Can vibration plates help you lose weight?

By standing on a vibrating plate roughly the size of a bathroom scale, you could shed kilos and build muscle. At least, that is the claim you will find all over TikTok.

- Katie Mogg

NEW YORK — By standing on a vibrating plate roughly the size of a bathroom scale, you could shed kilos and build muscle. At least, that is the claim you will find all over TikTok.

"All you have to do is just hop on this vibration plate, and it does all the work for you," one user said.

Adding vibration to a workout is not new. But research on how vibration may (or may not) benefit your health is inconsistent, experts say. And vibration plates are not cheap: Many cost hundreds or even thousands of dollars.

Here is what to know.

WHAT DOES VIBRATION DO TO THE BODY?

Vibrating the body stimulates muscle spindles, the receptors that help control when muscles contract and relax, said professor of exercise science Brad Schoenfeld at Lehman College in New York City.

Your muscles also contract during exercise, so it is reasonable to think that using a vibration plate would tire them out and change your physique — especially if you perform exercises while on top of the plate. But data suggesting that vibration will help you gain muscle or lose fat is sparse, Dr. Schoenfeld said.

Vibration alone is not enough for most people to significantly challenge their muscles or heart, or to burn calories or fat, said Dr. Amy West, a sports medicine physician at Northwell Health in New York. To do that, you would need to do resistance training and aerobic exercise.

People who are mostly sedentary or unable to exercise could theoretically see modest changes to their physique after standing on a vibration plate.