{"id":261258,"date":"2026-01-24T08:09:06","date_gmt":"2026-01-24T08:09:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/261258\/"},"modified":"2026-01-24T08:09:06","modified_gmt":"2026-01-24T08:09:06","slug":"scientists-have-found-a-way-to-make-endurance-sport-feel-easier-and-it-involves-brain-tricking-vibrations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/261258\/","title":{"rendered":"Scientists have found a way to make endurance sport feel easier \u2013 and it involves brain-tricking vibrations"},"content":{"rendered":"

We\u2019re picking up good vibrations from recent scientific endeavours, which have unearthed signs that vibrating tendons makes physical activity feel less arduous.<\/p>\n

The research, published in the Journal of Sport and Health Science<\/a>, investigated why the physical effort of exercise does not necessarily correlate with the perceived effort<\/a> of exercise, which means that a set effort can feel tougher on the brain than the body. The result? Your mind can talk yourself out of seemingly \u2018overwhelming\u2019 sessions that your body is, in reality, quite capable of handing. This can inhibit the potential of beginners and experienced athletes alike.<\/p>\n

But in their study, the researchers found that vibrating the tendons of cyclists, just before they started pedalling, helped them to push harder on the bike without feeling as though they are doing any more work. Here\u2019s what these findings could mean for runners. <\/p>\n

Easier does it<\/p>\n

To be clear, this study did not involve runners. Rather, it focused on 15 healthy, physically active cyclists with an average age of 20.<\/p>\n

All cyclists did two tests on a stationary bike<\/a> in the lab. Both tests involved three minutes of cycling at a moderate perceived effort, followed by three minutes of cycling at a hard perceived effort. Before one of the tests, a vibration device was strapped to each cyclist\u2019s Achilles and knee tendons \u2013 this was activated for 10 minutes before they began cycling. The device was not involved in the other test.<\/p>\n

The researchers noticed that the cyclists had a higher heart rate<\/a> and power output after tendon vibration than without it, even though the cyclists\u2019 perceived effort was the same. In other words, after pre-cycling tendon vibration, their bodies worked harder than normal, while their brains didn\u2019t think that the exercise was any more demanding. <\/p>\n

So why is this? Although an exact answer is not yet known, Benjamin Pageaux, a professor in the School of Kinesiology and Physical Activity Sciences at Universit\u00e9 de Montr\u00e9al and the study\u2019s co-author, believes that it comes down to the neurophysiological mechanisms involved in tendon vibration.<\/p>\n

\u2018Depending on the amplitude and frequency of the vibration, we can either excite or inhibit neurons in the spinal cord,\u2019 he says<\/a>. \u2018Also, prolonged vibration changes the reactivity of the neuromuscular spindles and alters the signal sent to the brain.\u2019<\/p>\n

So, by this hypothesis, the tendon vibrations altered the information sent to the cyclists\u2019 brains, which in turn modified their perception of effort.<\/p>\n

What does this mean for runners?<\/p>\n

To reiterate, this study only looked at a small pool of cyclists, so more work is to be done \u2013 on runners \u2013 to determine the effectiveness of tendon vibration in making hard running efforts feel easier. However, judging by these early results, we may have found a solution \u2013 even if strapping a device to your tendons pre-exercise might not seem like the most practical thing in the world. <\/p>\n

\u2018It hasn\u2019t been tested in a marathon \u2013 only during a short, three-minute cycling exercise,\u2019 says Pageaux. \u2018Still, this is the first time that it has been shown to work with this type of exercise.\u2019 <\/p>\n

Pageux and his team will now continue to explore how tendon vibration affects brain activity during exertion. They\u2019ll also examine how fatigue and pain can increase the perception of effort and make exercise feel more difficult. <\/p>\n

\u2018By gaining a better understanding of how the brain evaluates the link between effort and perceived reward during exercise, we hope to promote more regular physical activity,\u2019 adds Pageaux. \u2018And we all know how essential staying active is for our health and wellbeing.\u2019 <\/p>\n

Related Story<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"We\u2019re picking up good vibrations from recent scientific endeavours, which have unearthed signs that vibrating tendons makes physical…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":261259,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[1134,129332,1107,61,60,1135,82,129331],"class_list":{"0":"post-261258","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-science","8":"tag-content-type-default","9":"tag-contentid-ef020130-e62c-4477-bc8f-27079dd7a9cb","10":"tag-displaytype-standard-article","11":"tag-ie","12":"tag-ireland","13":"tag-locale-gb","14":"tag-science","15":"tag-shorttitle-scientists-have-found-a-way-to-make-endurance-sport-feel-easier-and-it-involves-brain-tricking-vibrations"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261258","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=261258"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261258\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/261259"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=261258"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=261258"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=261258"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}