The History of Whole Body Vibration Machines

The roots of Whole Body Vibration training can be traced all the way back to ancient Greece. There, a primitive method of using a saw covered in cotton was used to treat injury to specific body parts.

The world first saw its effectiveness when the Russians started winning all the Gold at the Olympic Games in 1960.

Then, they started keeping their cosmonauts in space longer and longer — eventually, over a year longer than we could.

It was one of Russia’s key sports scientists, Dr. Vladimir Nazarov, by experimenting with a vibration system, who began the research of this technology. Nazarov was an active sportsman, a member of the Soviet gymnastics team and occupied a chair for sports biomechanics at the State College in Minsk. Finding his experiment a success, he introduced this technology to competitive sports, ballet, and medicine in the former USSR. After the fall of the Soviet Union, Nazarov’s research on whole body vibration made its way to Europe in the early 1990’s.

By the 1880s and 90s, doctors were using vibrating chairs, platforms and bars to treat maladies both physical and mental. In modern times, the most notable usage of WBV began with the Russian space program. The Russian Space Program continues to use the technology — while the cosmonauts are in space — as physical therapy to help the cosmonauts overcome the considerable decrease of bone mass and muscle tone that they risk during extended periods of weightlessness.

Since 1990, Germany, Israel and South Korea have each done extensive research on whole body vibration. In addition, the European Space Agency and NASA are actively using vibration technology in ongoing studies for the maintenance of muscle strength, mass, and bone density. Now, all over the world, whole body vibration therapy is being used in hospitals, physical therapy clinics, and rehabilitation facilities. Everyone from the elderly, the person with physical disabilities, to the general person looking to get toned is using this form of exercise.

Due to its many benefits, the technology is quickly gaining acceptance by universities, professional sports teams, and health professionals in the rehabilitation and medical fields.