Take a load off.
That’s the philosophy the owners of a recently opened physiotherapy and rehabilitation clinic in North Vancouver are hoping to spread about their anti-gravity treadmill.
The machine, called the AlterG Anti-Gravity Treadmill, makes it easier for people who have sustained an injury to start walking and running earlier in the healing process.
“It creates this unloading, weighted effect so you can return to walking and running faster post-surgery, post major injury,” said Dave Leyland, co-owner at COAST Performance Rehab, where the anti-gravity treadmill is located. “It can be a very useful tool for high-level runners and triathletes who want to decrease their running load. Maybe they’re dealing with a nagging little injury and don’t want to go out for a three-hour long run on pavement?”
Leyland and business partner Clayton Cross opened COAST Performance Rehab almost three months ago with the goal of helping to improve people’s movement capabilities and performance so they can get back to life, recreation, and athletics, Leyland explained, adding that appropriate walking or running can be a vital part of that process.
The anti-gravity treadmill, which was first developed by NASA researchers in the 1990s, works by using load cells on the bottom of the machine that measure a person’s weight and then creates a vacuum-like effect that “lifts” the individual up and unloads the pressure they’d otherwise be putting on their body.
“There’s basically a bubble, you could say, on the treadmill – that’s where the vacuum’s created,” Leyland said. “You enter on top of the treadmill … and it creates a bubble around your hips, and that bubble inflates with air and that’s where the unloading effect happens.”
A popular choice among star athletes all over the world, Leyland said most of their clients who make use of the anti-gravity treadmill do so after a post-operation injury involving the ankle, knee, or hip.
“There’s only a few (anti-gravity treadmills) in the Lower Mainland,” Leyland added. The AlterG website confirms there’s only a handful of the machines in the region, including one in Richmond and Vancouver – and now on the North Shore as well.
“We have a colleague out at UBC and we knew about the tool through him and we kind of were like, ‘Would this be a cool thing to introduce on the North Shore, especially with the active population we have here?’”
To learn more visit coastperformancerehab.com/alterg-anti-gravity-treadmill.
