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Sentara offers NASA-developed anti-gravity treadmill for therapy
Posted by Veronica Chufo
The same type of technology used to train NASA astronauts is now available at the James City County Sentara Therapy Center.
The Alter-G "anti-gravity" treadmill, which has been at the center for about a month, is being used for general orthopedic patients, senior rehabilitation for strengthening and conditioning, military members and for endurance and strengthening. It cost about $30,000, with setup and training.
"It just feels like you're being lifted up," said Joey Meadows, a doctor of physical therapy and a therapist at the center.
"Because of its ability to decrease weight-bearing, they can do very fuctional activities with no deviations," Meadows said.
Without the machine, therapists would try to simulate functional activities while trying to decrease weight-bearing. That included using a harness system, like if you're rock climbing, but that can cause discomfort for some patients, Meadows said.
By decreasing weight-bearing, the treadmill encourages a range of motion so patients can work through an injury. Say a runner training for a marathon experiences a stress fracture. Instead of resting, the runner can maintain conditioning with the treadmill, Meadows said.
In other cases, patients may have changed the way they walk because they're in pain, and the treadmill can help fix that. One patient used the anti-gravity treadmill after undergoing a total hip replacement. She had been walking with a strong limp. Walking with a gait deviation can cause other issues to develop out of compensation, and it can be a hard habit to break.
"Once the pain is completely gone, a lot of times we see they continue to talk with the same gait deviation until that habit is gone," Meadows said.
During therapy sessions, therapists can progressively add more of the patients' weight as pain lessens.
"It really gives us a solid, objective measure of progression," Meadows said. "It's really progressing our therapy treatment times. We're able to progress the patients much faster through their therapy."
Watch a video about how the anti-gravity treadmill works and read more at Sentara's Anti-Gravity Rehabilitation.
Pictures from Daily Press Photographers
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