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Updated: Jul 30, 2025

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Published on: March 3, 2018
High-frequency whole-body vibration activates tonic vibration reflex
Eser Kalaoğlu1, Ömer Faruk Bucak2, Mustafa Kökçe2
1Department of Physical Medicine Rehabilitation, Bahçe Physical Therapy Rehabilitation Hospital, Osmaniye, Türkiye.
Objectives:
The aim of this research was to examine whether high-frequency whole-body vibration activates the tonic vibration reflex (TVR).
Patients And Methods:
The experimental study was conducted with seven volunteers (mean age: 30.8±3.3 years; range, 26 to 35 years) between December 2021 and January 2022. To elicit soleus TVR, high-frequency (100-150 Hz) vibration was applied to the Achilles tendon. High-frequency (100-150 Hz) whole-body vibration and low-frequency (30-40 Hz) whole-body vibration were applied in quiet standing. Whole-body vibration-induced reflexes were recorded from the soleus muscle using surface electromyography. The cumulative average method was used to determine the reflex latencies.
Results:
Soleus TVR latency was 35.6±5.9 msec, the latency of the reflex activated by high-frequency whole-body vibration was 34.8±6.2 msec, and the latency of the reflex activated by low-frequency whole-body vibration was 42.8±3.4 msec (F(2, 12)=40.07, p=0.0001, ƞ2 =0.87). The low-frequency whole-body vibration-induced reflex latency was significantly longer than high-frequency whole-body vibration-induced reflex latency and TVR latency (p=0.002 and p=0.001, respectively). High-frequency whole-body vibration-induced reflex latency and TVR latency were found to be similar (p=0.526).
Conclusion:
This study showed that high-frequency whole-body vibration activates TVR.
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