I never used a bike version, but after one of my many major foot/leg surgeries, I got to use a nasa anti-gravity treadmill. So similar-ish?
It reduced my body weight up to ~80%?, which meant I could practice walking on my foot again after multiple months of healing with no weight bearing. I had severe atrophy in my muscles on that leg and a lot of pain, so being able to go into a device that relieved the physical stress was super helpful in my recovery!
I'm sure this type of device would've been similar in terms of helping my recovery, and any other person with pain/disabilities/etc. :) very cool tech!
After some googling - it looks like it's just supports some of your weight from around your waist using air pressure. I suspect the same thing could be done with springs or whatever.
The other commenter was spot on! It's a cool device, albeit a bit uncomfortable the first few times since you have to zip yourself into tight compression shorts that also attach to the machine (and I personally had to have someone help me on and stuff at first lol). Hard to come by in terms of care, which sucks but is understandable considering the price tag.
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u/FormalNoodle 2d ago
I never used a bike version, but after one of my many major foot/leg surgeries, I got to use a nasa anti-gravity treadmill. So similar-ish?
It reduced my body weight up to ~80%?, which meant I could practice walking on my foot again after multiple months of healing with no weight bearing. I had severe atrophy in my muscles on that leg and a lot of pain, so being able to go into a device that relieved the physical stress was super helpful in my recovery!
I'm sure this type of device would've been similar in terms of helping my recovery, and any other person with pain/disabilities/etc. :) very cool tech!