The Anti-Gravity Treadmill

The anti-gravity developed by NASA to help astronauts stay in shape, an anti-gravity treadmill sounds like something from the pages of a science-fiction novel.

But the technology is now being used to improve the fitness of everyone from the world's top sportsmen and women to ordinary people overcoming injury.

And it's now come to a gym in Scotland, which is pioneering its use to improve people's fitness.

Core Fitness and Physiotherapy, based in Hamilton, installed the treadmill with the aim of helping people on waiting lists for surgery such as knee and hip replacements.

But managing director Darren Cross quickly realised the pounds 40,000 gadget could help all sorts of people get in shape.

He said: "I did a bit of research and brought it in on a trial basis to see if it could benefit people with things such as knee problems or weight issues.

"You often have a chicken and egg situation as you can't do too much exercise with someone who is injured, and yet losing weight would help reduce the stress on the injury.

"Often, such people can end up only using things such as the exercise bike, as they're unable to do anything that is weight-bearing, but here we can tailor a package that will help anyone improve their fitness."

The Alter-G treadmill has an air pocket that wraps around the waist of the user.

Increasing the air pressure in the pocket gives more support, in effect reducing the bodyweight of the user, lessening the impact.

Darren said: "The machine can reduce someone's body weight by 80per cent, which means it is very much like walking on the moon - your feet will hardly touch the ground."

Darren quickly found that the machine was also attracting the attention of elite athletes.

He said: "It's been here four months and in that time we've had footballers, elite runners and ultra-marathon runners in, all of whom need to continue training properly, but are being held back because of their injury."

One such user is 26-year-old Edinburghbased athlete Dan Mulhare.

The Irish long-distance runner is using the Alter-G to recover from a ruptured tendon. He said: "It's absolutely fantastic, and it's definitely very useful for anyone who has any kind of lower body injury.

"I'm able to run as fast as I would out on the streets if I was fit by reducing my body weight by 50 or 60 per cent and I don't feel any impact at all.

"I've been using it three times a week, and when I went to see my physio to make sure I hadn't done any more damage, he said my legs didn't know they'd been running at all.

"I'm still getting a good cardiovascular workout, so I'm getting my heart rate up and getting the benefits from running, but I'm not putting any stress on the tendon."

And Darren is keen to make the point that the treadmill isn't just for the use of elite athletes.

He said: "It offers a wide range of benefits. For example, if someone is waiting for surgery on their knee and is looking to lose weight, we can offer a programme where the knee is still being exercised, increasing the muscle mass, as well as losing weight.

"In cases such as that, it could negate the need for an operation at all, as the stress being placed on the knee will be reduced.

"The machine can also act as an incentive for people looking to lose weight. We can show them what it would feel like to remove, say, a quarter of their body weight."

Having run for Ireland about 25 times, Dan is now hoping to be fit and ready for the European Championships before attempting to make the qualifying time for the London Olympics.

But he says he'll still keep using the treadmill as a training aid once he's back in shape.