The Benefits of Vibration

Move over, Marky Mark. We’ve got our own vibes to talk about.

Vibration is a versatile thing. It’s how sounds are produced, how bats figure out where they’re going, and it’s the constant state of all things in the universe. More importantly, vibration helps us heal and pleasure our bodies.

There are several ways to incorporate vibration into our daily routine – whole body vibration through a vibrating plate, localized vibration through a handheld device, vibrating foam rollers, the list goes on. Whether used for health or pleasure, vibration has several key benefits that beg for its use in and out of the bedroom.

Here, we’ll cover all the ways vibration can make you feel good, inside and out.

Physical Health

With more people than ever focused on physical health, the rate at which we exercise has increased dramatically in recent years – and that’s a good thing. However, while we all return to the gym, get outside to walk more, or finally dust off those P90X tapes we ordered off an infomercial in 2005 (looking at you, mom), one repercussion often goes undiscussed: it hurts.

Muscle soreness is inevitable no matter what kind of workout you do. That’s how you know you’re getting stronger! While it is often a sign of an effective workout, soreness can be uncomfortable and can even prevent you from exercising later in the week. However, there are several steps you can take to combat this. Among the most important things to do is stretch, but beyond that, you can incorporate vibration therapy to speed up muscle recovery.

Products to Help

If you are, or have been, in the sports world in recent years, or have looked at TikTok, you’ve probably been exposed to handheld deep muscle massagers. These have a rubber-padded tip that pulses up and down at a fast rate to massage deep into your muscle tissue. While these are getting popular, the one thing that doesn’t soothe my discomfort is the price tag (~$600 for top-tier models).

Now, take a breath and release the grip on your purse – there's tons of great alternative options for vibration muscle therapy. If you’ve ever rolled out your feet, shoulders, or glutes on a lacrosse ball, the reasons to choose the vibrating massager are clear. It is a hard silicone sphere that features different vibrating speeds and pulsing patterns, so you can massage the pain away. This is a cost effective way to soothe your aching muscles.

Benefits

So, how exactly will using this vibrating sphere help you recover after your next leg day? Well, vibration therapy has a few proven benefits:

• Enhanced blood circulation
• Improved range of motion
• Improved flexibility
• Pain relief to muscles and joints¹

The biggest benefit is “enhanced blood circulation,” as this allows the three other benefits to take place. When you use a localized vibrating device on your sore muscle, you are putting that muscle under stress so that the body can send fresh blood to that area. Your muscles become sore because of tiny tears that happen across the muscle fibers. When those tears heal, they come back stronger than they were before, making you stronger. But to heal, your muscles need oxygen. And where do they get oxygen? Your blood!

Because of this increase in blood flow, your muscles can rebuild more quickly than they would naturally. This makes you sore for less time, alleviates the pain from soreness, and restores the range of motion you had prior to soreness.

Further, this vibrational therapy can be used even on days you are not sore. By massaging your muscles, you are encouraging the fibers to stay relaxed rather than contract, which is where tightness comes from. Therefore, by massaging your muscle fibers, you can increase your flexibility and even mitigate the pain of a sore neck or lower back.

Sexual Health

Beyond helping to lessen soreness and increase flexibility, vibration can also be used in less mundane ways. If you are a consistent reader of the Buzz Blog, I’m sure that comes as no surprise to you. However, while we often talk about the best, coolest, or most-suited-to-you vibrators Pure Romance has to offer, we feel it necessary to explore the role this vibration plays in arousal, stimulation, and sexual wellness.

While sex toys can be depicted as gag gifts and novelties, they are also useful tools for sexual exploration, helping to mitigate sexual dysfunction, and/or increase sexual pleasure. In a review of “the current evidence regarding the use of vibratory stimulation for the treatment of sexual dysfunction and/or sexual and relationship enhancement,”² Rullo et. al identify several ways that vibratory stimulation can impact sexual health. We’ll break some of them down below.

Increased Blood Flow = Powerful Sensations

For the same reasons that targeted vibration encourages blood flow to your muscles, it also encourages blood flow to your genitals during intercourse or masturbation. The blood flow helps the clitoris and vaginal walls swell, essentially drawing the nerve endings closer to the surface, making the vulva and vagina more sensitive.

Think of it this way: have you ever slept in a weird position and woke up with your hand or arm completely numb? When your limbs/extremities “fall asleep,” they do so because of poor blood flow. Therefore, if you were to restrict blood flow to your genitals, it would feel like… well, probably nothing. That’s why encouraging blood flow to your genitals will increase your sensitivity, and, ultimately, pleasure.

Pro Tip: If you’re looking to maximize blood flow to your genitals during foreplay, consider using a start/stop technique with your vibrator. According to Rullo et. al, “in the early stages of arousal, vibration that is delivered in bursts may increase vaginal blood flow more consistently than continuous vibration.” However, “in the later stages of arousal <…> continuous vibration may be more likely to stimulate <…> orgasm.”

Strengthening the Pelvic Floor

The pelvic floor is integral to sexual and overall wellness. Having a strong pelvic floor will help you control your bladder and bowels, as well as support pain-free, pleasurable sex. When your pelvic floor is strong and healthy, you can contract and relax these muscles on command. Sometimes with a weakened or prolapsed pelvic floor, muscles contract when they should relax and vice versa,³ which can even lead to incontinence and constipation, or uncomfortable/painful sex.

There are many ways to strengthen your pelvic floor, including Kegels, vaginal exercisers like our weighted vaginal exerciser balls, and internal vibration. Rullo et. al assert that vibration forces your muscles to continually contract and relax, conditioning your muscles the same way you get stronger at the gym. They also posit that “using vibration to achieve muscle contraction allows for improved muscle coordination for both strength and relaxation.”

A Multiplicity of Orgasms

While vibrational stimulation is a useful treatment for anorgasmia (inability to orgasm) in men and women, evidence also suggests that, in women, genital vibration “may increase orgasmic capacity”² and decrease the time needed after orgasm before one can orgasm again.

In fact, “women who use a vibrator to train themselves to have multiple orgasms during masturbation are more likely to report multiple orgasms with a partner.”² Further, in a study of 17 women, about half of them found it “considerably easier to reach orgasm”² with the inclusion of a vibrator into sexual activity. Yes, you’re reading that right! Solo masturbation can lead to more orgasms later on with a partner!

Lastly, switching up the speeds and pulsing patterns of your vibrator can be a useful tool for experiencing orgasm (one or multiple). Evidence suggests that women are more likely to experience orgasm when a variety of sensations are included, so a vibrator with multiple speeds and pulsing patterns can provide the “variety of sensations needed to produce multiple orgasms.”²

After all this info, you’re probably ready to grab a vibrator (or two!) of your own. We carry a variety of vibrators from clitoral to vaginal, dual-action, and more!

If you’re not sure where to start, take our quiz!

 

 

Sources:

1. “3 Vibration Therapy Options for Post-Workout Recovery.” Brownmed, July 10, 2018.
2. Rullo, Jordan E, Tierney Lorenz, Matthew J Ziegelmann, Laura Meihofer, Debra Herbenick, and Stephanie S Faubion. “Genital Vibration for Sexual Function and Enhancement: A Review of Evidence.” Sexual and relationship therapy: journal of the British Association for Sexual and Relationship Therapy. U.S. National Library of Medicine, January 2, 2018.
3. Jenkins, Sarah. “Sex and Your Pelvic Floor.” National Association For Continence. National Association For Continence, October 27, 2021.