I haven't seen the item that you are talking about. We do have infomercials here
in Australia (lucky us!!!) but I don't get time to see them..(lucky me!!!)...my
patients do though!! There are a few concerns that come immediately to mind with
this type of thing for people with back pain, who think that improving their
abdominal tome will improve and reduce their back pain and possibly "overuse" it.
Firsly I must say that I am a proponent of the lumbar stabilisation techniques
which are being highly  researched and utilised more and more in physio clinics
throughout the world. (Research is continuing). These focus on getting the
patient to activate the transvesus abdominis and multifidis, which provide the
major postural stabilisation to the lumbar spine. Proponents also say that if the
other abdominal muscles are hyper activated or dominant (ie obliques / rectus
abdominis) that they will work at the expense of the multifidis and TA which are
the postural muscles which have a direct insertion into the lower lumbar levels.
I believe that this object is likely to have the effect of Hyper-activation of
the dominant prime movers, which would then fatigue over time and cause
compensatory recruitment of other muscles such as the upper traps/ scalenes;
levator scap etc possibly eventually leading to increased aggravation to the neck
and cervical spine and also changing breathing patterns.

I hope that we as a profession can see the potential for "harm" in these types of
products and that our patients can be reassured that they can receive the right
type of exercises to assist them, without the use of another "gadget".

On that subject and I hate to bring this up again but about a year ago on the
mail lists there was a lot of discussion about the use of magnets. Our market is
currently being inundated with claims and hard sell about these. Magnablock being
marketed by Amway. Be interested in other peoples experiences anecdotal or
otherwise.
(I should have paid more attention when this was an issue before!)

Di Howell

(Physio; Canberra; Australia)

[log in to unmask] wrote:

> I have just seen one of those "info-mercials" advertising a product called
> the Body Vibes.  It appears to be a vibrating box, much like a pager, which
> attaches to a belt which you then strap around your waist.  The idea seems to
> be that if you relax your abdominals while wearing this device it will
> deliver a vibrating prompt to tighten up. Apart from the usual "lose weight
> and inches without any effort" claims there were several physical / sports
> therapists stating they used it in their clinics to encourage abdominal tone.
>  Does anyone out there have any experience of this, or similar, devices?



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