Tuesday, May 17, 2016

Trialling the Alter G Anti-Gravity Treadmill

Over the last month or so I've had the opportunity to trial out the AlterG Anti-Gravity Treadmill at Sydney West Sports Medicine thanks to Moon Runners. Moon Runners were founded in 2014 by husband and wife team Thomas & Joy Gan. Both being medical doctors, their initial vision was to make available to the general public the AlterG anti-gravity treadmill, a world class training and injury rehabilitation device which was previously only accessible by professional athletes. To ensure the highest quality of service, their aim is to only install units in established sports medicine centres run by excellent health practitioners specialising in sports rehab.

A decision was made in early 2016 to convert the business to a social enterprise whereby 100% of the profits would be donated to charitable organisations.

The innovative AlterG Anti-Gravity Treadmill is a game changer in physical therapy rehabilitation. Whether you’re a patient or an athlete dealing with lower body injuries, chronic pain or neurological conditions that inhibit mobility, you can benefit from the unweighting capabilities. The Anti-Gravity Treadmill helps a broad spectrum of people – top level athletes, orthopaedic and neurologic patients, paediatric, geriatric and those looking to lose weight - to achieve their personal health, wellness or performance goals.

With Aussie Rep Teammate Andy Lee watching
Anthony Famigletti punch out an AlterG session back in 2010.
I personally first came across this treadmill while in Colorado for the World Long Distance Mountain Running Championships in 2010 while visiting the Olympic Training Facilities in Colorado Springs. That day I watched in awe of rehabilitating Team USA Olympic  Steeplechaser Anthony Famiglietti push out a high intensity session on the treadmill. I've been curious about it ever since, but had no idea if these were even available for use in Australia, let along Western Sydney.

My main interest in the AlterG is of course mainly as a Coach in terms of athletes in rehabilitation returning from injury but also for athletes of the more high performance focus being able to benefit from the extra miles of lower impact running but also those wanting to be able to enjoy longer periods of fast twitch muscle activation. I'm keen to explore if, over a period of time, athletes will develop greater leg speed, turnover and efficiency. This of course interests me as an athlete too.

To book sessions, or obtain a referral form for your physiotherapist, click here.

Here is a little video I took from one of my visits to the centre.



Gravity getting you down? Give your training a lift on a Moon Runners AlterG P200 High Performance Anti-Gravity Treadmill in partnership with Brendan Davies from UP Coaching.