Effect of whole body vibration on body fat: A systematic review of past studies

Abstract

Introduction: Whole body vibration (WBV) in some studies has been suggested as an intervention for improving body fat. The purpose of current study is to review systematically the studies that have evaluated the effect of WBV on body fat. Materials and Methods: In this systematic review a search within the period of 2001-2017 was performed at PubMed, Cochrane Library, Science Direct, Web of Science, Ovid, Scopus, Google Scholar, Medline, Clinical Trial.gov, ProQuest, Iranmedex, Irandoc, Magiran, SID databases. In this process, studies that had investigated the effects of WBV on body fat were included. PEDro quality scale was used for the assessment of included studies. Results: 9 Out of 1006 studies were selected based on inclusion criteria. Many differences between the articles in the target samples, methodology etc was observed. Overall, it has been shown that this intervention cannot significantly affect the amount of whole body fat, while its effects are locally on body fat. WBV alone doesn’t have more and significant benefits on body fat, as compared to training exercises. Conclusion: Conclusuvely, WBV with exercise can have greater effects on body fat, than WBV alone. WBV cannot affect the amount of whole body fat and its effects are more localized. It seems that strong determination of the effect of WBV on the body fat level requires homogeneous and high-quality studies be conducted in this field to allow the meta-analysis study.