After knee surgery.
It is amazing. You put on a big pair of shorts over your clothes. It's like a wet suit. It has a zipper around the waist and Velcro on your thighs . You step onto a square on the treadmill and then the compartment is raised up around you and you are zippered into the top, so that you are surrounded by the clear tarp-like material, which creates an airtight compartment. Think of it sort of like one of those ocean kayaks. You are sealed into a chamber.
Then they press a button and air is pumped into the chamber and it calibrates your weight. Then, depending on your particular needs, they adjust the controls and you can walk or run on as little as 25% of your body weight. Basically it gets you moving without putting stress or weight on your injury. The import part is proper technique so you don't screw something else up limping as you build up muscle and heal.
I started out at 60% of my body weight and 1.8 mph. Eventually I worked my way up to 80% and running at 4.8 mph. It was the first time I had walked or run without pain in a year. Just amazing! I also did a lot of walking backward. I hate to brag, but I started out walking backward at 35 minutes per mile. (Cut that down to about 16 minutes before I no longer needed it.)
It was a difference maker for me as it cut months off my rehab. The REALLY AMAZING thing was to see patients in their 80s who used walkers be able to get on there on walk normally. They should have one in every senior center!
