Good Vibrations: Passive Exercise Is Back

Anyone remember Passive Exercise–the very attractive notion that you don’t actually have to move your body to get is shape, just hook it up with something that will move it for you? Well, it’s back now, with buzz, in the form of vibrating platforms. The Boston Globe reports that health benefits from working out while standing on a vibratiing platform are one of the things that will be explored in a study funded by NASA, whose scientists also hope that the machines can counter the damaging effects of weightlessness.  The Globe also reports that the Celtics use a vibrating platform for conditioning and
rehabilitation, and the
Red Sox bought a machine this season.
While scientists do not yet know how the vibration works in the body, many suggest that the vibration causes muscles to tense and release, which
strengthens them and exerts pressure on the bones. That lingering mystery has not stood in he way of commerce. Several companies, VibraFlex,   Power Plate,   and VibroGym, are hoping that the new research will generate some powerful buzz.