Body weight support means something carries part of your weight while you walk, run or exercise, so your legs carry less of it. You still move on your own. With LightSpeed Lift, elastic straps or a belt at your hips do the carrying, from 0 to 60 pounds.
It's used to keep training through an injury, to exercise with less impact, and in clinics for gait and balance work.
People use "support" for three different jobs. A LightSpeed Lift system can do all three, with different parts.
When someone says body weight support, they almost always mean the first one.
Every body weight support system does it one of two ways.
A frame that lifts from the hips
Straps or a belt at your hips clip to a frame over the treadmill. Usually called body weight support, offloading or unweighting.
A pressurized chamber
A sealed bag around your lower body is pressurized. Usually called an anti-gravity treadmill.
LightSpeed Lift is the first kind
It isn't a pressurized chamber, and we don't call it anti-gravity. Nothing attaches to your treadmill, and the open frame gives a coach or therapist a full view of your posture and stride.
Your hips are your center of mass. Lifting there leaves the rest of you free to move the way you normally do: forward, side to side and turning. LightSpeed Lift's patented Lift From the Hip is built around that.
It came 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.
It's set for each person. On LightSpeed Lift, the LS-300 lifts 0 to 40 pounds, or 60 with the Super Lift Straps or Belt, and the LSP-400 and LSX-500 lift 0 to 60. The strap or belt you wear sets the range, and the height of the mounting points sets how much of it you use.
Divide by your body weight for a percentage. Sixty pounds off a 200-pound runner is 30%.
Most body weight support happens on a treadmill. A LightSpeed Lift frame stands around the one you already have, if it's under 40 inches wide with at least 1.9 inches of clearance from the floor (1.2 inches for the LSX-500). Check your treadmill
The LSX-500 also works off the treadmill, for balance and functional exercise on the floor, with the overhead harness there in case of a fall.
| System | Made for | Lift |
|---|---|---|
| LS-300 | Home gyms | 0 to 40 lb, 60 with a Super Lift Belt or Straps |
| LSP-400 | Training rooms, gyms and rehab centers | 0 to 60 lb |
| LSX-500 | High-performance centers and clinical work | 0 to 60 lb, overhead harness |
Something carries part of your weight while you move, so your legs carry less. You still do the walking or running yourself.
No. An anti-gravity treadmill is one way to do it: a sealed, pressurized chamber around your lower body. LightSpeed Lift does it another way, with a frame that lifts you from the hips.
Usually, yes. The LSX-500 is the exception: it's also built for balance and functional exercise on the floor.
Not on its own. On the LSX-500 the harness is there to catch a fall. The lift comes from the straps or belt at your hips.
On a LightSpeed Lift system, 0 to 60 pounds. The LS-300 lifts up to 40, or 60 with the Super Lift Straps or Belt.
Tell us who will use it and what for, and we'll help you pick a system. Call (218) 391-5459 or send us a message.
Body weight support treadmills explained · Compare the three
Elastic straps at your hips, a frame over your treadmill, and how the lift is set.
A frame that lifts from the hips and a pressurized chamber are two different machines.
How offloading works, and what decides how much weight comes off.
