Effect of Whole Body Vibration Training on Depression Level

Abstract

Recently, the Whole Body Vibration (WBV) training has been introduced as an alternative method of exercise or as a type of physical exercise in health and fitness centers. The purpose of the present study was to examine the effect of Whole Body Vibration (WBV) training applied for 12 weeks on depression level. A total of 53 healthy young male individuals participated in this study. Volunteers were randomly divided into two groups as the Whole Body Vibration Training Group (n=27) and the Control Group (n=26). WBV group did training 3 times a week for 12 weeks. The Control Group did not do any trainings. The Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) was applied to both groups before and after the 12-week WBV training. When the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) scores of the WBV training group and Control groups were compared, it was determined that there were no significant differences in the pre-test Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) scores of the WBVT and Control Group according to the Mann-Whitney U-Test.

However, the post-test scores of the WBV training and Control groups was significant at a statistical level (p=.013). According to the Wilcoxon Signed Ranks test, the difference between the pre- and post-test scores of the WBV training group was significant at a statistical level (p=.014); and the difference between the pre-test and post-test scores of the Control Group was not statistically significant (p=.596). The effect of the Whole Body Vibration training on depression is positive and decreases the depression level.