A single session of whole-body vibration did not affect cardiovascular autonomic recovery after a high intensity exercise in horses.
Authors: Sales N A A, Carvalho J R G, Littiere T O, Costa G B, Silva A C Y, Rodriguez I D M, Castro C M, Anjos L S, Ottati A C M, Alcaide J A, Ramos G V, Ferraudo A S, Santos I F C, Ferraz G C
Journal: Journal of equine veterinary science
Summary
# Editorial Summary Whole-body vibration (WBV) has demonstrated recovery benefits in human athletes, prompting researchers to investigate whether this intervention might similarly accelerate cardiac autonomic recovery in horses following high-intensity exercise. Eight healthy horses completed an intense treadmill protocol (2 minutes at 110% lactate threshold velocity, followed by 3 minutes at 130%) and recovered under three conditions: passive walking on the treadmill, standing on a switched-off vibration platform (sham), or standing on an active WBV platform cycling through frequencies between 32–76 Hz. Heart rate and heart rate variability measurements across both time and frequency domains were continuously monitored to assess parasympathetic reactivation and autonomic regulation during the 30-minute recovery window. The intervention produced no significant differences in HRV metrics across the three recovery strategies, though treadmill walking did maintain elevated heart rate and shorter RR intervals compared with both stationary conditions, suggesting prolonged sympathetic dominance. For equine professionals considering WBV as a recovery modality, these findings indicate the approach does not confer measurable advantages in facilitating cardiac autonomic rebalancing post-exercise, at least under these specific conditions and measurement parameters.
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Practical Takeaways
- •Whole-body vibration platforms do not appear to offer meaningful benefits for post-exercise cardiac recovery in horses compared to passive standing or walking.
- •If recovery acceleration is a goal, treadmill walking maintains more sustained sympathetic activation and may be preferable to passive recovery methods, though WBV showed no advantage.
- •Current evidence does not support investing in WBV technology as an evidence-based recovery tool for equine athletes under the conditions tested in this study.
Key Findings
- •Whole-body vibration at frequencies of 76, 66, 55, 46, and 32 Hz did not influence heart rate variability or parasympathetic reactivation during post-exercise recovery in horses.
- •Treadmill walking maintained significantly higher heart rate (P < 0.001) and shorter mean RR interval compared to sham and WBV recovery groups.
- •K-means clustering analysis revealed distinct separation between baseline and post-exercise phases across all recovery strategies, indicating AIEB effectively produced measurable cardiac responses.
- •WBV intervention did not enhance cardio-deceleration or cardiac autonomic recovery compared to passive standing on a sham platform following acute intensive exercise.