{"id":594678,"date":"2026-04-09T02:16:19","date_gmt":"2026-04-09T02:16:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/594678\/"},"modified":"2026-04-09T02:16:19","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T02:16:19","slug":"vibration-plates-do-they-really-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/594678\/","title":{"rendered":"Vibration plates: Do they really work?"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Published<\/p>\n

2026-04-07 14:01<\/p>\n

2:01<\/p>\n

April 7, 2026<\/p>\n

pm<\/p>\n

America\/Chicago<\/p>\n

This is the first installment of Deinfluencing Month, a series in our menopause newsletter where we explore some of the biggest viral health trends that the algorithm is constantly promoting to people in perimenopause and beyond. We\u2019re connecting with vetted experts to help you know what these things actually can do, can\u2019t do \u2014 and the contextual \u201cwhy\u201d of their ubiquity. Want more? Sign up for our menopause newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n

If I open Instagram, I\u2019m virtually guaranteed to see some<\/a> woman<\/a> standing<\/a> on<\/a> a<\/a> vibration plate<\/a>, insisting that she\u2019s shaking her metabolism back into the compliant, fast-paced state of her youth.\u00a0<\/p>\n

She\u2019s burning fat! She\u2019s getting rid of pesky cellulite! She\u2019s definitely making claims about bone density and lean muscle mass! And I don\u2019t really know what\u2019s happening but she\u2019s saying something about lymphatic drainage.<\/p>\n

With so many claims about a machine that typically retails for less than $150 and requires only 10 to 15 minutes of daily use, it almost seems too good to be true.<\/p>\n

I needed to find out why so many women are trying to quite literally shake off their age. I also wanted an answer to my forever question: Wait, am I supposed to be doing this too?<\/p>\n

Cue expert #1<\/p>\n

First I called Dr. Michael Fredericson<\/a>, the founder of Stanford Lifestyle Medicine<\/a>, which is all about digging into the science of healthy aging. He\u2019s a professor of orthopedic surgery and medicine and is a co-director of the Stanford Center on Longevity<\/a> and is also the head team physician for Stanford\u2019s track and field and swimming teams. In other words, he\u2019s no stranger to training and results.<\/p>\n

And what he told me is that you could use a vibration plate if you wanted to \u2014 but to think of it as \u201cthe sprinkles on the icing on the cake\u201d of choices to support bone health, lean muscle mass and balance \u2014 three of the factors essential for healthy aging.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the goal is to build bone density, you\u2019re going to get much more benefit from just doing traditional resistance training,\u201d Fredericson said. \u201cYou can get some additional benefit from vibration plates, but it\u2019s pretty modest. It\u2019s not going to take you from osteoporosis to non-osteoporosis.\u201d<\/p>\n

The same goes for balance work.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re doing balance work on the vibration plate, it\u2019s sort of another challenge to your balance.\u201d So can it help? Sure. But is it the only way? Not at all.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"An<\/p>\n

Stand on one leg; do it with your eyes closed if that\u2019s too easy. You could also stand on a pillow, barefoot on plain grass or on a Bosu ball \u2014\u00a0all just as, if not more, effective ways to incorporate balance challenges into your exercise routine.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Vibration plates also are certainly not a replacement for lifting weights or doing body weight exercises that help keep bones strong and lean muscle from atrophying. He said they can boost blood flow to muscles and help with stretching but also \u201cthere\u2019s so many better ways to do that.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Static stretching \u2014 or, holding a muscle stretch for 10-60 seconds to improve long-term flexibility \u2014 is just as effective.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And a vibration plate doesn\u2019t replace one of the most important things for your health, getting two total body strength workouts and at least 150 minutes of moderate aerobic activity a week.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Fredericson also pointed out that it can\u2019t do something we know is definitely beneficial: take you outside. \u201cSomething about being in nature, outdoors, is just so much more powerful for you than just going to the gym.\u201d<\/p>\n

It also doesn\u2019t address one of the other main components of healthy aging: social connection.<\/p>\n

So, want to get aerobic activity, get outside and connect with others? Take a walk outside with a friend. No purchase necessary.<\/p>\n

Cue expert #2<\/p>\n

I also wanted to know how these vibration plates had even become a thing. I called up Danielle Friedman<\/a>, the author of \u201cLet\u2019s Get Physical: How Women Discovered Exercise and Reshaped the World<\/a>\u201d and a journalist focused on the history, culture and science of women\u2019s fitness.<\/p>\n

Friedman told me that the vibration plates you\u2019re seeing all over Instagram are far from a new trend.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a long history of women turning to vibration, specifically with the goal of losing weight or losing fat,\u201d she said, adding that throughout the 1970s and well into the 1980s, most gyms would have a vibrating belt in the women\u2019s locker room. It\u2019s a device that first started to gain popularity as early as the 1930s, when they were marketed to women as a way to \u201cshape their figure.\u201d<\/p>\n

Throughout the 1940s through 1960s, she added, there were even national chains of \u201cvibrating salons,\u201d where you could secure a membership to go a certain number of times a week to allegedly \u201cvibrate your fat away.\u201d<\/p>\n

We love (and hate) a quick fix<\/p>\n

The other long-standing trend that the vibration plate of today speaks to, Friedman said, is gadgets that promise a quick fix. She\u2019s fascinated by the moment these products are having right now.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the past, the focus was not so much on building muscle \u2014 it was just on fat, losing weight, shaping your figure. Now we\u2019re in this moment, especially for midlife women, where we are bombarded with messages about protecting our muscle, our bones, navigating our hormones,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re quick as a society to kind of turn our noses up at the \u2018get fit quick\u2019 solutions out there, but the reality is that so many women are struggling to find the time and energy to move and exercise and care for themselves in this way,\u201d Friedman said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a situation that\u2019s only exacerbated in midlife, when so many women\u2019s lives are shaped by caregiving responsibilities, she said. All the sandwich generation<\/a>-ing means that, on a practical level, women just don\u2019t have time for exercise \u2014 and something being marketed as having some benefits in just 15 minutes a day is really appealing.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re in this pendulum swing toward women just being bombarded with solutions or messages about how they need to care for themselves at this stage of life. We went from a place where perimenopause and menopause were completely overlooked and it was just like \u2018deal with it,\u2019 to now everywhere you look, if you\u2019re in this demographic, people are offering solutions for your health,\u201d she said. \u201cIt can feel so overwhelming.\u201d<\/p>\n

And a vibration plate? Well, it can feel convenient.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can hop on it while you\u2019re watching TV or while your kids are playing or if you didn\u2019t sleep the night before or if you don\u2019t have the energy because you\u2019re physically exhausted from child care or caring for others combined with whatever physiological changes you might be going through,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The quickness to judge women for engaging in a fitness-related activity rooted in efficiency feels convenient too, especially given how women disproportionately shoulder so many caretaking responsibilities and thus have less free time.<\/p>\n

The mixed messages women receive \u2014 take care of everyone, look young, prioritize your health, don\u2019t be selfish, don\u2019t be stupid and taken in by a fitness fad \u2014 are as timeless as the vibration trend itself.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s so frustrating because we\u2019re told we have to look hot and there\u2019s this anti-aging market for women in midlife that is just exploding, but there\u2019s also sort of a little bit of a maybe cultural judgment about devoting time to it, especially when you could be caring for others,\u201d said Friedman.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The real takeaway, she says, is simple \u2014 and judgment free: \u201cEverybody benefits when women are able to devote time to moving their body in a way that feels good.\u201d<\/p>\n