May 27, 2025
Kelly Wilkinson/USA TODAY NETWORK
Vibration plates, like the one shown here, destabilize the body, causing muscles to contract. But the overall health benefits of these devices is unclear.
TikTok influencers are crediting vibration plates for weight loss, improved balance, muscle recovery and better circulation.
One influencer said her body was "craving" the vibration plate while she was traveling three weeks in row, in and out of cars, and on and off planes. "Since I've been using it, I feel a lot more defined," she said.
"Saturday Night Live" even referenced vibrating plates in a sketch last year.
Standing on one of these vibrating platforms causes instability, leading muscles to repeatedly contract and relax. This activity may make people feel like they are exerting themselves, according to the Mayo Clinic.
But vibration plates can be expensive. A quick online search found those currently on the market range in price from $150 to $11,500. And as with any easy workout, the benefits of vibrating plates may be too good to be true, health experts say.
"They are definitely not my first recommendation for clients because there are so many other smaller, more affordable, and more functional forms of fitness equipment out there," sports therapist Winnie Yu told Cosmopolitan in April.
The concept of using vibration to lose weight has come in and out of fashion throughout history. Vibration devices date back to the 1800s, when a Swedish doctor used them to help injured people get moving, according to Smithsonian magazine.
In the late 1800s and early 1900s, vibrating electric belts were advertised as a cure all for everything from "nervousness" to "torpid liver." Vibrating belts were popular from the 1920s through the late 1960s as ways to "wiggle off the weight" and improve circulation and muscle tone, as shown in a 1969 Elaine Powers Figure Salon video.
People who don't exercise, or those who are unable to move around much, may get small gains from using vibration plates, because they would be going from "nothing to slightly something," Dr. Rekha B. Kumar, an endocrinologist at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York City, who specializes in metabolic health, told the New York Times.
But studying the effects of vibration on the body is difficult because the range of products on the market varies widely. Overall, research on the effectiveness of vibrating plates is mixed.
A 2023 study found that whole-body vibration improved balance in stroke patients. But a 2019 review of research about the efficacy of vibration plates for weight loss found a small but "not statistically detectable" impact on body fat over time. Research from 2021 showed that people who used the devices had small to moderate increases in lower body strength – when combined with other forms of exercise.
"At the end of the day, these things just cannot replace good diet and exercise," Dr. Amy West, a sports medicine physician, told the New York Times.
