the control group completed the study. Whole-body vibration training resulted in a practical significant change in waist circumference (pre-test-mean=96.3±10.7 & post-test-mean=94.3±11.1; Cohen d=1.10), total cholesterol (pre-test-mean=3.99±0.99 & post-test-mean=3.7±0.9; Cohen d=.29) and lowdensity lipoprotein (pre-test-mean=2.91±0.65 & post-test-mean=2.32±1.11; Cohen d=0.62) for IG. The CG experienced non-significant increase in BW, BMI, %BF, waist circumference, total cholesterol, and triglyceride over the 12 weeks. It can be concluded that progressive WBVT over a period of 12 weeks had a significant positive effect on waist circumference, serum total cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol in young, sedentary men. Based on these findings, it is recommended that more studies on WBVT involving larger samples are needed.

Keywords: Whole-body vibration, blood lipids, body composition, anthropometry