VibroSculpt Review: Can "Micro-Vibrations" Burn Fat?

VibroSculpt Review: Can "Micro-Vibrations" Burn Fat?


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Disclaimer: None of the information in this article constitutes medical advice. All statements are merely the opinion of the writer(s). We recommend that patients follow their doctor’s guidance in regard to weight loss.

The VibroSculpt is a device sold by a company called B2C Response that's used to burn fat through vibration applied to the skin. The device rotates at a speed of 2,600 revolutions per minute (RPM), and the brand claims this can provide benefits ranging from reduced waist circumference to flatter abs to minimized cellulite.

But is VibroSculpt proven in clinical studies to work? Is the underlying technology clinically proven to cause fat loss? How do real users rate and describe the effects of VibroSculpt? And which retailer sells this product for the best price?

In this article we’ll answer all of these questions and more, as we explain whether or not VibroSculpt is proven to work, and document whether or not the underlying technology is proven to work.

We'll feature unsponsored customer reviews of the brand, and provide a cost comparison to show which retailer sells VibroSculpt for the best price.

Questionable Claims on Brand's Website

As shown above, there are a variety of questionable health and functional claims on VibroSculpt's website at the time of updating this article.

Among other things, the brand claims that their device "Tightens Figure" and "Increases Circulation," while failing to provide proof from a clinical trial for any of these claims at the time of updating this article.

We find this lack of medical citations to be a red flag about the company, and we recommend that consumers avoid products making bold health or aesthetic claims without making any attempt to prove those claims.

Most medical device brands for skincare that we've reviewed, like the SolaWave, at least link to a few clinical trials on their website suggesting how or why the product should work.

Do Massage Guns Burn Fat?

In the previous section we shared our concern about the lack of clinical trials on VibroSculpt, but it’s worthwhile to investigate whether there are any existing studies on the underlying technology.

VibroSculpt is described as a “micro-vibration” and “micro-compression” device on the product’s homepage. We searched PubMed, which is one of the largest databases of medical trials, for both terms and found no relevant results.

A 2009 clinical trial suggests that vibration plate machines found in gyms may be effective for fat loss.

A 2022 clinical trial found that a vibration device improved circulation in women with cellulite. 

However, these studies used different vibration devices than VibroSculpt, so we can't infer that the VibroSculpt is likely to support these same outcomes.

We consider the underlying technology potentially effective for supporting fat loss and aesthetic improvements, but until VibroSculpt funds a clinical trial showing their device to be effective, we consider it to be a waste of money.

Real People Try VibroSculpt

A TikTok creator named Ruby has a VibroSculpt review with before-and-after images:

@rcanchola Vibrosculpt 2 month update!! I’m so happy w the results ! #vibrosculpt #vibrosculptreview #fyp @vibrosculpt ♬ Aesthetic - Tollan Kim

A TikTok creator named "Colleen the Green Bean" had a more negative experience with VibroSculpt:

@colleenthegreenbean1 Vibrosculpt please don’t come for me im just an honest consumer with celluite 🥸 #fyp #vibrosculptreview #part3 ♬ Monkeys Spinning Monkeys - Kevin MacLeod & Kevin The Monkey

Research-Backed Fat Loss Therapies

For consumers intent on using a physical device to support fat loss, there are two medical treatments we've reviewed on Illuminate Health with significant clinical backing.

We recently reviewed a treatment called CoolSculpting which has impressive research backing it.

This treatment destroys fat cells by exposing them to extreme cold temperatures via a handheld device, which is administered by a healthcare professional (CoolSculpting can't be used at home like VibroSculpt).

We don’t recommend CoolSculpting (yet) because we’d like to see more long-term safety data, but there have been several clinical trials and research reviews published in peer-reviewed medical journals showing the efficacy of this treatment for weight loss and fat loss.

No major side effects were noted in the trials.

Liposuction treatments like Sonobello are also proven to be effective for cosmetic fat loss, but these treatments come with more health risks than CoolSculpting or VibroSculpt.

The above-linked review we published highlights some of the clinical trials on liposuction for fat removal and the potential side effects.

We want to be clear that we don’t recommend either CoolSculpting or Sonobello, and we only recommend lifestyle changes for weight loss.

We actually consider VibroSculpt to be superior to these two options from a safety perspective given that its mechanism of action is topical rather than systemic; we just don't consider it likely to be effective so we wanted to highlight these two options from an efficacy perspective.

Real Customers Review VibroSculpt

Amazon is a better resource for unbiased customer reviews than a brand's website in our opinion.

At the time of updating this article, VibroSculpt has been reviewed over 900 times on Amazon, with an average customer review rating of 4.1 out of 5 stars.

The top positive review from a verified purchaser is written by a user named "Mayo-Payne" who gives the product a 5/5 star rating, and claims it caused weight loss:

"The Vibro sculpt isn’t a miracle worker, but it does make a noticeable difference. It’s a useful tool to have on your weight loss journey. I found that it added an extra layer of assistance to my fitness routine. It’s not a replacement for exercise and a healthy diet, but it complements them well."

The top negative review from a verified purchaser comes from a user named "Henry Yi" who gives the product a 1/5 star rating, and claims it was ineffective:

"Overall, I cannot recommend the Vibro Sculpt Original Body Sculpting Massager based on my experience. It lacked effectiveness, had subpar construction, produced excessive noise, and had a confusing user interface."

Our Clean Weight Loss Picks

There are food-based nutrients which have been shown in medical studies to be effective for weight loss.

Dietary fiber was shown in a medical review published in The Journal of Nutrition to cause 16 pounds of weight loss in 6 months when combined with moderate caloric restriction (750 calories per day below baseline).

MBG Organic Fiber Potency+ is our top fiber pick because it's certified organic, provides 7 g of fiber per serving and costs under $1.85 per serving at the time of updating this article.

MCT oil was shown in a meta-study to cause more than one pound of weight loss over 10 weeks. This equates to potential annualized weight loss of 6 pounds per year with less than one tablespoon's worth of MCT oil per day.

Performance Lab MCT Oil is our top MCT oil pick because it's certified organic.

Ginger intake "significantly decreased body weight" according to a 2019 meta-study on ginger and weight loss that analyzed data from 14 clinical trials.

Pique La Ginger is our top ginger product, because it's an organic tea in convenient crystallized form, and all that's needed is to pour the powder into a glass and add hot water.

All three of the products mentioned in this section are entirely free of additive ingredients that we consider to be unhealthy.

Where to Get the Best Price

VibroSculpt is sold at a variety of online retailers. Here's a price breakdown at the time of updating this article:

Brand website: $99.99 (free shipping, link)

Walmart: $89.99 (free shipping, link)

Amazon: $79.99 (free shipping, link to official Amazon listing)

Amazon currently has the best price on VibroSculpt in isolation, because the brand's website sells the device as part of a "Deluxe Toning Kit" that includes extra pads, skincare products and more.

VibroSculpt is currently 20% cheaper on Amazon than on the brand's website.

Pros and Cons of VibroSculpt

Here are the pros and cons of VibroSculpt in our opinion:

Pros:

  • Non-invasive
  • May support aesthetic improvements
  • Unlikely to cause side effects
  • Safer than surgical weight loss treatments
  • Relatively affordable

Cons:

  • Doesn't appear to be clinically studied
  • Brand website has questionable health claims
  • Brand website has questionable aesthetic claims
  • Questionable mechanism of action
  • Brand website doesn't sell VibroSculpt in isolation
Stay up-to-date on our research reviews

Conclusion

We do not currently recommend VibroSculpt and consider it to be a waste of money. 

We can't identify any clinical research backing the effectiveness of this product for weight or fat loss, and we don't believe that vibrations applied to the skin via a handheld device is likely to cause fat loss.

“Micro-vibration” and “micro-compression” (the mechanistic terms proposed by VibroSculpt) don't appear to be clinically-defined terms, and return no relevant results in PubMed.

VibroSculpt makes a number of health and aesthetic claims on their website without any citation or proof for said claims. This is a red flag in our opinion about the ethics and legitimacy of the business.

There are some clinical trials suggesting that massage devices may have functional benefits, but the devices used in the studies we came across have different technical specifications to VibroSculpt.

One benefit of VibroSculpt is that it should have a favorable safety profile given that it's a handheld device that works topically rather than systemically.

We do not consider VibroSculpt likely to cause side effects, and we consider VibroSculpt to be a safer option than more invasive treatments like liposuction and even CoolSculpting.