Athletes are increasingly turning to technology for speed recovery
In addition to seeing a growth in the use of gps watches, Sprenger says she is also witnessing more instances of runners accessing technology to help them recover. For example, an increasing number of sports facilities are providing access to AlterG AntiGravit y Treadmills so at hletes can recover sooner after an injury.
“The transition back from an injury has been advanced and accelerated due to technolog y,” Sprenger says. She predicts that, as demand for these types of devices increases, more clinics will make them available and they will become more mainstream.
HydroWorx underwater treadmills, which first appeared on the market in 1998, allow athletes to run in warm water of varying depths. The heat decreases inf lammation while the water’s buoyancy means runners aren’t pounding the ground with their full weight.
The AlterG medical device company, founded in 2005, sells treadmills that allow athletes to run at a lesser proportion of their body weight by employing differential air pressure technology first developed for nasa. nasa needed a pressurized air chamber that simulated the gravity of Earth so astronauts could exercise while in space. AlterG reverse engineered that to create the AlterG Anti-Gravity Treadmill. While using the treadmill, runners’ lower bodies are locked in a pressurized air chamber that increases buoyancy, simulating a lower-gravity environment, allowing them to put less stress on their bodies.
Kate van Buskirk, an elite middledistance runner and host and producer of Canadian Running’s The Shakeout Podcast, says most elite Canadian distance runners use an AlterG treadmill at some point, either as a rehab tool or as a form of cross training.
Van Buskirk ran on an AlterG treadmill after she tore a hamstring tendon in 2014 and more recently this spring following knee surgery to repair a torn meniscus. She also regularly uses the machine as an injury prevention tool for some of her easy runs on it.
“It’s just eliminating a little bit of the impact on my weekly volume,” she says.
Van Buskirk also uses a compression boot as a recovery tool. The device zips up the leg from toe to hip like a giant compartmentalized blood pressure c uf f a nd a gener ator feeds in air, applying pressure to the various compartments.
“It feels a little weird at the time, but it’s meant to help stimulate the recovery of your legs after a hard session,” van Buskirk says.