Ever wonder what it feels like walking on the moon? Reuth is using NASA’s Defy Gravity treadmill to rehabilitate individuals who are weak or impaired by illness, suffer from mobility issues limiting physical activity, or are recovering from injury or surgery. The treadmill is being used by people who cannot step on their feet or hold up their weight during walking. Adorning special fitted compression shorts attached to a skirt, patients secure themselves in a plastic bubble that surrounds the machine to create an airtight pressurized enclosure that reduces their body weight by 80%. This helps build endurance without the pain and risk associated with full-weight impact on joints, bones, tendons, and muscles.
The treadmill is easy to operate and, possibly most importantly, it resembles a brief return to normalcy for patient. The effect is nothing short of miraculous, patients say, it’s like floating on air.
