For some reason, I cannot respond in the section you posted. This site is a bit difficult to navigate at times. I hope you get this post.

Taking on the task of opening a studio with no experience is a big risk. I can appreciate the desire, but recommend speaking with another studio owner first. Contact Phillipa Church at http://www.resonancevt.co.uk/.

She is a highly qulaified business owner and a real nice person. She will help you along. You can say I recommended her to you. I think this will prove a very valuable experience.

As far as platforms go, for commercial usage, you need solid platforms. Otherwise, they and you will fail. The machines you are looking at will be a very bad decision. They are inexpensive and cheaply manufactured. For commercial usage, you are looking at one of only a few manufacturers and you can expect to spend 7-10K per unit.

Hope that helps.

Gabriel

The machines you mentioned are unfamiliar to me, but the bottom line in this industry is that the price generally reflects the quality of the machine and these are quite inexpensive. So many of these manufacturers produce garbage by manufacturing inexpensively in China. If you are trying to make changes to your body, you need a quality, durable platform. The better the materials and design, the more pure the energy being transferred from it and the better the response of your body. Expect to spend 3-5K, but it will be well worth it..especially given the situation with your knee. By the way, I treat knee OA all the time and the response is phenomenal with vibration therapy and training when applied safely.

Hope that helps.

1) the vibraflex mini – upper body unit (www.vibraflex.com)

2) using upper body positioning on a standard vibration platform to target the muscles of the hand and forearm

3) purchasing a string handheld percussion vibrator and using along those same muscle groups.

The last option is probably the cheapest and safest. I am not sure where you are, but over here in the US, brookstone makes some really strong percussion vibrators that will likely do the trick.

“Jon,
Further to the posting on vibrationtraining.net we thought it may be helpful to explain Fit Prof and our reviews in general;

“All fitness equipment relies on both its engineering / design as well as it production quality. All machines by their nature are subject to performance issues and a single unit test is not a fair assessment of a brand’s overall quality. To accomplish that, a large number units from multiple production runs would be need to be tested using real world parameters for extensive periods of time. To date, we are unaware of any review that follows this type of testing protocol.

With regards to the scoring / category question on WBVs: Ergonomics are based on the unit’s characteristics such as platform size, step up height, handle bar height, size, placement, etc. Motivation is based on the unit’s electronic features and programming as well as items such as the availability of resistance cords, on board exercise charts, etc.

Fitness Professor Review.com was created to be the most complete, unbiased and independent source for equipment reviews. We believe we have achieved this goal and continue to expand our review offering to better assist consumers find quality products to help them achieve their health and fitness goals. This is why we introduced a WBV section this season.

That said, reviews (regardless of their source) are based on the experience, research and opinions of the individuals involved. This is why Fitness Professor Review.com always recommends consumers use multiple sources of information AND to try machines prior to purchase. For more information about Fitness Professor Review.com, please visit our Ask the Prof section.”

We hope this answer any questions you may have had
All the best”

Look at the site again because Im fairly certain that there is a glossary of terms that explains what each grading criteria means. Could you specify exactly what certification makes someone an “expert” in WBV? From what I can tell they are just an independant reveiw board comparing and contrasting close to a hundred products including treadmills, ellipticals,and inversion tables that a customer would see when shopping at specialty retail fitness stores . My guess is that their intentions are similar to sites like this one, just trying to advise consumers of what products they liked.

I believe their intention was

Congrats on the positive review. I am wondering whether that site you linked has an explanation of what those categories represent specifically and how did they reach the conclusions/numbers. I am unclear how these reviews are demonstrating anything more than what the machines look like (to the reviewers), how big they are, or how many exercises can be done on them. For example, what does “ergonomics” or “motivation” mean?

This is a machine that relies on it’s engineering to perform properly. A squat on one does not feel the same nor create the same bodily response as a squat on an inferiorly designed platform. Where is the data on the performance of the machines themselves (i.e. accelerometer readings, emg reading etc.) Did the “review board” do anything other than stand on them and look at them to create these reviews. Do they even have experience using themm? I cannot see how these reviews indicate the actual perfomance of the machine and are therefore completely unreliable. Please let me know what I am missing.

A website reviewed and ranked most of the available vibration trainers in the U.S. One of the reviewers came out to the Health and Fitness Business trade show this year and physically used vibration plates from Nitrofit, PowerPlate, Wave, DKN, Tuetonic, PowerVibe, Lifespan,and a few others.

Our NitroFit Personal was ranked the best vibration trainer for under $1,000

HEAD OF THE CLASS – WINNER – Vibration Trainers (WBV) under $1,000
you can check out the review by following the links below.
http://www.fitnessprofessorreview.com/reviews/review.php?id=726

Given your financial situation this may be a viable solution for you. But before you jump into anything do some primary research and consult with your doctor first. Your doctor may not be familiar with WBV becasue it is still very new to the medical community in the United States.

If that is the case I would hold off on buying any machine until you can find a fitness store near you that carries a good selection of vibration machines. Try both pivotal and lineal vibration machines to see what is comfortable for you.

Given your location and interest in a pivotal platform, consider looking into the vibraflex. They are manufactured in Germany, but distributed in Southern Florida. They have plenty of research behind them including the most recent studies with spinal cord injury. More info at vibraflex.com.

Hope that helps.