Body weight support treadmill training

[BB]

Anybody have any experience with this?

I tried it for the first time today with a pt. who has LBP and radiating leg pain x 8 months. She was able to walk pain free and had improved pain afterwards.

It is not traction. The patient is wearing a harness that goes around the pelvis. You decrease the body weight until pain is better (hers was gone at about 35 lbs., including the leg pain) then have them walk.

My thoughts are that it mechanically unloads the spine and allows the body to experience pain free movement that does not have a painful neurotag attached. The treadmill is nice too because the system works out well for graduated progression of movement.

Cory

[nari]

Hi Cory

Sounds like a good idea - something along the lines of what Bernard was saying when he gets LBP+/- peripheral pts to 'walk' with his support while they are supine.
Fits in well with the theory that painfree movements in a changed environment (reduced WB, etc) can inform the brain that "it's OK".

The same principle applies, perhaps, to the retraining of stroke/ABI pts - get them walking with very limited WB and gradually increase WB, which I did for years; but of course, then, I did not know what is known now about the perception of pain and interpretation of stimulus input.

Good post!

Nari

[Diane]

Interesting Cory. How exactly is the body unloaded? Does the strap go just 'around' the pelvis or does it fit under it like a parachute strap?
Diane

[emad]

Ho Cory :

Could you give us a link to that apparatus in pivture , which we could see to imagine .

cheers
emad

[BB]

www.pneumex.com is the link for the company of our system. There are some pictures on there I think.

The strap is more like the parachute scenario.

I saw her again today. Needed only 20 lbs to eliminate pain this time. She said that the improvement only lasted about 1 hr. after the 1st treatment.

Cory

[marosen]

Many therapists in my clinic use unweighting and find it very helpful. Excellent improvement in gait endurance with a decrease in symptoms, whether from the spine or lower extremities. Patients enjoy "the ride" and like that they can re-experience normalized gait.