A comparison between a commercial WBV platform and an experimental prototype

There are many commercial WBV platforms for clinical applications but in literature very few have been tested to verify their actual amplitude, frequency spectra and waveform shape of vibration, although some clinical studies showed that these parameters can influence significantly the muscles performance. In this study the performances of a prototype WBV1 designed by the authors are compared with a commercial platform WBV2 typically used in clinical and rehabilitation investigations. Tests performed with four accelerometers in 3 different directions show the presence of transversal accelerations that in some cases exceeded the vertical one in WBV2 while they were always lower than the 25% in WBV1. Also the waveform shape of the vibration provided by WBV1, evaluated by means of the SINAD parameter, show a better value compared to the commercial device: indeed secondary harmonics reaches the 30% of the fundamental in WBV2 but they are always below the 25% in the prototype.