Anti-Gravity Treadmill Rehabilitation
Anti-gravity treadmill rehabilitation uses an air-pressure treadmill, based on NASA lifting technology, that gently unweights your body through the legs. By reducing how much weight your joints carry, it lets you begin walking earlier and more safely after waist, hip, knee or ankle trauma and surgery, and can help restore walking in some neurological conditions.
Medically reviewed by the Florence Healthcare medical team · Last reviewed June 2026
Overview
The anti-gravity treadmill is based on air-pressure lifting technology developed by NASA. You step into a sealed chamber around the treadmill, and calibrated air pressure gently lifts the body through the legs, reducing the load passing through the spine, hips, knees and ankles. This lets you practise a natural walking pattern with far less weight on healing tissues than normal walking would place on them.
Our physical therapy and rehabilitation team uses it to help people begin moving earlier and more safely after trauma or surgery to the waist, hip, knee or ankle, and to help restore walking in some neurological diseases. The amount of unweighting is set for each session and reduced step by step as you get stronger, so you gradually return toward full weight-bearing under supervision. It is one part of a wider, individually planned program, not a standalone cure.
For international patients, a coordinator arranges your assessment and builds a written plan, and provides a transparent, itemized cost estimate before you travel. Our specialists can review your reports and imaging remotely to outline likely goals in advance, and you receive clear guidance so progress can continue after you return home.
Who is a candidate?
- People recovering from surgery or trauma to the waist, hip, knee or ankle who need to rebuild walking
- Patients advised to limit weight through a healing joint or bone for a period
- Those working to restore walking and gait after some neurological conditions
- People who find normal-weight walking too painful or too soon to attempt safely
- Patients able to stand and take steps with support, cleared by their surgeon or physician
What happens
- 1
Assessment
A physiotherapist reviews your surgery or injury, any weight-bearing limits from your surgeon, and assesses your walking, strength and balance to confirm the treadmill is suitable.
- 2
Program design
We set your starting level of unweighting and a step-by-step plan for walking speed, time and how much weight you carry, matched to your stage of healing and goals.
- 3
Supervised sessions
You walk in the chamber with the load reduced, working on a smooth, symmetrical gait. As you improve, the unweighting is gradually decreased toward full body weight.
- 4
Progress review
Your walking, comfort and strength are reviewed regularly, the settings adjusted, and the treadmill combined with other therapy and a home program for continued gains.
Benefits
- Lets you begin walking earlier and more safely after lower-limb injury or surgery
- Reduces load on healing joints and bones while you practise a natural gait
- Unweighting is adjustable and reduced gradually as you get stronger
- Can help retrain walking and gait in some neurological conditions
- Lower-impact practice may make walking more comfortable during early recovery
Risks & considerations
- Results are gradual and individual, and a specific outcome cannot be guaranteed
- Temporary muscle soreness or fatigue can follow sessions and the pace is adjusted accordingly
- It does not replace surgery, medical treatment or your surgeon's weight-bearing instructions
- Not suitable for everyone, including some open wounds, unstable fractures or certain heart, skin or balance conditions
- Benefit depends on attending sessions and following the wider rehabilitation plan
Conditions this treats
Where it is performed
This procedure is delivered by our Physical Therapy & Rehabilitation.
Learn more before you decide
Provider-reviewed guides on the related conditions, symptoms and tests in our Health Library.
Anti-Gravity Treadmill Rehabilitation — frequently asked questions
You stand inside a sealed chamber and calibrated air pressure gently lifts your body through the legs, so your joints carry less of your weight. This lets you practise walking with less pain and less load on healing tissues than normal walking would create.
No anesthesia is used. Because the treadmill reduces the weight through your joints, sessions are usually more comfortable than walking at full body weight. Some temporary soreness or fatigue afterward is normal, and your physiotherapist adjusts the effort to your tolerance.
This depends on your operation and your surgeon's weight-bearing instructions. The device is often used precisely to allow safe, earlier walking, but your physiotherapist starts only once you are cleared and sets the unweighting to protect the healing area.
Yes. By reducing body weight and supporting a natural gait, it can be used to help retrain walking in some neurological diseases as part of a broader rehabilitation program. Your team will advise whether it fits your condition and goals.
Yes. Every session is supervised by a physiotherapist who sets the unweighting and progression, watches your walking pattern, and gradually reduces the support as you get stronger.
We provide a transparent, itemized estimate after reviewing your case and do not quote fixed prices online, because each plan is individual. Program length depends on your injury or surgery and your goals, and your coordinator confirms the timeline before you travel.
Related treatments
Considering anti-gravity treadmill rehabilitation?
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