Dr Mercola and Power Plate, 7 revealing questions Dr Mercola and “Power Plate scientists” refuse to answer.

Recently Whole Body Vibration has been given a lot of exposure thanks to a well known natural health advocate Dr Joseph Mercola and his endorsement of Power Plate equipment. According to statistics provided by Alexa.com, Dr Mercola’s website mercola.com is ranked number 1 for natural health sites on the internet and number 3 for health websites in general.  Additionally, mercola.com boasts a newsletter database of over 1.5 million people. It is great to see Whole Body Vibration portrayed in a positive light and given so much exposure by an influential figure such as Dr Mercola. Reviewing Dr Mercola’s comments on Whole Body Vibration over the last few years gives us some insight into his endorsement of Whole Body Vibration and subsequent sales of Power Plate.

In a 2008 article, Dr Mercola stated “I am not convinced that there are sufficient benefits to incorporate into my own exercise regimen. I really see this device as a niche for seriously competitive athletes or as physical therapy aid to those recovering from certain health conditions.” In the same article Dr Mercola recommends a website as a consumer resource for tips in purchasing a vibration machine. Perhaps unintentionally, the website Dr Mercola references is in fact not a consumer website at all, but a thinly veiled marketing website fronting as a consumer resource.

Fast forward to November 2010, and there are signs that Dr Mercola has assigned himself a more definitive position with regards to his use of Whole Body Vibration. In regards to Whole Body Vibration and rebounders, Mercola says “The two technologies are not mutually exclusive and I actually use both.” Another sign of more to come from Dr Mercola are his numerous references to “Acceleration Training” in this article, a term that is claimed to be trademarked by Power Plate, and is not commonly used to describe vibration training. Later in the comments section, and in response to a user review of various machines, Dr Mercola says “Thanks but your review is inadequate and leaves out the best plate on the market. I will have a review later this month.” Clearly at this point Dr Mercola has aligned himself with a particular manufacturer.

By February 2011 all is revealed when Dr Mercola publishes an article promoting Power Plate, and Acceleration Training titled “The World’s Easiest Way to Exercise and Slim Your Waistline”. The article is launched in combination with a video interview with Tony Swain and a dedicated Power Plate sales page via Dr Mercola’s online store. The following month another article from Dr Mercola is published, and is this time accompanied with a video interview with Power Plate President Mark De Gorter.

Dr Mercola’s decision to sell and support Power Plate products is his business, but I found much of the information presented by mercola.com to be dubious at best, and misleading at worse when it came to the Power Plate sales pitch. Whilst Dr Mercola is strong in his promotion of the Power Plate machine and Whole Body Vibration, he is equally strong in his statements to discredit the use of machines which he does not sell. I attempted to engage Dr Mercola on this subject and received a quick response that my arguments were false, and rather than countering my arguments, I was advised that the “scientist’s from Europe” would address all of my points. To date a number of my arguments remain unaddressed.

The following are 7 revealing questions that Dr Mercola and his scientists at Power Plate refuse to answer.

1) If you watch the Dr Mercola interview with personal trainer Tony Swain, from 13:40 Swain says that at low amplitude power plate produces 2mm displacement, and at high amplitude it produces 4mm displacement. He then lists all of the g force values for each supposed frequency and displacement setting as follows: 30Hz @ 2mm = 1.8g    35Hz @ 2mm = 2.1g   40Hz @ 2mm = 2.7g    30Hz @ 4mm = 3g   35Hz @ 4mm = 4g   40Hz @ 4mm = 5g

Question for Dr Mercola,
Are these figures correct? If yes, could you please provide evidence and explain why these figures are not consistent with available data.

Notes of interest:

• The engineering tests we ran on a Power Plate Pro5 in 2010 showed low amplitude 1mm and high amplitude 2mm, and registering a maximum of 11g’s peak g-force (7.77g’s RMS) .
• These results are consistent with the independent findings of a Dutch study by Pel et al. where they also measured similar amplitudes and g force from the Power Plate machine.
• After posing this question to Dr Mercola in his February article, in his March article the figures were listed as 1mm low and 2mm high amplitude which is consistent with our available data.

What is the significance of this question?
This might appear to be arguing over semantics here, but Swains figures do not add up. You will find an acceleration calculator on our website here, if you enter Swain’s figures into the calculator, you’ll find the resultant g force is not consistent with Swain’s frequency and amplitude figures. Also the difference between 2mm high amplitude, or 4mm high amplitude is significant in terms of the acceleration (g-force) output. A doubling from 2mm to 4mm amplitude will also result in a doubling of the acceleration (g-force). A recent Meta Analysis by Marin & Rhea showed greater increase in chronic strength gains via an increase in both frequency and amplitude (i.e. greater acceleration). Power Plate have attempted to own the tag “Acceleration Training” but in terms of acceleration, evidence suggests that:
a) There are numerous vibration machines which produce greater acceleration
b) Greater gains in strength can be obtained from greater acceleration output

2) In his February article Dr Mercola states that “over 30 of the nearly 200 studies about WBVT were conducted with Power Plate brand equipment” .

Question for Dr Mercola,
Could you please list the 30+ studies performed on the Power Plate machine, excluding studies performed on the machine today known as VibroGym?

Notes of interest:

• Power Plate was launched in 1999 and the original machine from 1999 today belongs to another company known as VibroGym. All studies performed on the Power Plate until 2004 were performed on the VibroGym machine.

What is the significance of this question?
The VibroGym machine produces around twice the acceleration of the modern Power Plate Pro 5, exceeding the acceleration capabilities of the Power Plate machine. Therefore, referencing research performed on the VibroGym (an entirely different machine) and attributing it to the modern Power Plate is misleading.

3) In his February article Dr Mercola states “It’s Not Just a “Wobble Board”: Many of the competing brands have vibrational movement in only two directions, right to left, front to back—basically a “wobble board.” That’s okay for making Jiffy Pop but not okay for Acceleration Training. It’s the vertical motion (up and down) that provides the neurological benefit, as a result of the G forces produced on your body.”
In his video interview with Mark De Gorter, Dr Mercola clearly identifies a teeter totter (pivotal) type platform as a “wobble board”
Mark De Gorter: “Absolutely. As a matter fact when you’re working on what we call teeter totter type system.”
Dr Mercola: “The wobble board”

Question for Dr Mercola,
Are you claiming that pivotal vibration machines (“wobble boards” or “teeter totter”) produce LESS G-force on the body than Power Plate platforms?

Notes of interest:

• The g force produced by the Galileo pivotal vibration machine is primarily vertical (up and down), and is of larger magnitudes than the Power Plate (see Pel et al.).
• Other pivotal machines such as HyperVibe, MaxuVibe and Globus produce more vertical acceleration than Power Plate.
• It should be noted that the pivotal Galileo vibration machine was the first commercially available platform, and have more research based evidence behind them than any other machine on the market. Far more than the questionable 30+ papers claimed by Mercola for Power Plate.

What is the significance of this question?
It is great that Dr Mercola is both an advocate of Whole Body Vibration and also of Power Plate, but considering his influence it is important that he reports the facts accurately. This comment from Dr Mercola implies that machines that Dr Mercola refers to as “wobble boards” are not effective. The truth of the matter is that many pivotal vibration machines produce greater acceleration primarily in the vertical direction which Dr Mercola acknowledges is most important. Furthermore, the Galileo pivotal vibration machine has has more evidence of it’s effectiveness than any other machine available today. It also produces more g force in all 3 planes than Power Plate (see Pel et al.).

4) In his February article Dr Mercola states “The Harmonious Wave: Power Plate is engineered to produce a harmonious wave, which requires a very precise set of motors. You are exposed to harmonious vibrations all day long. Light is a harmonious vibration, for example. Your body responds to all sorts of vibration, and whether it responds favorably or unfavorably depends upon the type of wave. It’s analogous to the difference between listening to a beautifully played violin versus one played badly—the vibrations from the well-played one make your body feel good. Some companies that are less committed to quality produce a very “unclean curve,” which can actually do harm to your body. The motors in the Power Plate produce a synchronous curve that is optimal for your muscles as they contract and relax.“

Question for Dr Mercola,
Can you provide any evidence that:
a) Power Plate produces a harmonious wave whilst others do not?
b) The body responds favourably/unfavourably depending on the curve?

Notes of interest:

• To the best of my knowledge this is an area unexplored by any WBV related scientific literature.

What is the significance of this question?
Whilst this topic is interesting, Dr Mercola should be able to back up his claims, particularly as he is using this claim to sell Power Plate whilst casting doubt on other machines.

5) In his February article Dr Mercola states “The Power Plate is the leader in the field. It was developed by the Dutch Olympic Coach who was inspired by the Soviet space program and he effectively used it for his Olympic athletes. He really is the creator of this technology for the public.”

Question for Dr Mercola,
If that were true, how do you explain the prior technology of Galileo (pivotal) and NEMES (lineal)?

Notes of interest:

• Power Plate was launched in 1999, prior to that Galileo in 1996 and later Dr Bosco’s research and NEMES unit were released.

What is the significance of this question?
To suggest Power Plate can be attributed to being the creator of this technology sounds quite impressive. Is this just stretching the truth in order to attract more sales?

6) In his November 2010 article Dr Mercola references research undertaken by NASA on Whole Body Vibration machines. In 2008, two NASA funded research papers were published directly comparing a Power Plate machine to a Galileo machine. The purpose of one of these papers was to assess the risk of negative effects from the two devices. The purpose of the other paper was to assess the neuromuscular responses from the two devices.

Question for Dr Mercola,
With regards to the paper assessing the risk of negative effects, which machine did the researchers suggest may pose lesser risk of adverse effects? With regards to the paper assessing the neuromuscular responses, which machine did the researchers find produced greater overall neuromuscular responses?

Notes of interest:

• The answer to both of these questions is Galileo.

What is the significance of this question?
Dr Mercola has recently taken a financial interest in Power Plate machines, actively promotes them as the creators of the technology, and as the gold standard. As pointed out in this article already, Galileo came first in 1996 and their units which are sometimes referred to as “wobble boards” have more research behind them than Power Plate and in the above mentioned NASA studies, demonstrated more favourable outcomes than Power Plate when compared directly.

7) In the video interview with Power Plate President Mark De Gorter, Dr Mercola states “your device is the only one in the United States because it’s patented that actually has a vertical displacement which gives you the G force but also it has a horizontal and sagittal so it moves in three planes.” … “But unfortunately, they (competitors) aren’t able to produce your device and they produce something that only goes back and forth typically and it only moves in this one plane. It’s not going to give the same benefits. You might get some strength training benefits but it has other downsides there. Clearly you’re not going to get the neurological benefits.”
Additionally, on Dr Mercola’s Power Plate sales page, Dr Mercola again alludes to this mysterious patent, “They own the patent on the revolutionary two motor systems that provide a 3-D workout.”

Question for Dr Mercola,
Could you please provide evidence of a Power Plate patent which prevents the competitors from producing vibration in 3 planes?

Notes of interest:

• As has been demonstrated in numerous studies, vibration machines almost always vibrate in 3 planes.
• In the Dutch Pel et al. paper referenced earlier, all 3 devices tested (Galileo, Power Plate and PowerMaxx) produced acceleration in all 3 planes, with both Galileo and the PowerMaxx producing greater sideways forces than the Power Plate.
• See also numerous vibration machine reviews at http://www.massamagra.com/ where each device tested produced vibration in all 3 planes.
• Numerous Whole Body Vibration machines utilise a 2 motor system which results in vibration in 3 planes.
• Numerous Whole Body Vibration machines have demonstrated neurological benefits.

What is the significance of this question?
Dr Mercola and Power Plate President Mark De Gorter claim that competitors are only able to produce vibration machines which vibrate only in one plane, and that such machines are not as effective. This gives those who watch this interview the impression that Power Plate have the ability to produce a superior vibration output in 3 planes where the competition cannot. Based on the evidence of numerous machines producing vibration in 3 planes, this is either entirely untrue, or the alleged Power Plate patent has not prevented anyone from producing 3 dimensional vibration. It should also be noted that Galileo were the first to file a patent on a vibration machine.

In the video interview with Power Plate President Mark De Gorter, Dr Mercola states , “That’s what we’re hoping we’re doing. There is a lot of confusion. Really one of the purposes of our site is to help clear up confusion to the consumers because certainly, you know, clever marketers can really easily do that especially for new products like this.One of the many purposes of this video is to really inform you about this technology but then to also let you know that there are others out there that may appear to be the same but they really foundationally aren’t.”

Let’s hope that Dr Mercola can provide us with some answers to these questions to help clear up confusion, as these days it can be difficult for consumers to indentify a “clever marketer”.