Are You Looking for Relief? Unweighting Therapy Can Help
If you are living with discomfort, unweighting therapy can help.
Our unique programs reduce the amount of weight-bearing through a patient’s lower extremities and low back, which greatly assists in the rehabilitation of painful joints and injuries, as well as most spine conditions that cause low back and leg pain.
With our unweighting therapy treatments, we are able to treat several conditions, including but not limited to:
- Arthritis
- Post-surgical rehab
- Balance system
- Parkinson’s Disease
- Stroke
- Spinal decompression
- Spinal pain
- Hip pain
- Herniated discs
Unweighting therapy is a great way for you to regain your strength and mobility without fear of falling or putting too much stress on the affected area(s) of the body.
What does unweighting therapy do?
The National Institutes of Health states that, “Body weight supported treadmill training (BWSTT) has emerged over the last twenty years as a rehabilitation method focused on improving gait and function.”
With the gaining popularity in unweighting therapy services, we are happy to say we offer state-of-the-art unweighting programs at our practice.
Our balance programs focus on strength, endurance, motion, gait training and coordination for safe walking and preventing falls. Individuals are placed in a comfortable harness that prevents them from falling during all facets of their gait and balance program. This is a unique aspect of our program, as a therapist does not have to hold the patient up, thus helping them to regain their confidence, take away pain, and give back empowerment.
Our therapy allows for adjustable degrees of functional weight bearing on land. In fact, our unweighting equipment can lift up to 300 pounds, and can be adjusted to add or take away weight as needed for a patient’s recovery. This way, you are able to exercise with less and less weight harnessed as you begin to get better. During treatment, the patient can be sitting, standing and walking, and be involved in balance activities without the fear of falling.
How can we help?
Unweighting therapy has been proven to provide effective relief for several neurological and musculoskeletal conditions. In fact, as stated by a study conducted by the National Institutes of Health testing the effects of unweighting therapy on frail elders,
“This pilot study demonstrated the feasibility of unweighted treadmill training in mobility-impaired elders. The significant gains in treadmill training capacity resulted in clinically meaningful improvements in fitness over twelve weeks. More importantly, the magnitude of the group’s improvements in over-ground gait, balance, and mobility was associated with lowered risk for a multitude of adverse health events.”
Our physical therapists offer numerous options for treating balance problems, based on each person’s needs. We are trained to evaluate multiple systems of the body, including the muscles, joints, inner ear, eye tracking ability, skin sensation, and position awareness in the joints (proprioception). Our therapists are experts in prescribing active movement techniques and physical exercise to improve these systems, including strengthening, stretching, proprioception exercises, and visual tracking.
Our therapists are trained to understand what is going on in your body, and our unweighting systems have almost a 100% success rate. Patients are able to feel better almost immediately!
Is unweighting therapy right for me?
Did you know that the spine compresses with posture? Unweighting therapy helps decompress the spine, separate the vertebrae, and take pressure off the lower back – so you can exercise without pain. When you aren’t in pain, you’re able to progress faster.
Unweighting therapy is a form of treatment that can be beneficial to anyone – athletes, seniors, people working through physical rehabilitation, etc. It provides relief that most other treatments simply are not able to do. By releasing the gravitational pressure of your body, our advanced and innovative pieces of equipment are able to help you comfortably restore your normal walking, jogging, running, and moving mechanics.
Unweighting therapy also promotes the ability to do more strengthening exercises that heal damaged tissue and build more muscle. All of this adds up to a much safer, quicker, and comfortable recovery than you may experience without this form of treatment.
Ready to get started? Contact us today!
If you are looking for relief and you think unweighting therapy may benefit you, please request an appointment with us today.
One of our dedicated physical therapists would be happy to meet with you to discuss how unweighting therapy can benefit you!
