Body Weight Support works by carrying part of your weight from above while you walk or run. On a LightSpeed Lift system, elastic straps at your hips clip to a steel frame that stands around your treadmill. They pull up as they stretch, so each step lands with up to 60 pounds less. The LS-300 lifts up to 40, or 60 with the Super Lift Straps or Belt.
Your legs still do the walking. They just carry less.
You wear Magic Shorts, which sit just above the knee, or a lift belt over your clothes. The Lift Straps attach to the sides of the shorts with medical-grade hook Velcro.
Inside each strap's nylon webbing is an elastic cord. Carabiners at the top clip the straps to eye hooks on the front and back cross bars. When the cross bars sit above your hips, the cords stretch and carry part of your weight.
The treadmill does what it always does. You set the speed and incline. Nothing attaches to it.
Your hips are your center of mass. Lift there and the rest of your body moves the way it normally does.
LightSpeed Lift calls this Lift From the Hip, and it's patented. The system supports movement in all three planes: forward and back, side to side, and rotation. Side steps and turns get the same support as straight-ahead running.
The design comes from a physical therapist. Malcolm Macaulay, MS, PT, has practiced for 38 years. He first tested a hip-centered lift on a patient walking again after having both knees replaced.
Two things set it.
Your strap or belt sets the range.
| You wear | Lift |
|---|---|
| Lift Straps or the Universal Lift Belt | Up to 40 lb |
| Super Lift Straps (two bungee cords inside) or the Super Lift Belt | Up to 60 lb |
| Pediatric Lift Belt, for users under 60 lb | Up to 25 lb |
Lift Straps · Super Lift Straps · Pediatric Lift Belt
The mounting points set how much of that range you use. You move the cross bars up and down the uprights to set it, between exercises or between sets. Nothing needs recalibrating.
To turn pounds into a percentage, divide by your body weight. Forty pounds off a 200-pound runner is 20%. How much each strap and belt offloads
From there, you change the lift between exercises or between sets. The frame gives a coach or therapist a full view of your posture and stride the whole time.
The lift usually goes one way: down. As strength, coordination or mobility improve, the mounting points are moved a little at a time to take lift away, until you carry your full weight again.
In a clinic, your physical therapist or physician sets the starting lift and how fast it comes off. In training, it's you or your coach. If you have a medical condition, are pregnant or are coming back from surgery, check with your physician first.
You still do the work. Your stride and the speed you pick are yours. What changes is the load: less weight on your legs means less force each time your foot lands.
That's why athletes use it to keep running while an injury heals, and why clinics use it for gait training. See who uses it and how
All three lift from the hip and work with your own treadmill, if it's under 40 inches wide with at least 1.9 inches of floor clearance (1.2 inches for the LSX-500). Check your treadmill
It shouldn't, and that's why LightSpeed Lift lifts from the hips. That's your center of mass, so your stride stays your own, and the system supports movement forward, side to side and in rotation.
Yes. Move the mounting points between exercises or between sets. Nothing needs recalibrating.
Yes. You still walk or run on your own legs at the speed and incline you set. Each step just lands with less of your weight on it.
No. The frame stands around it. Your treadmill needs to be under 40 inches wide with at least 1.9 inches of clearance from the floor (1.2 inches for the LSX-500).
In a clinic, your physical therapist or physician. In training, you or your coach.
Tell us who will use it and what for, and we'll help you set it up. Call (218) 391-5459 or send us a message.
How offloading works, and what decides how much weight comes off.
A frame that lifts from the hips and a pressurized chamber are two different machines.
Runners, walkers, pregnant runners and clinics, mostly in their own words.
