Benefits of AlterG Anti-Gravity Treadmill Training
One of the most common complaints that I often hear as a physical therapist is my patient’s telling me that they stopped hiking, running, or even decreasing the amount of time they walk during the day, due to ankle, knee, hip, or low back pain. What if I told you that there was a way to start participating in all of those activities again without experiencing sharp and limiting painful symptoms?
How is that possible? The answer is rather simple and consists of a rehabilitation program that includes the use of an anti-gravity treadmill.
When an individual initially gets injured, the brain will alter your movement patterns in a way to alleviate the painful symptoms you are experiencing. This can be a good thing if it is only for the short term; however, if these new movement patterns consist for a chronic period (usually greater than 3 months) you might start to notice that your symptoms have started to worsen or even parts of your body have begun to hurt, that weren’t even painful in the first place. The reason for the continued or worsening symptoms, is often those new movement patterns your brain made to initially decrease your symptoms. Prolonged improper movement patterns can increase the workload on subsequent joints and muscles. Some muscles become weakened while other muscles become overworked, making them tight, guarded, and sometimes painful. So now your leg is hurting more than ever and the only way to reduce your symptoms is by sitting down or not using it as much. While not experiencing any pain by reducing your activity levels might seem like a good thing, it actually further fuels the downhill spiral of your symptoms making it harder and harder to move in a pain free manner.
How Can The AlterG Treadmill Help With Your Pain?
So how do we break out of that vicious cycle and return to a normal active lifestyle? One way is to start exercising again but in a way that allows you to return to your normal movement patterns before your injury. While that option of rehabilitation might sound great, you may still be thinking, “if I can’t hardly walk, let alone run without experiencing a sudden increase in my pain how am I supposed to return to my normal movement patterns?” Well I’m going to tell you that there is a way that we can restore those normal patterns in a non-painful way, and that is through the utilization of a zero-gravity treadmill such as the AlterG VIA 400X Treadmill. What this treadmill does, is it allows the patient to walk or run while utilizing weight bearing assistance (reducing effects of body weight on your back and legs). By alleviating some of the effects gravity has on our bodies we can then begin to move in a pain free manner, and if you can move in a pain free manner, you can start to return to a normal gait pattern and start to strengthen your muscles appropriately. This then allows you to walk for longer periods of time and reinforces our proper neuromuscular pathways providing for a return to normal functioning. As the injured muscles continue to recover and a normal gait pattern is further established, the amount of weight bearing assistance can be reduced until you are back to walking or running without any assistance at all.
Move Better With AlterG Technology
Another benefit of utilizing the Alter-G VIA 400X for your gait rehabilitation, is its ability to monitor your step length symmetry, stride length symmetry, cadence, and weight distribution in the foot during stance phase. This data is recorded in live time while you are walking or running and can be utilized by your therapist to develop a specifically tailored program to ensure you are moving as efficiently as possible. Improper movement patterns often increase muscle fatigue from unnecessary energy loss due to unsymmetrical step or stride lengths or improper cadence all of which can be detected on the AlterG.
AlterG VIA 400X Anti-Gravity Treadmill Available in Bozeman, Montana
You can now find the AlterG VIA 400X in Bozeman at the Physical Therapy office, Pro Physio . If you are currently suffering from ankle, knee, hip, or low back pain that is affecting your ability to walk or run in a pain free manner, the Alter-G VIA 400X could be a great tool to use along with specific training program from a Pro Physio Bozeman Physical Therapist to help get you back to living life at it’s fullest. If you feel that the Alter-G VIA 400X could be beneficial in your training or rehabilitation give our office a call today at 406-577-2730 to schedule an appointment and see what the Alter-G 400X could do for you. For more information visit our website at www.prophysiomt.com.
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AlterG Anti-Gravity Treadmill
Runner's Physical Therapy
