Heal Without Gravity, Train like an Astronaut
Do you ever have pain while walking or running? Are you recovering from a sports injury or surgery? According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there are 80.1 million injury-related doctor visits per year and 234.2 million major surgical procedures performed worldwide per year.
Whether you are suffering from injury-related pain or recovering from a surgical procedure, walking and running can become quite difficult. When walking, the force produced through your joints can be 1.5 times your body weight. With running, this may increase to 2.0 to 2.9 times.
• Post-Injury Recovery Training: Returning to training too quickly can disrupt the healing process our bodies must go through, leading to more long-term damage. Furthermore, attempting to train too soon or too intensely may compromise your form, causing secondary injuries that further hinder your progress. Weightless training with an anti-gravity treadmill like the AlterG® allows you to mimic the motions and mileage of running without using your full body weight and risking overuse of the joints. In addition, patients that participate in high impact sports can perform jumping exercises at a lower impact to transition back to full play.
– Common diagnoses referred by physicians: ankle sprain, stress fractures, patellar femoral pain syndrome, piriformis syndrome, hamstring injuries, lumbar dysfunction/disc herniation/degenerative disc disease/stenosis
• Post-surgical patients: Often patients are restricted to one of the following types of weight-bearing post-surgery: non-weight bearing, toe-touch weight bearing (10% bodyweight), partial weight bearing (20-50%), weight bearing as tolerated (20-100%), and full weight bearing (100%). Use of the AlterG allows us to reduce your body weight up to 80%, meaning if you weigh 200lbs you can walk with what feels like only 40lbs! Having the ability to walk without crutches, a cane, or a walker will allow greater bone stimulation, blood flow, and cardiovascular endurance. This can lead to a quicker recovery with return to full load bearing, normalized gait mechanics, and a transition from weightless training to traditional exercise.
– Common types of surgeries: ACL reconstruction, meniscus repairs, total knee replacement, hip replacement, hip ORIF, lumbar laminectomy or fusion, poly-trauma fractures
In summary, with the invention of the AlterG Anti-Gravity Treadmill, we can work to reduce these forces, decrease the muscular load and stress on the joints, and facilitate a faster and safer recovery. To learn more about physical therapy for injury and surgical recovery, click here or call (877) 56-REHAB to learn more about our clinical experts who can help you defy gravity in our AlterG.