Effect of Whole Body Vibration Training on Trunk Muscle Strength and Physical Performance in Healthy Adults: Preliminary Results of a Randomized Controlled Trial. Author: Maeda N1, Urabe Y1, Sasadai J2, Miyamoto A3, Murakami M3, Kato J4 Affiliation: <sup>1</sup>1 Department of Sport Rehabilitation, Graduate of Biomedical &amp; Health Sciences, Hiroshima University, Hiroshima City, Japan. <sup>2</sup>2 Department of Physical Therapy, Hiroshima University Hospital. <sup>3</sup>3 Department of Physical Therapy, Faculty of Rehabilitation, Kobe International University. <sup>4</sup>4 Department of Internal Medicine, Hyogo Prefectural Rehabilitation Center at Nishiharima. Conference/Journal: J Sport Rehabil. Date published: 2016 Aug 24 Other: Volume ID: 1-19 , Word Count: 305 CONTEXT: Whole-body vibration (WBV) stimulus equipment has been used as a new training method for health promotion. Its use of in its clinical has expanded to the field of sports and rehabilitation for disabled patients. WBV training is rapidly gaining popularity in health and fitness centers as an alternative method for improving muscle performance. Acute positive effects of WBV have been shown on lower extremity muscle power and the ability of vertical jump, however there have not been any studies focusing on the long-term effects of WBV for trunk muscle and dynamic balance. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effects of an 8-week program of WBV in combination with trunk muscle training on muscular performance in healthy, untrained adults. DESIGN: Laboratory-based, repeated-measures study. SETTING: University laboratory. PARTICIPANTS: Twenty healthy university male subjects. INTERVENTION: Participants were randomly assigned to a WBV or non-WBV group. The WBV group performed a trunk muscle training program in combination with WBV; the non-WBV group performed the same muscle training program without WBV for 8 weeks. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: In the pre- and post-training period, the participants were evaluated using the functional movement screen™, Y-test (anterior, posterior-medial, and posterior-lateral reach), trunk muscle isometric strength (flexor, extensor and flexor/extensor ratio), squat jump, and counter-movement jump. RESULTS: The WBV group had greater improvement than the non-WBV group in both trunk flexor muscle strength (p=0.02) and the Y-test (anterior reach) (p=0.004) between pre- and post-training. CONCLUSION: Adding WBV to a trunk muscle strengthening program may improve trunk flexor isometric strength and anterior reach during the Y balance test to a greater extent than training without WBV. The WBV protocol used in this study had no significant impact on FMS scores, squat jumping, counter-movement jumping, trunk extensor isometric strength or trunk flexor/extensor ratio." KEYWORDS: Whole body vibration; dynamic balance; trunk muscle strength PMID: 27632856 DOI: 10.1123/jsr.2015-0022