Enhancing the Sport Performance and Quality Life of Athletes by Applying of WBV Method

The mechanical vibrations’ therapy is widely used as a non-conservative and safe physical method for patients diagnosed with osteoporosis, postmenopausal women and sportsmen training, also during athletes’ recovery and rehabilitation phase.This paper has the main goal in assessing the benefic effects of whole-body-vibration (WBV) therapy applied to professional sportsmen as a complementary alternative of training that can improve their sport performance and quality life. The experiment applied on a group of ten volunteers’ athletes from our university, with the ages between of 19 to 29 years and appropriate weight and height, which signed a statement on by self-agreement to participate in this study. The WBV trial performed via a proper dynamic vibration installation during of two months, where the subjects were sitting in a bed with upper limbs on their thighs and inferior limbs extended to provide support for the spine in a fixed support. The installation comprised a vibration bed with direct control of vibration signal and an electronic analyzing system for acquisition and interpretation of vibration data, which allowing an automat control of rotation frequency, alarm and safety system, and visualization on-line the measurement process. The electric motor of vibrating bed can generate predictable vibration values on three axes that used two types of tri-axial vibration sensors, one accelerometer fixed on bed and the second that is an implant accelerometer on the anterior face of the thigh of evaluated subject. Each mechanical vibration training session has performed with a frequency of 45 Hz during of 16 minutes, consisted in eight series with 60 seconds, and one-minute breaks in between. The evaluation of data has made by assessing the values of subjects recorded at the initial stage and at final therapy, which supposed to control the objective parameters, as standing long jump, standing high jump and intensity of exercise performed during of physical efforts.The results of vibration trial stressed that the subjects had a significant increase of sport performances after vibration training at each parameter assessing, which means that WBV can be a viable alternative method used of sportsmen to improve their athletic performance and quality life.Copyright © 2016 by ASME