Vitafloor, Computerized Vibrating Floor Therapy:

VITAFLOOR Whole Body Vibration Training

The Vitafloor ® is the only way to give a horse both versatile physical training and a massage in one go. The result is a notable improvement in blood circulation, especially in the legs and organs, ensuring better health and injury prevention, as well as accelerating the healing process for injuries, and helping in colic prevention.

The Vitafloor ® uses the same well established physical and technological principles of whole body training (WBV) as used for training astronauts to stimulate the development of bone density and muscle tone. The human version (“Powerplate”) is adopted world-wide as an accepted means of raising overall fitness and the combustion of fat. This makes this a good method for ensuring blood circulation for horses that, for whatever reason, cannot be given exercise in the normal way.

HOW DOES IT WORK

Vitafloor ® is a 5 inch thick floor with a rubber mat on top. Vibration motors enable the floor to gently vibrate at different intensities depending on the intended use, whether that is for maintenance or rehabilitation. To avoid the horse continually resting one leg, the floor can be made to gently tilt at one minute intervals, causing the horse to need to slightly re-adjust its balance, thus ensuring that he uses all 4 legs.

RESEARCH & TESTING

The Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) in Uppsala has carried out extensive research and testing programs on the Vitafloor ® since 2003, with close consideration towards possible negative side-effects, of which none were found.

Since becoming commercially available in 2005, some 100 Vitafloors® have been used in barns to help horses reach their full potential and to assist in the recovery from acute or chronic problems. In all cases, the rehabilitation time was quicker, and more successful than usual. Remarkably, with horses in absolute box rest no colic occurred (always consult your vet in case of colic).

FACTS

1. Vibration training is the only treatment with a documented positive effect on osteoporosis (brittle bones).
2. Increase of bone density by up to 20% (human study).
3. Vibration training stimulates the entire blood circulation.
4. Vibration training demands energy and burns fat.
5. Vibration training raises production of testosterone.
6. Significant muscle power increases after only 10 minutes per day for 10 days on the Vitafloor®.
7. Horses trained on the Vitafloor® can accelerate faster from standstill and develop more spring in their stride. With trotters, elasticity and flexibility increase.
8. Tests show it has a positive effect on the warming up, as well causing less energy to be needed for the transition into trot.
9. The Vitafloor® benefits and shortens the recovery processes, especially of tendon injuries.

ADVANTAGES

1. Shorter training duration and less man hours necessary for power, flexibility and stamina training.
2. Less risk for rip and fracture of muscles, tendons and bone.
3. Competitive advantage of gaining greater acceleration with less energy consumption.
4. Helps in the prevention and treatment of colic
5. Helps in the treatment of laminitis and silicosis
6. Stimulates more rapid hoof growth – important for horses with hoof problems
7. Enables horses to continue rehabilitation without supervision, thus less labor-intensive.
8. Suitable and effective for rehabilitating horses on box-rest or too difficult in hand.

Vitafloor® Model VF M1 Air

This model has a standard size of 6ft x 10ft and is the smallest Vitafloor® version available.  It requires the least amount of space, and is therefore very suitable for in a grooming station for instance. Ideally, the horses should be standing free on the Vitafloor®, so the sides need to be enclosed so that the horse can move around without needing to be tied up.

Vitafloor®VF M1 can be built inside a box or on the stable corridor.

This model comes with an airlift technique which enables the floor to tilt slightly at intervals. All research and testing on the Vitafloor® has shown that this tilting system gives up to a 30% increase in the benefits, especially in the musculature (compared to vibrating floor without the airlift system).

The Vitafloor® VF M1 has the same positive effect on the blood circulation as our larger VF M2 model, but for increased musculature, treatment needs to be more frequent with this smaller model. This is because the horse does not have the same mobility as in a full-size box model.

Vitafloor® Model VF M2 Air

The standard size of this model is 12ft X 8ft., to be built into a 12ft X 12ft stall. Different sizes can be made available upon request.

The VF M2 Air is our most popular Vitafloor® model! Horses can fully relax on a Vitafloor® built to a full stall size. Whilst using the Vitafloor® there are no more risks to the horse than if they were just standing in their stall. Custom made for the customer’s barn and then built into a full size horse stall.

Before installation

After installation

The Vitafloor® is easy to operate and soon becomes a part of the everyday barn routine. All Vitafloor® users have expressed their satisfaction with its results. One Vitafloor® can treat 15-20 horses daily, and all that is necessary is for someone to put the horses in the stall and turn on the Vitafloor® and take the horse out when the program has run. It is not necessary for someone to stay with the horse whilst the Vitafloor® is in use, thus saving a lot of man-hours.

Vitafloor® Trailer

The Vitafloor® can also be built into a horse trailer and thus make it mobile. Through this mobile concept, Vitafloor® has become available for anyone who wants to train their horses  away from home competing at the bigger shows for instance. The unit can be built into a Shadow 2 horse trailer or any other comparable model. This model is available for purchase and rental.

Vitafloor ® VM0

The Vitafloor® is also available as a mobile unit with a standard floor size of 4 ft by 7.5 ft. The floor is very low to the ground and needs no ramps. It needs to be placed on a level and flat hard (concrete) floor. The power supply of the control panel is 110V single phase.

This model is easy to install and easy to move. Installation is only finding the right place and plug in the control panel to your power supply and you can start with the Vibration training.

For more details check www.belebro.com