Amazing Skin for the Holidays? YES PLEASE!
By guest writer Kristy W. Gilbraith, MBA, BSN, RN, BC-LMT
Okay, let's face it. The Corona Virus and all the other happenings taking place in the world was enough stress to add premature wrinkles to anyone's face. For me, after day 30 of lockdown, the thought of what I was going to do about my skin left me fraught with flashbacks of pubescent acne because my monthly facial routine was interrupted. What?! Don't judge. We all had priorities during what seemingly felt like a "world is ending" moment, and facials and toilet paper were mine.
There's nothing like a pandemic to get you rethinking how to implement self-care and beauty at home. The need for quality skincare products on hand and devices to support the efficacy of creams, balms, and oils, or what have you to maintain vibrant and healthy skin, became more apparent each day, and a vibrational therapy facial wand is one of those devices.
The Science:
If you've never heard of vibrational therapy, you may think it sounds a bit, well, hokey. However, vibrational therapy is not new and is definitely not hokey. For quite some time, whole body vibrational therapy (WBVT) has been used in the medical community to manage various chronic conditions.
For example, according to Aminian-Far et al. (2011), WBVT may reduce delayed onset muscle soreness via muscle function improvement. King et al. (2009) observed short-term improvement via whole body vibrational therapy in patients with Parkinson's disease, citing observed improvements in all symptoms, motor control, and functional outcome measures at the time of assessment. Specifically, a significant decrease in rigidity and tremor and a substantial increase in step length and improved speed on the grooved pegboard task. Fascinating, right?!
There's also the study review by (Lau et al. (2011) that noted WBVT as being "beneficial for enhancing leg muscle strength among older adults." Even from a focused perspective, vibrational therapy was deemed feasible in improving TMJ (Muir et al., 2014).
So, you may be asking, "what does any of that have to with me getting great skin for the holidays?" Well, everything quite frankly loves.
Beauty and the Tech:
Leave it to technology to bridge the gap between science and beauty, which isn't that much of a leap when you think about it. Skin is the largest organ of the human body. It is complex and requires absolute care if it is to look, feel, and perform it's best physiologically.
Knowing what we do about vibrational therapy in healthcare, the stage is set for what we can expect from focused therapy, such as the kind observed in a facial vibrational wand.
Facial vibration wands demonstrate benefits similar to that of massage. They reduces puffiness, increases circulation, and aid in toxin removal via lymphatic drainage.
Additionally, like WBVT observations noted by Lau et al. (2011) and King et al. (2009), vibrational facial wands help tighten muscles in the face, while relaxing facial rigidity. So, no need to get injections in the face to relax wrinkles when a vibrational therapy facial wand will seemingly do the trick. The icing on the cake is the enhanced absorption of facial products, which in my book, makes this gadget a winner!
If you're looking to enhance your at-home skin routine, I highly recommend checking out Corbin Rd.'s Scupta 6000 to get your face ready for the holidays and whatever 2021 brings. It also travels really well. So, great skin is anywhere you are.
Cheers!
Kristy W. Gilbraith, a self-proclaimed life student, is a licensed registered nurse, board-certified massage therapist, Armed Forces veteran, and the founder of Southern Hospitality Brands: UndiesLoft and Southern Hospitality Fragrance Co When unwinding from business, her guilty pleasures are binging on Netflix series', beauty and health writing, and international travel with her husband.
References:
Aminian-Far, A., Hadian, M.-R., Olyaei, G., Talebian, S., & Bakhtiary, A. H. (2011). Whole- Body Vibration and the Prevention and Treatment of Delayed-Onset Muscle Soreness. Journal of Athletic Training, 46(1), 43–49. https://doi.org/10.4085/1062-6050-46.1.43
King, L. K., Almeida, Q. J., & Ahonen, H. (2009). Short-term effects of vibration therapy on motor impairments in Parkinson's disease. NeuroRehabilitation, 25(4), 297–306. https://doi.org/10.3233/nre-2009-0528
Lau, R. W., Liao, L.-R., Yu, F., Teo, T., Chung, R. C., & Pang, M. Y. (2011). The effects of whole body vibration therapy on bone mineral density and leg muscle strength in older adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Clinical Rehabilitation, 25(11), 975–988. https://doi.org/10.1177/0269215511405078
Muir, B., Brown, C., Brown, T., Tatlow, D., & Buhay, J. (2014, December). Immediate changes in temporomandibular joint opening and pain following vibration therapy: a feasibility pilot study. The Journal of the Canadian Chiropractic Association. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4262808/.