Effects of the different frequencies of whole-body vibration during the recovery phase after exhaustive exercise

Aim. This study was to investigate the effects of vibration exercise on the oxygen consumption (VO₂) and heart rate variability (HRV) during the recovery phase after exhaustive exercise. Methods. Twenty male college students volunteered as subjects to participate in the study. The subjects were randomly crossover assigned to perform three 10 min vibration exercises, namely non-vibration (CON, 0 Hz, 0 mm), low-frequency (LFT, 20 Hz, 0.4 mm) and high-frequency (HFT, 36 Hz, 0.4 mm) treatments immediately after an incremental exhaustive cycling exercise in separated days. The beat-to-beat HRV, blood lactate concentration and VO2 were measured during the 1-hour recovery phase. The time- and frequency-domain indices of HRV were analyzed to confirm the effects of vibration exercises on the cardiac autonomic modulation. Results. There were no significant differences on the VO₂, HRV and blood lactate concentrations at 30^th minute (post-30 min) or 60 ^th minute (post-60 min) during the recovery phase among the three treatments. There were also no significant differences on the excess post-exercise oxygen consumption (EPOC) during the recovery phase among the treatments. However, the VO₂ at post-30 min in CON and LFT were significantly higher than the baseline values, whereas the VO₂ in HFT returned to resting condition at the post-30 min. Conclusions. The results indicate that both low and high frequency vibration exercises could not improve the physiological recovery after exhaustive cycling exercise. However, the high frequency vibration exercise probably has a potential to facilitate the VO ₂ to return to the resting level during the recovery phase.