Alter G Anti-Gravity Treadmill... We have Three!!!
Use Air Pressure to Reduce
Your Body Weight & Joint Impact
The AlterG Anti-Gravity Treadmill helps you recover from surgery or injury faster, and train with less pain and impact. Get yourself back on your feet after an injury, train smarter or simply improve your strength and mobility.
- Reduce gravity’s impact by selecting any weight between 20% and 100% of your body weight in 1% increments
- Rehabilitate lower extremity injuries with less pain and less impact Improve mobility, strength and safety for those with neurological conditions
- Train without pain and reduce the stress to joints and muscles
- Experience a safe way to lose weight and exercise, with less pain on your joints Easily track your progress as you walk or run further and faster than you ever thought you could
The AlterG Anti-Gravity Treadmill was developed from NASA technology. It allows you to train or rehabilitate almost weightlessly, like you are walking on the moon.
If you experience pain in the lower back and/or legs while walking in Earth's gravity, then walking on the Moon's surface would likely be pain-free. The Moon's lower gravity would create a lower impact on your joints and less strain on your muscles and fascia.
Imagine taking a trip to the moon for your own moon walk. Do you remember the Apollo 11 moon landing in 1969? I was only a fetus at the time...
Summary. Research from a NASA scientist in the 1990s uncovered what will revolutionize the way physical therapists perform rehabilitation. Essentially, he found that we can use air pressure to alter a person's body weight while they exercise. It allows you to walk or run with little to no increase in pain.
What is an AlterG and what does it do?
An AlterG is a rehabilitation treadmill that is encased in a pressurized tent. The tent is made of the same material as a rubber river raft with see-through plastic windows.
An air-compressor inflates the tent to create a positive-pressure lifting force on the lower body.
A force plate (that works like a weight scales) is located beneath the treadmill. It measures your body weight so the computer can determine how much positive-pressure is required to create a lifting force to lower your body weight while walking or running on the treadmill.
Lower-body positive-pressure treadmill.
Why is an AlterG a perfect rehabilitation device?
The scientific explanation is that the AlterG lowers a patient's Ground Reaction Force (GRF). How does it do this?
The "lifting force" -- created by the pressurized tent -- lowers the GRF... which lowers the strain and compression that gravity places on your joints, fascia, and muscles.
What the heck is GRF?
In physics, and in particular in biomechanics, the GRF is the force exerted by the Earth on a body in contact with it.
The GRF follows Newton's Third Law of Motion, which states:
"For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction."
In other words, if object A (your body) exerts a force on object B (the earth), then the earth (object B) also exerts an equal and opposite force (the GRF) on your body (object A).
What does this mean in layman's terms?
It means that when your foot strikes the ground... the Earth "kicks" you back. And the impact of that "kick" travels up your leg to your spine.
Some of us can tolerate the "Earth's kick" while others cannot. If you have strained muscles or fascia, or if you have osteoarthritis and inflammation in your joints then running or even walking may be painful.
How much the Earth pushes back depends on how fast we are walking or running and how much we weigh.
When walking or running, our muscles generate the forces that push against the ground and the GRF propels us forward. Greater speed (velocity) requires greater push-off force, which creates greater GRF (which means the earth hits you back harder).
The AlterG treadmill allows you to promote health and wellness while you:
1) burn calories by using metabolic power
2) work your heart to keep it healthy and strong
3)
work your lungs to cleanse your blood
4) get your blood flowing to all of your body's cells
But most importantly, the AlterG allows you to manipulate the GRF (the Earth's kick that causes back and leg pain) to extremely low levels, so you can exercise with minimal to zero pain.
Guess what? This means YOU can tolerate exercise again!
Who can AlterG help?
Pain, Orthopedic and Sports Medicine
Rehabilitation Patients
We can select from 20% of body weight to 100% in 1% increments, so patients can specify exactly where exercise becomes pain-free and progress can be easily tracked and charted.
People who want to Lose Weight
Being over-weight can cause repetitive strain on ankle, knee, and hip joints, the sacroiliac joints, and the lumbar facet joints and discs. The AlterG treadmill is perfect for those that need to burn calories to lose weight but are finding it hard to exercise.
Senior Rehabilitation Strengthening and Conditioning (or those who are sedentary)
Exercise at fractional body weights to overcome mobility challenges in senior patients
Promotes cardiovascular and musculoskeletal health in a safe environment
Strengthening and improved coordination of muscles thereby protecting surrounding joints
Builds confidence in senior patients for improved functional capacity
May lower the risk of falling
Watch this short video about the Alter G.:
Study shows promising results for treatment of Low Back and Leg Pain with the AlterG anti-gravity treadmill
The results of a study in the Journal of Orthopedic and Sports Physical Therapy suggest that walking on a anti-gravity treadmill (combined with other physical therapy) for people with low back and/or leg pain holds promise for pain relief and functional improvement.
Call 801-310-0851 now
....to set an appointment with Dr. Knudsen.
Provo Physical Therapy Clinic
Call >>> 801-310-0851
Oscillating Exercise Platform
Alter G Anti-Gravity Treadmill
via Cellu M6 Integral by LPG
for Bone and Muscle Health
