The good, the bad and the ugly of vibration exercise

Vibration exercise is a really exciting field, however recent aggressive marketing and lack of respect for standard ethical considerations is ruining a promising innovation in the field of exercise.

So, the Good is the fact that there is an increasing number of scientists looking at understanding how vibration can be used as a therapeutic or exercise intervention. These people work very hard, struggling to find research funds to sustain their labs and their research to find a way that could improve health and performance.

The Bad is represented by companies that don't invest money in research and development and "steal" all the ideas developed and produced by the hard work of dedicated scientists.

The Ugly is represented by the marketing spins, the liars and the lies.

Why I am writing about liars and lies? I should not waste really time and energy doing this, but since in the past few weeks some vibration exercise companies have been using my name inappropriately and made false statements, I am forced to write few lines to clarify all issues.

Before doing so, let's produce some operational definitions. According to Wikipedia to lie is to state something one believes to be false with the intention that it be taken for the truth by another. A liar is a person who is lying, who has lied, or who lies repeatedly.

In the field of vibration training there are unfortunately many liars. Individuals and/or companies that state something false with the intention to sell more equipment. Individuals and/or companies that state they have invented/researched vibration. Individuals and/or companies that state they have produced scientific evidence for their claims.

I would like to clarify my position once and for all and I hope my blog will serve as a reference for people that are willing to buy vibrating exercise equipment to find out the TRUTH.

I have no involvement, share, stock option, vested interest, in any company producing and/or selling vibrating platform and vibrating training devices. A company has briefly listed my name on a list of scientific experts without my agreement and I made sure my name was deleted form the list.

I was recently made aware that some individuals/companies claim that I have some sort of involvement in the development of their products and/or I advise them or use their products. Again, I would like to state that I am not consulting companies that produce vibration training devices.

Finally, I was also made aware that some individuals/companies claim that I have been deleted from the scientific advisory board of another company because I was still involved with the late Prof. Bosco's enterprise. This is another Lie as I was NEVER involved with Prof. Bosco's company and will never be.

I have performed and published research studies using the following devices: Galileo, Galileo arms, Nemes, Fitvibe, Fitwave. This is not a mistery or a secret, everyone can read my papers. The reasons why I used the above mentioned equipment it because I had it available in my lab or it was donated to my lab. I have also patented a vibration exercise device and a method when I was working at the University of Aberdeen, which is currently shared property of myself and the University.

I strongly believe that we can make good use of vibration as an exercise or therapeutic intervention, however I also believe that the marketing spins and the "sell at all costs" culture developed by some companies is ruining the credibility of people trying to do serious things with it.

So, dear reader, don't be fooled by aggressive salespeople!