振动板在TikTok上的火爆引发质疑：它们真的能带来健康益处吗？
随着TikTok上用户们争相发布自己使用摇摆振动垫的视频，并试图将其打造为万能解决方案的尝试，关于这些装置有效性的讨论开始涌现。自四月起，在网络上对振动板的搜索量急剧增加，TikTok上的销售数据也呈现爆炸性增长。这种外形介于烤盘和颤抖冲浪板之间的设备，被用来通过平衡、扭曲身体来吸引关注，尽管初衷可能并不在于此。
据Dr. Jörn Rittweger介绍，德国航空航天中心肌肉和骨骼代谢部门的负责人及科隆大学空间生理学教授，振动板带来的减肥和心血管益处可以类比为“以相同的时间进行快走”。使用时，还需考虑个人现有的锻炼水平。Rittweger说：“如果人们不进行任何运动”，那么振动板的效果可能是适度甚至更好。“对普通人而言，如果他们已经进行锻炼，其效果可能微乎其微。”例如，在孩子们无法行走的情况下，Rittweger会利用设备帮助预防肌肉萎缩。
至于增强骨骼和改善循环、淋巴引流方面，证据并不明确。Rittweger提到：“效果可能不会非常显著。”TikTok上热门讨论的两种疾病——淋巴水肿（一种因淋巴液积累导致的肿胀）和脂腺水肿（女性特有的肿胀症状），也被提及振动板能对其带来帮助。不过，瑞典吕德大学癌症中心整形外科教授Håkan Brorson指出，关于振动板缓解这两种病症没有确凿证据。
尽管存在不确定性，对于无法通过其他方式锻炼的人来说，使用振动板可能有益。然而，正确使用设备至关重要。Rittweger建议咨询专家（如物理治疗师）以确保最大程度地获益且避免伤害。
至于安全问题，长时间暴露于全身震动，如公交司机和重型机械操作者所经历的下背痛情况，并不是常见振动板使用者需要担心的问题。根据西雅图华盛顿大学公共卫生学院退休教授Peter W. Johnson的说法，这主要是因为大部分设备使用时间短（6到15分钟）。频率问题也同样重要，许多人在较高频率下使用，但这种高频不会影响脊椎。
这类产品通常会有特定人群的警告说明。例如，Rittweger指出有活跃凝血障碍的人群需要特别注意——体内有血块的话，振动可能会导致其移位，进而引发脑卒中或心肌梗死风险。肾结石的患者也可能面临类似问题，这可能导致极度疼痛。
流行品牌Lifepro在其网站上建议心脏病患者、肌肉和骨骼损伤者、以及佩戴医疗植入物（如起搏器）的人避免使用这类产品，孕妇和幼儿也不适宜使用。Lifepro并未对此做出回复。
尽管对于多数人而言振动板是安全的，Johnson教授表示，“当我们进行改变时，应听取身体的反应。”维吉尼亚州罗阿诺克市的Deja Mason分享了她的个人体验，首次接触到振动板是在TikTok上。Mason说：“我听说它能改善血液循环，但实际上使用后感到非常不适：仅持续三分钟，我就感到头晕、站不稳，无法专注于任何事。”
值得注意的是，初次体验振动板时可能会产生痒感，这与皮肤振动刺激血管导致的组织释放化学物质（如组胺）使血管扩张有关。这种反应通常会在一至三次会话后消失，并不会造成伤害。
回顾历史，振动板并非新型健身产品，其根源可以追溯到 20 世纪40-60年代针对女性推广的被动锻炼概念。这种做法在某种程度上没有挑战“恰当女性活动”的传统观念。“她进行举重或慢跑等高强度运动会显得非常不适当。”Petrzela教授如此指出。
进入新世纪初，对振动板的兴趣重新燃起。对此，Petrzela教授提出了自己的看法：“技术能够带来的成果激发了人们的热情，这恰逢Y2K和网络泡沫时期的热潮。”她推测这一趋势源于人们想要使健身房变得“高科技”。然而，这种风潮也随着时间的推移而消逝。
最终，TikTok上的潮流如振动板般快速翻转。什么流行起来，就可能迅速衰落。今天热门的事物，明日便可能被淘汰，就像它们的振幅在用户体内上下波动一样。
新闻来源：www.nbcnews.com
原文地址：TikTokers are touting vibration plates for health benefits, but do they work?
新闻日期：2024-09-28
原文摘要：
“Do you vibe?” It’s a question that’s been reverberating around TikTok as users flood the platform with videos of themselves balancing on shaking vibration plates, bodies quivering, often in an attempt to hawk the devices as the latest cure-all. Their efforts have certainly made waves. Online searches for vibration plates — which look like a hybrid between a griddle and a trembling surfboard — have sharply increased since April, and products on TikTok Shop have racked up tens of thousands of sales. People use them in different ways. Some focus on standing upright while the plate shakes them; others go further and engage in various exercises like squats or pushups. The purported health benefits of whole-body vibration range from weight loss and increasing bone density to promoting lymphatic drainage, improving circulation and beyond. But what does the evidence actually say? Do vibration plates have health benefits? “It’s not a silver bullet, but it has its certain merits,” said Dr. Jörn Rittweger, head of the division of muscle and bone metabolism at the German Aerospace Center and a professor of space physiology at the University of Cologne in Germany. He said the calorie-burning and cardiovascular benefits are similar to “brisk walking for the same amount of time.” It also matters how much exercise you’re already getting in. “If people don’t do anything” in terms of exercise, Rittweger said, “then the effects are moderate or even better. For the general public, if they’re exercising already, the effect is marginal or nonexistent.” For example, Rittweger said he uses the device in the children’s rehabilitation unit to help ward off muscle atrophy in kids who can’t walk. What about strengthening bones? Rittweger says the evidence is mixed. “The effects are probably not tremendous,” he said. As for improved circulation and lymphatic drainage, Rittweger said there’s “evidence suggesting that the vibration actually does help with removal of fluids from your legs,” although it’s unclear whether the fluid is being removed from the lymphatic system or the veins. Two related diseases have also received a lot of attention on TikTok for potentially being helped by vibration: lymphedema, a form of swelling that results from more severe backup of lymphatic fluid, and lipedema, a form of swelling usually seen in women that’s caused by fat deposits that are typically hard to burn off. There’s “no convincing evidence that vibration plates alleviate lymphedema or lipedema,” Dr. Håkan Brorson, a professor of plastic surgery at Lund University Cancer Centre in Sweden and the former president of the International Society of Lymphology, wrote in an email. So although the evidence is mixed, it may be helpful for people who can’t exercise in other ways. But it also matters how you use the device. Rittweger recommends seeking guidance from an expert, like a physical therapist, who can ensure that you are maximizing the benefits without hurting yourself. Are vibration plates safe? People who are exposed to whole-body vibration for extended periods of time, like bus drivers and heavy machinery operators, are known to experience lower back pain. Peter W. Johnson, a professor emeritus in the School of Public Health at the University of Washington who studies ergonomics, said this probably isn’t a concern for most users of vibration plates. “I don’t think that these vibrating plates would create much of a problem, because most of them are just used for bouts of six to 15 minutes,” he said. “The other important thing is the frequencies that the plates operate with,” Johnson said. “A lot of people use the plates at higher frequencies,” which don’t affect the spine. The devices often come with warnings for certain people. “An important one is any active clotting disorder. If you have a clot, you could displace the clot,” Rittweger said. A displaced clot could travel to the brain and cause a stroke or to the heart and cause a heart attack. He also said that vibration could dislodge kidney stones, which can be extremely painful. Lifepro, a popular brand of vibration plate, says on its website that people with heart conditions, muscle or bone injuries, as well as medical implants such as pacemakers, shouldn’t use the devices, nor should pregnant women or young children. Lifepro did not respond to a request for comment. Although vibration plates are safe for most people, ultimately, Johnson says, “when we make changes, we tell people to listen to their body.” Deja Mason of Roanoke, Virginia, said she first heard about vibration plates on TikTok. “I had heard it helped with poor circulation,” Mason, 29, said. Instead, she said that it made her feel worse. “I used it for maybe three minutes tops, and immediately got very dizzy and lightheaded, couldn’t really stand up straight or focus on anything with my eyes,” she said. One thing people don’t need to worry about is the itching sensation they may experience their first time on a vibration plate. Rittweger said it’s a reflex that results from the skin vibrating and sliding against blood vessels, triggering the release of a chemical called histamine that expands the vessels and makes the skin itchy. “It’s something that passes away with one, two or three sessions at the most,” he said, adding that “it’s not harmful.” Wait, haven't we seen these before? As vibration plates experience a resurgence, some hear echoes of past fitness fads. “This feels rather retro to me,” said Natalia Mehlman Petrzela, a professor of history at the New School in New York City and the author of “Fit Nation: The Gains and Pains of America’s Exercise Obsession.” “It probably is connected to some of that resurrection of early-2000s culture.” In addition to intensifying workouts, there’s something tempting about how easy it seems, she said. “You don’t even have to sprint on a treadmill to get a benefit of this. You can just stand there and it’ll do something.” Modern vibration plates are the latest iteration in a long history of vibrating exercise devices, from belts to couches. From the 1940s to the 1960s, “what was being sold, almost entirely to women, was the notion of passive exercise,” she said, something “that didn’t at all disrupt notions of ‘appropriately ladylike movement.’” “It would be totally inappropriate for her to be lifting heavy weights or going for a run, God forbid,” Petrzela said. So why did they become popular at the turn of the millennium? “There was a lot of enthusiasm over what technology can accomplish,” she said. “Remember, that’s the Y2K, dot-com era. And so, my hunch is that it was a little bit of, ‘How can we make the gym high-tech?’” But soon they faded away. “Trends come and go,” she said, pointing to other trends that displaced vibration plates, like group fitness and CrossFit. For now, they’re fashionable. But just as vibrating plates shake users up and down in quick succession, trends too are always oscillating. Something that’s up today can be down tomorrow, just as fast.
