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Use of an Antigravity Treadmill for Rehabilitation of a Pelvic Stress Injury
Author(s) -
Tenforde Adam S.,
Watanabe Laine M.,
Moreno Tamara J.,
Fredericson Michael
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
pmandr
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.617
H-Index - 66
eISSN - 1934-1563
pISSN - 1934-1482
DOI - 10.1016/j.pmrj.2012.02.003
Subject(s) - medicine , rehabilitation , treadmill , physical medicine and rehabilitation , physical therapy , stress fractures
Pelvic stress injuries are a relatively uncommon form of injury that require high index of clinician suspicion and usually MRI for definitive diagnosis. We present a case report of a 21‐year‐old female elite runner who was diagnosed with pelvic stress injury and used an antigravity treadmill during rehabilitation. She was able to return to pain‐free ground running at 8 weeks after running at 95% body weight on the antigravity treadmill. Ten weeks from time of diagnosis, she competed at her conference championships and advanced to the NCAA Championships in the 10,000‐meters. She competed in both races without residual pain. To our knowledge, this is the first published case report on use of an antigravity treadmill in rehabilitation of bone‐related injuries. Our findings suggest that use of an antigravity treadmill for rehabilitation of a pelvic stress injury may result in appropriate bone loading and healing during progression to ground running and faster return to competition. Future research may identify appropriate protocols for recovery from overuse lower extremity injuries and other uses for this technology, including neuromuscular recovery and injury prevention.