NEGATIVE PRESSURE

John Charles, NASA program scientist for the Human Research Program (HRP), tests the prototype air-differential pressure bubble in July of 1998 at the at the Palo Alto Veterans Affairs hospital....[More]

NEGATIVE PRESSURE

John Charles, NASA program scientist for the Human Research Program (HRP), tests the prototype air-differential pressure bubble in July of 1998 at the at the Palo Alto Veterans Affairs hospital. Robert Whalen stands to Charles's left.

The treadmill pressurized the upper body by placing it in an airtight fabric bubble made from very thin sail cloth coated with urethane. The astronaut would be inside the inflated bubble from the waist up with the bubble tethered by straps to the treadmill while the air pressure inside the bubble pushed the body down onto the treadmill.  [Less] [Link to this slide]

Charles stands on a scale and finds that air pressure within the fabric bubble increased his (effective) body weight by well more than 45 kilograms.

THE ONION

In a photo from 1994 or early 1995 Whalen is walking and jogging in the upper-body positive pressure device (which he says resembles an onion). He recalls walking and running at 130 percent and 160 percent of his body weight....[More]

THE ONION

In a photo from 1994 or early 1995 Whalen is walking and jogging in the upper-body positive pressure device (which he says resembles an onion). He recalls walking and running at 130 percent and 160 percent of his body weight.  [Less] [Link to this slide]

EARLY DAYS

Engineer Greg Breit [left] runs the computerized pressure control system while Whalen walks in the device. Whalen researched exercise devices that the U.S....[More]

EARLY DAYS

Engineer Greg Breit [left] runs the computerized pressure control system while Whalen walks in the device. Whalen researched exercise devices that the U.S. and Soviet Union had developed for astronauts and cosmonauts. He found that cardiovascular exercise, including exercise bicycles, conditioned an astronaut metabolically but did not provide the loading forces that the body requires to maintain bone health and muscle strength.  [Less] [Link to this slide]

ALTERG'S PREDECESSOR

Charles demonstrates a lower-body positive pressure system designed to unload the body with air pressure in July 1998 at the Palo Alto VA. Charles Burgar [ far left ], the VA Rehabilitation Research and Development medical director at the time, was the principal investigator funded to study the concept for stroke rehabilitation....[More]

ALTERG'S PREDECESSOR

Charles demonstrates a lower-body positive pressure system designed to unload the body with air pressure in July 1998 at the Palo Alto VA. Charles Burgar [far left], the VA Rehabilitation Research and Development medical director at the time, was the principal investigator funded to study the concept for stroke rehabilitation. Also in the photo [left to right] Yang Cao, Charles, Whalen, and Ellie Buckley, members of Burgar's team.  [Less] [Link to this slide]

STAYING POSITIVE

Charles in a side view of the lower-body positive pressure system. The researchers believed that the use of air pressure as a way of applying a strong force—equal to body weight—to astronauts during treadmill exercise that would work better than the waist harness system in use....[More]

STAYING POSITIVE

Charles in a side view of the lower-body positive pressure system. The researchers believed that the use of air pressure as a way of applying a strong force—equal to body weight—to astronauts during treadmill exercise that would work better than the waist harness system in use.  [Less] [Link to this slide]

TEAM EFFORT

Palo Alto VA employee Doug Schwandt (pictured here in the prototype air-differential pressure bubble) was the primary designer of the lower-body positive pressure system....[More]

TEAM EFFORT

Palo Alto VA employee Doug Schwandt (pictured here in the prototype air-differential pressure bubble) was the primary designer of the lower-body positive pressure system.  [Less] [Link to this slide]

WARRIOR

U.S. Army Sgt. Damon Warren recuperates from injuries sustained during combat in Iraq with the help of an AlterG at Peak Physical Therapy and Sports Medicine in Plano, Tex., near his hometown of Carrollton...[More]

WARRIOR

U.S. Army Sgt. Damon Warren recuperates from injuries sustained during combat in Iraq with the help of an AlterG at Peak Physical Therapy and Sports Medicine in Plano, Tex., near his hometown of Carrollton  [Less] [Link to this slide]

COLBERT

Astronaut Sunni Williams runs on the first treadmill installed on the International Space Station . Engineers applied lessons from the first treadmill when they designed the "Combined Operational Load Bearing External Resistance Treadmill," or COLBERT , named after comedian Steven Colbert....[More]

COLBERT

Astronaut Sunni Williams runs on the first treadmill installed on the International Space Station. Engineers applied lessons from the first treadmill when they designed the "Combined Operational Load Bearing External Resistance Treadmill," or COLBERT, named after comedian Steven Colbert. There are many differences between the two, including that the COLBERT has a larger surface for astronauts to run on.  [Less] [Link to this slide]

DEFYING GRAVITY

The lower-body positive pressure system evolved into the AlterG, seen here. The device can alleviate up to 80 percent of a person's weight by lessening the gravitational pull on that person's mass....[More]

DEFYING GRAVITY

The lower-body positive pressure system evolved into the AlterG, seen here. The device can alleviate up to 80 percent of a person's weight by lessening the gravitational pull on that person's mass.  [Less] [Link to this slide]