Treadmills can be hard on your joints and hard to use when rehabbing an injury. Many people who can’t use a treadmill (the elderly, people with bad knees, people who get dizzy from them, and even professional athletes recovering from injury) are left with little to no options if they want to go for a walk or run. Some choose to do their workouts in the water, but that can be inefficient and hard to find a pool to do it in. Sean Whalen, founder of AlterG, saw these problems and devised a solution in his garage. Sean saw a problem with the way treadmills worked, so he came up with the idea of anti-gravity treadmills. You can control how heavy you feel using differential air pressure, making it much easier to run since you don’t have to support your entire body weight. The CEO of the company said that he hurt his knee when he was 26 and hadn’t run since. When Sean Whalen approached him about being the CEO, he ran for the first time in years and remembered how much he missed it. Numerous professional athletes have used Sean’s treadmills, including Dwayne Wade and Tom Brady. With all of the crazy technology inside, it’s not going to be a household item anytime soon, as the cheapest models sell for $35,000. However, that doesn’t mean it’s not accessible to the common person. Sean markets his products to gyms that have injury rehab in them and even places that help people who suffer from strokes, impaired mobility, or veterans who were wounded serving their country.
Sean Whalen is impressive to me because he developed an idea that helps people do things that they previously could not. It’s inspiring to think that because of him, elderly people can walk for the first time in years, athletes can rehab injuries faster than before, and it’s easier for an injured veteran to re-learn how to walk. I can appreciate entrepreneurial ventures that solve petty problems like tangled earbuds, but I respect Sean Whalen, his creation, and the reasons behind the innovation.
Here’s his website if you want to read more
I love this idea! As an athlete I know the pain of injuries and stull trying to progress despite those injuries. Alternatives generally aren’t ideal but in this case this truly is ideal because you’re still able to do what you love. I can also see people who want to try running as a daily activity can really ease into it better with this product.