Vision Ambassadors

Vision Ambassador Bob Stewart, head physio on the British and Irish Lions Tour to South Africa;

"Vibration Training has been used for some years in professional rugby union. It has been primarily used by Strength and Conditioning Departments to aid strength development, flexibility and recovery. It has come a long way since the Russians first used it to aid the development of bone density in their astronauts when they returned from a "gravity free" environment.

"Recently, on both the British and Irish Lions Tour to South Africa and at Gloucester Rugby, we have used vibration to great effect both in aiding rehabilitation and in injury prevention.

"In South Africa, we had 3-4 players who regularly suffered calf cramping approximately 60mins into games prior to the tour despite trying various long-standing remedies. Neuromuscular fatigue is a major factor in what are now repetitive power athletes as are dehydration, environment, surface and abnormal, inefficient movement patterns. The affected players undertook a neural stretching programme pre-match and complemented this with a variation of weight-bearing vibration exercises at half-time. Not one of these players cramped during the tour. We have implemented this protocol at Gloucester with the same effect. Research shows that vibration therapy stimulates the nervous system to great effect - does this stimulation or re-setting of the nervous system aid in cramp prevention or is it other factors that it affects? Is it that it aids in the transfer to and from muscle tissue of metabolites from the capillary system? Time and continued research will tell.

"It is also thought that from a strength training perception, vibration allows the individual to recruit 100% of the muscles fibres available as opposed to approximately 60% with conventional exercises. We have used this approach in combination with isometric exercise in varying ranges to aid maximal strength development in players who have suffered Cervical Stingers / Burners with both the Lions and Gloucester. There has been excellent carryover from this into other forms of functional strength training and rehabilitation.

"We are now using vibration as an adjunct to many of our current rehabilitation protocols and whilst, with the pressure in our environment to return players from injury as quickly as possible, it is difficult to use in isolation, I believe it has been of great benefit in the prevention and rehabilitation of our players since we have started using the Merit Vibration Systems regularly."