You’ve heard the old saying… “March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb.” As the weather turns warmer, it’s also the time when many get the itch to head back outside and pursue their passion… running! And Martin Foot & Ankle has the perfect way to help you prepare to hit the roads… the AlterG Treadmill!
Whether you’re training for a race, rehabbing an injury, trying to lose weight, or simply trying to improve your physical fitness and personal health and wellness, is looking to get better results, faster.
The AlterG Anti-Gravity Treadmill, available at our York, PA location, can help you get there. Unlike a regular treadmill, the AlterG uses patented “unweighting” technology to significantly reduce the effective force of gravity on your body as you work out, sparing your feet and joints from impact forces and pressure. Pain goes away, and our clients frequently tell us that it feels like they’re flying or walking on the moon.
As part of a personal fitness program, the AlterG can help you train harder, get on your feet sooner, and reach your goals faster than conventional equipment.
How It Works
One of the most notable things about space travel is the loss of gravity. Instead of walking, astronauts float around in space. Even on the moon, where gravity is simply lower than on earth, walking doesn’t put as much weight on your lower limbs. Now that effect is used (without the space travel) to help people train for fitness, rehabilitate injuries, manage balance or gait problems, and even lose weight.
Developed by NASA engineers, the AlterG seals the lower half of your body into an airtight chamber that inflates to a user-controllable pressure. The air raises you as you stand, walk, and run, negating up to 80% of the force of gravity on your feet and joints. If you’re a 200-pound individual, you can feel as light as 40 pounds when you use the AlterG! This level can be manually adjusted in 1% increments, up to 100% of your full body weight.
Although you’re zipped into the chamber, it does not impede your range of movement in any way. You can walk or run normally at any desired speed, just as you would on an ordinary treadmill.
Who Can Benefit
The AlterG Anti-Gravity Treadmill offers significant benefits for people in a wide range of training scenarios, rehab, or physical therapy.
Athletic Training
Even if you’re otherwise healthy, the AlterG can help you boost your athletic performance and reduce your race times by allowing you to train longer and harder while significantly reducing your injury risk at the same time. You can build your endurance and strength in a lower-impact environment and practice “active recovery” after races or games, with fewer rest days required.
The Alter G has even helped a local injured athlete earn Gold at his first individual triathlon.
Injury Rehabilitation
Part of the challenge during rehabilitation after an injury is working your foot and building up strength again. In many cases, hard impacts from normal exercise make the damage worse instead of helping. By reducing how much weight your foot supports on the treadmill, you can make sure it’s only absorbing the pressure it can handle safely.
If you’re recovering from a torn hamstring, foot surgery, other lower body injury, or even a brain injury that affects motor control (such as a stroke), the AlterG can help you jump-start your rehab by getting you on your feet faster and allowing you to maintain higher fitness and activity levels during the healing process. Even if you wouldn’t normally be cleared for full weight bearing, you may still be able to walk and even run normally—using your normal, healthy gait—thanks to the unweighting technology of the AlterG.
Weight Loss
If you’re significantly overweight, it can be very difficult to just get started with an exercise program. Because running puts several times the force of your own body weight on feet and joints, early efforts and progress may be limited by pain… and can be discouraging. The AlterG dramatically reduces these impact forces, so you can significantly reduce the pain of exercising and sustain longer cardio workouts, helping you lose weight faster (and have more fun doing it)!
Seniors
The AlterG is an excellent tool for helping seniors (or other patients struggling with mobility, arthritis, or range of motion) regain strength and coordination in a safe and controlled environment. This can help seniors prevent damaging (and costly) falls, improve general fitness and wellness, and maintain a greater level of freedom and independence.
AlterG is great for balance and gait issues, too. People recovering from a stroke or who have Parkinson’s and other diseases that affect balance and walking also have a high risk of falling. By walking with lower pressure on your feet, the anti-gravity treadmill helps train your body to walk correctly and increases your confidence.
AlterG Cost
We have two AlterG access plans - $15 per 30-minute session or $125 for unlimited 30-minute sessions per month. The first session is always free! But you must call us to schedule an appointment.
If you’re a runner, use the AlterG to get road-ready! And join us this Spring as we sponsor Run4Luck with the Junior League, Race Against Racism, and Mudfest with Leg up Farms
The AlterG Anti-Gravity Treadmill is a great addition to any fitness or physical therapy regimen. We want you to be the healthiest you can be. If you want to improve your athletic performance or you’re struggling with any kind of foot pain, walking instability, or injury recovery, visit Martin Foot & Ankle and ask us about how the AlterG Anti-Gravity Treadmill can help you! Call (717) 757-3537 ext. 7140 today and try it for yourself. It will “alter” your normal training routines!
