Effects of whole body vibration training on body composition in adolescents with Down syndrome.
Fifteen minutes of vibration, three times a week, can slightly trim upper-arm fat in teens with Down syndrome, but other exercises give faster, fuller fitness gains.
01Research in Context
What this study did
González-Agüero et al. (2013) asked teens with Down syndrome to stand on a vibrating platform three times a week. Each session lasted 15 minutes for 20 weeks total.
The team measured body fat and lean mass before and after the program. They wanted to see if gentle whole-body vibration could reshape teen bodies.
What they found
Upper-arm fat dropped a little, but lean mass barely budged. The change was real yet small after five months.
In short, vibration alone trimmed some fat, but it did not build much muscle.
How this fits with other research
Lin et al. (2023) got bigger gains in eight weeks with jump-rope drills in students with intellectual disability. Their cardio fitness and blood pressure improved fast, showing quicker pay-offs than WBV.
Mikolajczyk et al. (2015) also saw clear balance gains when they doubled training time to 24 weeks. Like Alejandro, longer exercise helped, but the outcome differed: Edyta improved balance, Alejandro only trimmed fat.
Abdulaziz Al Saud (2026) moved the idea into a fun 11-day camp. Quality-of-life rose and stayed up two months, proving social play can match or beat quiet vibration for overall well-being.
Why it matters
If you serve teens with Down syndrome, add WBV as a low-effort fat tool, not a muscle builder. Pair it with jump rope or games for faster, wider gains. Track body sites you care about; change is small and local. Use camps or social drills for bigger life-quality boosts.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
The present study aimed to determine the effect of 20 weeks of whole body vibration (WBV) on the body composition of adolescents with Down syndrome (DS). Thirty adolescent with DS were divided into two groups: control and WBV. Whole body, upper and lower limbs body fat and lean body mass were measured with dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) before and after 20 weeks of WBV training. Repeated measures of ANOVA adjusting by height, weight and Tanner stage were used to analyze possible group by time interactions on body composition. The adjusted percentages of change in body composition were also compared between control and WBV groups. No group by time interactions were found for any variable, but the WBV group showed a higher reduction in body fat at the upper limbs (p<0.05), and a tendency toward higher percent increase in whole body lean body mass. Overall, a 20-week WBV training is not enough by itself for increasing lean body mass in adolescents with DS, but it might be helpful for improving body composition in this population. Its relationship with health and autonomy enhances the importance of these results.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2013 · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2013.01.023