Acute whole-body vibration elicits post-activation potentiation

Whole-body vibration (WBV) leads to a rapid increase in intra-muscular temperature and enhances muscle power. The power-enhancing effects by WBV can, at least in part, be explained by intra-muscular temperature. However, this does not exclude possible neural effects of WBV occurring at the spinal level. The aim of this study was to examine if muscle twitch and patellar reflex properties were simultaneously potentiated from an acute bout of WBV in a static squat position. Six male and six female athletes performed three interventions for 5 min, static squat with WBV (WBV+, 26 Hz), static squat without WBV (WBV-) and stationary cycling (CYCL, 70 W). Transcutaneous muscle stimulation consisting of a single 200 micros pulse and three patellar tendon taps were administered prior to and then 90 s, 5, 10 min post-intervention. Ninety-seconds after WBV+ muscle twitch peak force (PF) and rate of force development (RFD) were significantly higher (P < 0.01) compared to WBV- and CYCL. However the patellar tendon reflex was not potentiated. An acute continuous bout of WBV caused a post-activation potentiation (PAP) of muscle twitch potentiation (TP) compared to WBV- and CYCL indicating that a greater myogenic response was evident compared to a neural-mediated effect of a reflex potentiation (RP).