The effects of whole body vibration on jump performance in dancers

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of 10 days of whole body vibration on the jump performance of creative dancers. Fifteen dancers were randomly allocated to a vibration, non-vibration or control group. The control group performed their normal dance training for 10 days. The vibration group performed normal training, supplemented with five repetitions of unilateral and bilateral squat exercises on a whole body vibration device; the non-vibration group performed the same supplementary exercises without vibration. Drop jump and countermovement jump height increased by 1.4-8.7% in the vibration group relative to the other two groups. The uncertainty (95% likely limits) in the true values of these increases was +/- 6.5%. If the smallest important increase in jump height is 3%, the chances that training with vibration enhances jumping are 34-89% and the chances it impairs jump performance are 0-13%. Vibration was found to have the greater effect (6.0 to 14.0%) on drop jump performance. Considering the paucity of research on repeated application of vibration, it is recommended that caution be exercised when prescribing vibratory stimulation as a training tool especially if the gravitational forces are high.