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Anti-Gravity AlterG® Treadmill

Whether you’re a professional athlete, weekend warrior, weight loss candidate, young competitor or patient, AlterG® can help you.

Chosen by sports medicine experts, top athletes and trainers as the best low-impact running or walking training tool, the AlterG® is a new way to improve your fitness, lose weight and train smarter. 
Whatever your wellness or fitness goals are, the AlterG® can help you achieve them!

Who is the AlterG® Anti-Gravity Treadmill® For?

The AlterG® Anti-Gravity Treadmill® can be used by anyone looking to improve mobility, strength, or fitness. The treadmill can help patients rehab lower extremity injuries, control weight, maintain cardiovascular condition, retrain gait without awkward compensations from pain or injury, and reduce the risk of re-injury.

Thus, everyone from athletes to orthopedic, neurologic, and geriatric patients to those looking to lose weight are great candidates for time on the AlterG®. Whatever your wellness or fitness goals are, the AlterG® can help you achieve them!

AlterG® Benefits

Research supports the use of body assisted support systems like the AlterG® Anti-Gravity Treadmill® for a wide variety of rehabilitation and training purposes, as they can both restore normal walking and running mechanics and support healing tissue. Overall, use of the AlterG® as part of your treatment at RET can help optimize rehabilitation and improve recovery times. It has also been widely adopted by professional athletes as a training and conditioning tool, because it reduces the risk of impact-related injuries during exercise.

In addition, your physical therapist might use the AlterG® Anti-Gravity Treadmill® to:

  • Reduce gravity’s impact by selecting any weight between 20% and 100% of your body weight by 1% increments
  • Rehabilitate lower extremity injuries with less pain and less impact
  • Improve mobility, strength, and safety for those with neurological conditions
  • Provide a safe way to lose weight and exercise more intensely while unweighted
  • Train without pain and reduce the stress to joints and muscles
  • Recover effectively and with less pain after training or competition
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The AlterG® Anti-Gravity Treadmill® Technology

AlterG®’s technology was originally developed by a researcher at NASA as part of an effort to help astronauts maintain fitness during prolonged space flight. This FDA-approved technology, combined with a pressure regulation system, allowed them to build the first-ever anti-gravity treadmill.

The AlterG® technology enables your physical therapist to remove weight in 1% increments from full, normal body weight down to just 20% while allowing you to maintain your normal walking or running form, movement and mechanics. TheAlterG® Anti-Gravity Treadmill® uses unloading and progressive loading to achieve the aforementioned benefits. The treadmill uses air pressure to help unweight the participant.

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How It Works

After putting on a pair of AlterG® shorts over your existing clothing, you’ll step inside the chamber of the machine, which will zip closed around the shorts. This allows the lower body to be fully enclosed and supported by the air pressure.

Once the machine has been calibrated, your physical therapist can begin to adjust the body support percentage. From there, the treadmill operates like a regular treadmill with speed adjustments for walking or running. So that your therapist can observe your mobility and gait, the sides and back of the bubble are clear.

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AlterG® Anti-Gravity Treadmill Locations

Arlington, WA Physical Therapy

103 E 3rd St
Suite 200
Arlington, WA 98223
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Frequently Asked Questions

  • If we are asking you to do something that is hurting too much, let us know! Physical therapy should not be severely painful. It is not common to be so sore that patients are in pain or it affects their daily life. If this ever happens during or after an appointment, let us know and we will adapt your program.

  • We recommend budgeting 40-60 minutes for a typical therapy session. The only exception to this will be your first visit, which can take about 20 minutes longer due to the physical therapy evaluation your therapist will provide. We also recommend showing up about 10-15 minutes early to your first visit. This way, you can complete the paperwork before your visit time and streamline the process.

  • A typical order for physical therapy will ask for 2-3 visits per week for 4-6 weeks. Sometimes the order will specify something different. What generally happens is for the first 2-3 weeks, we recommend 3x per week. This is because it will be the most intensive portion of your treatment. After that, it is common to taper to 2x weekly, based on your level of function and progress.

  • Yes. Physical therapy works based on the science of how the body rebuilds and heals. The biggest killer of progress is inconsistency. We recommend adhering to your prescribed sessions agreed upon in your PT Eval to achieve desired results.

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People in Seattle, Tacoma, and surrounding cities Trust RET PT

Hear from patients that reclaimed their lives.

Michelle has been amazing to work with. She quickly diagnosed the root cause of the issues that continued to plague me after recovering from hip replacement surgery that other PT's (different companies) could not. She listens, is creative, resourceful, and very knowledgeable. Everyone at the clinic is always very professional and interested in our progress.

5 stars

Conrac

RET Patient

Attentive, responsive, pleasant in communication, knowledgeable staff. I got good results in a short time. Thankful to Dr. Andrew for useful information and for a program of exercises.

5 stars

Elena

RET Patient

Doug Free, the manager at Mercer Island Physical Therapy, has a PhD in PT, and is an amazing diagnostic doctor who explains why a specific injury occurred. He also does fabulous work on your body. His entire staff is knowledgeable and excellent therapists. 

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Gary

RET Patient

I saw Anne at 7 weeks post ulnar nerve transposition. I’ve made more progress in 1 week with her than I did in those first 7.  She is extremely knowledgeable and up to date on current research.  I'd feel very good about sending my family and friends her way!

5 stars

Holli

RET Patient

Kelly is amazing! I felt very comfortable and she asked all of the right questions, was super friendly, and knows exactly how to help. I always leave feeling so much better, and confident that if I do my exercises, I will heal!

5 stars

Kelsey

RET Patient

I started PT after a car accident. The staff was extremely helpful not just with injuries from the accident, but also other issues that had been bothering me. They are very good at communicating problems and solutions and are friendly to boot. Can’t recommend enough.

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Kevin

RET Patient

I have been going to Summit Therapy for a shoulder problem. I've made steady progress and have gotten much pain relief. The staff is very friendly and great to work with. I recently had a sudden problem of vertigo. My therapist knew exactly what to do and performed a treatment that stopped the dizziness.

5 stars

Patricia

RET Patient
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