Can Vibration Plates Help Manage Arthritis Symptoms?

August 6, 2024

by Jackie Wicks

Medically reviewed by: David M. Joyner, MD, FACS

If you have arthritis, you understand that your joint health can have a major impact on your overall well-being and quality of life. Although there’s no cure for arthritis, the good news is that there are remedies and tools you can use to help manage your symptoms.

This may have you wondering, are vibration plates good for arthritis?

Let’s get into it.

Vibration Plates and Arthritis

Arthritis is an umbrella term that refers to joint pain, inflammation, swelling, and tenderness. You can get arthritis in any joint, from your hands to your knees, and there are countless types of arthritis, each with its own unique causes and manifestations.

Regardless of your specific type of arthritis, the pain and discomfort that come with it can make it challenging to stay active and even do basic tasks around your home.

Fortunately, by tackling the symptoms of arthritis, such as stiffness, limited range of motion, and swelling, you can make living with arthritis more manageable. So, how do you do this?

Whole-body vibration is emerging as a potential option for managing joint pain and stiffness. Vibration training improves your muscle strength and decreases the intensity of joint pain, making whole-body vibration machines a viable option for relieving arthritis pain without medications or invasive surgeries.

If you’re living with arthritis, vibration training may be a helpful option to add to your toolkit.

Understanding Arthritis

Exploring the basic mechanisms of arthritis and how it affects your joints can help you develop a therapeutic regimen that works for you.

Types of Arthritis

There’s no one factor that causes all cases of arthritis. It can develop due to autoimmune diseases or simple wear-and-tear as your body ages. Honing in on the contributing factors in your life and the specific type of arthritis you have can be the first step to successfully managing your symptoms.

Here are just a few of the numerous forms of arthritis:

Rheumatoid arthritis – Commonly known as RA, rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune condition where your body’s immune system attacks your joints and other tissues, causing excessive, chronic inflammation.

Osteoarthritis – This degenerative disease breaks down your cartilage and joint tissues over time, causing your bones to rub together.

Psoriatic arthritis – Psoriatic arthritis is another autoimmune disease that targets the joints and places where your tendons connect to your bones. It also causes your immune system to attack the skin, resulting in characteristic rashes and plaques on the skin.

Gout – When you have high levels of uric acid in your body, you can develop gout. This occurs when uric acid crystals start forming in your joints, causing severe pain and inflammation.

Spinal arthritis – Back pain can have many causes, one of which is arthritis. You may develop spinal arthritis due to an injury, overuse, or another arthritic condition, like RA or osteoarthritis.

There are also several conditions that are similar to arthritis or may even be mistaken for arthritis altogether. For example, pain disorders like fibromyalgia may result in persistent, widespread joint pain that mimics arthritis.

Common Symptoms

About 1 in 4 adults in the United States have arthritis. Yet, there are numerous ways arthritis can manifest.

Common symptoms you may experience include:

Recurring or constant pain in one or more joints
Joints that are tender and sensitive to the touch
Inflamed, swollen joints
A reduced range of motion and feelings of stiffness
Red, warm skin near your joints

These symptoms can range from mild, occasional discomfort to intense, chronic pain and stiffness. Regardless of how severe your arthritis is, it’s important to proactively seek out healthy methods of relief.

If you’re not sure if your symptoms are related to arthritis, be sure to consult a doctor for guidance.

The Science Behind Vibration Plate Training

If you’re dealing with arthritis symptoms and looking for relief, you may wonder, do vibrating exercise machines help arthritis?

Common arthritis remedies focus on alleviating pain and reducing inflammation. By activating your muscular and circulatory systems, vibration devices could achieve these same effects.

How It Works

Vibration devices work by sending precise frequency pulses throughout your body. When you sit or lie down on a vibration machine, the pulses force your muscles to rapidly contract and relax. These contractions increase blood flow, which is one of the main benefits of vibration.

But why?

Enhanced circulation and activation of the lymphatic system via skeletal muscle pump function can reduce both localized and systemic inflammation, which can reduce pain and overall quality of life for those with arthritis.

Additionally, vibrations sensory input can disrupt the body's pain feedback loop, resulting in rapid relief of pain. This makes vibration plates a viable tool for calming down the pain from arthritis flare-ups and also addressing chronic discomfort.

Research and Evidence

The idea that vibration can have a positive impact on your health has been around for centuries, but experts are starting to identify the exact mechanisms that make vibration aides so effective

One publication by the Chinese University of Hong Kong’s Department of Orthopaedics and Traumatology compiled data from 14 peer-reviewed trials with the goal of answering the question, “Are vibration plates good for osteoarthritis?” Their review found that vibration sessions resulted in measurable improvements in pain, joint function, and muscular strength for patients with knee osteoarthritis.

Another study published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research aimed to determine whether vibration could support arthritis patients in standard daily activities, like getting out of bed or climbing stairs in their homes. The trial found that just five minutes after a vibration session, participants with knee osteoarthritis had significantly less difficulty stepping up and down off of a 20 cm step, indicating the potential for vibration devices to improve strength and functional mobility.

Benefits of Using Vibration Plates for Arthritis

Vibration plates can enhance several aspects of your overall wellness. These outcomes can be even more significant if you’re dealing with the symptoms of arthritis.

By committing to a vibration routine, you could experience benefits such as:

Pain Relief

Vibration has been shown to reduce pain in several contexts, including diabetic neuropathy, fibromyalgia, neck pain, and of course, arthritis., Vibration devices target pain from several avenues—by contracting and relaxing the muscles, activating nerve receptors, and boosting blood flow to soft tissue, and decreasing inflammation.

Improved Mobility

For those with arthritis, exercises geared toward stretching and enhanced range of motion can help make the performance of daily activities easier . By using vibration devices, you can enhance the improvements of flexibility and mobility.

In particular, the vibrations can help relax your muscles, making it easier for you to move and stretch without feelings of stiffness and restriction caused by pain. This is confirmed by studies that demonstrate that vibration can have a powerful impact on improved range of motion.

Increased Circulation

Having good circulation is critical to your joint health, as your circulatory system is responsible for ensuring that the soft tissue around your joints has a steady supply of the nutrients it needs.

Luckily, stepping onto a vibration plate gives a measurable boost to your blood flow, helping you take control of your joint health.

Muscle Strengthening

Muscle contractions are the root of all the benefits of vibration training. When vibration devices pulse energy into your body, your muscles reflexively react. This can help strengthen and tone your muscles, creating a supportive muscular structure around your joints.

When you have arthritis, it’s critical to find as many ways as possible to take pressure off of your inflamed joints to reduce additional pain, and strength training through vibration is a great place to start.

Combatting Arthritis Symptoms Through Vibration

So, the increased circulation and muscle activation from vibration sessions may help reduce pain, enhance your range of motion, and give your joints extra support. As a person living with arthritis, these benefits can have a major impact on your ability to manage daily activities.

Whether you’re using vibration as the core of your wellness routine or adding vibration sessions as a supplement to your existing physical conditioning regimen, vibration plates offer a simple way to be proactive about your well-being without having to take medication or even leave the house. That said, never discontinue medications you are taking without first speaking with your doctor.

Get started by speaking with your healthcare team to ensure you are cleared for use of whole body vibration. Then check out different vibration aides from Power Plate. With multiple models featuring different modes, frequencies, and styles, you can find an option that meets your unique goals.

Explore Power Plate’s Whole Body Vibration Collection

Power Plate is home to several vibration plate options designed to help you live a better life. Options like the pro5 and the my7 come equipped with supportive handles for enhanced stability. They also allow you to adjust the frequency in subtle 1 HZ increments so that you can find the vibration level that feels best on your joints.

You can also explore more compact, lightweight options like the Personal Power Plate to make sure you have access to relief wherever and whenever you need it.

Browse the full collection of vibration plates today to find the machine that’s right for you.

Sources:

Arthritis Foundation. How Arthritis Hurts. https://www.arthritis.org/health-wellness/healthy-living/managing-pain/understanding-pain/sources-of-arthritis-pain

Power Plate. Effects of Whole-Body Vibration Therapy on Knee Osteoarthritis: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials. https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0362/1139/2645/files/Power-Plate-Research-Card-Guang-Qiu-2022.pdf?v=1678772996

Mayo Clinic. Arthritis. https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/arthritis/symptoms-causes/syc-20350772

Arthritis Foundation. 8 Ways Exercise Helps Your Joints. https://www.arthritis.org/health-wellness/healthy-living/physical-activity/getting-started/8-ways-exercise-helps-joints

Arthritis Society Canada. Fibromyalgia: Arthritis or not? https://arthritis.ca/living-well/2022/fibromyalgia-arthritis-or-not#:~:text=Fibromyalgia%20is%20not%20arthritis&text=Fibromyalgia%20is%20not%20a%20disease,to%20muscles%2C%20bones%20or%20joints.

Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. Arthritis Workgroup. https://health.gov/healthypeople/about/workgroups/arthritis-workgroup#:~:text=An%20estimated%201%20in%204,meaningful%20driver%20of%20economic%20costs.

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