Running on Mars
Trainer Cat Nadeau demonstrates the machine at New York’s Finish Line Physical Therapy (from $10/half-hour for patients; $25/half-hour for nonpatients).
Photographer: B O'Brien for Bloomberg Businessweek
If you’ve ever been sidelined with a bum knee, you’re in good company. As each generation takes up running—for sport, to shed a few pounds, or as after-work therapy—knee injuries and procedures to deal with them continue to multiply. In 2013, 719,000 Americans had a knee replaced, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, up from half that number a decade before. This presents an opportunity for AlterG, an exercise equipment maker in Fremont, Calif., that licenses technology from NASA. Its hulking treadmills have been shown to speed recovery from running injuries—shin splints, say, or orthoscopic surgery—and stave off symptoms of diseases such as multiple sclerosis. The devices, at $36,900 to $80,000, lie outside most home-gym budgets, so they’re becoming an amenity at physical-therapy clinics and boutique gyms. “Its greatest use is rehabilitation,” says Gabriel Griego, AlterG’s vice president for marketing. “But we’re hearing from serious athletes, too, who use it to extend their weekly mileage with less wear and tear on the joints.”
NASA developed a way to keep astronauts fit in low-gravity situations such as at the International Space Station. AlterG treadmills flip that concept around: They use air pressure to lift a runner, reducing her “weight” by as much as 80 percent. The NBA’s Washington Wizards bought the first one in 2007; AlterG has since streamlined the design and made it more reliable.