Whole-Body Vibration Does Not Affect Sprint Performance In NCAA Division 1 Sprinters And Jumpers

Whole-body vibration (WBV) may positively influence performance acutely through the potentiation of the muscle’s series elastic components and neuromuscular mechanisms. The purpose of this investigation was to examine the acute effects of WBV on sprint performance in NCAA Division I collegiate male sprinters and jumpers. Twenty-one athletes (n=21) completed a control or WBV protocol (30 seconds, 50 Hz, low amplitude ~3mm) one minute before a 30 m flying sprint. Each athlete participated in three separate trials using randomized treatment sessions (1 treatment per session) over 12 weeks of preparation training prior to the indoor season. The control condition consisted of no vibration, while treatment 1 (T1) and treatment 1 repeated (T1-R) incorporated vibration. The vibration-sprint protocol was repeated after a five minute rest period following the first sprint (test- re-test ICC≥0.81). The sprint consisted of a 15 m run-in from a standing start and a 30 m flying sprint with a total distance of 45 m. A two-way factorial ANOVA with repeated measures (p ≤ 0.05) was used to compare treatments. Statistics showed no differences between the treatments at all distances (average sprint time of control vs. T1, control vs. T1-R, and T1 vs. T1-R). The results of this study indicate that WBV at 50 Hz and low amplitude has no potentiation effect on sprint times (15, 30, 45, or 30 m fly). Further research is needed to determine if different WBV protocols may elicit enhanced results in 30 m flying sprint performance. The present WBV protocol does not appear to have practical acute value for sprinting