Impact of Lower Body Weight Support Treadmill on Cardiopulmonary Exercise Capacity and Trainability

Einfluss Der Körpergewichtsunterstützung Auf Einem AlterG®-Antigravitationslaufband Auf Die Kardiopulmonale Leistungsfähigkeit Und Trainierbarkeit

Status

Completed

Phases

Study type

Interventional

Source

ClinicalTrials.gov

Registry ID

NCT02951494

Enrollment

Registered

2016-11-01

Start date

2017-01-31

Completion date

2021-12-31

Last updated

2022-05-25

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Healthy Volunteers

Brief summary

The AlterG®-anti-gravity treadmill provides lower body weight support which enables individuals to exercise without feeling their full body weight. How this body weight support influences cardiovascular, respiratory, vascular and metabolic parameters is currently unclear. Further, whether body weight support influences the trainability in response to moderate continuous exercise is unknown. This investigation has two main goals. First, we explore the direct influence of lower body weight support on cardiometabolic parameters during maximal exercise testing. Second, we aim to compare changes in cardiorespiratory fitness in response to a structured exercise protocol using moderate intensity with and without lower body weight support.

Interventions

OTHERAlterG Anti-gravity treadmill

Participants in this group will complete a 12 week aerobic exercise training protocol with 40% lower body weight support on an AlterG Anti-gravity treadmill

Study design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Intervention model

PARALLEL

Primary purpose

PREVENTION

Masking

NONE

Eligibility

Sex/Gender

ALL

Age

18 Years to 45 Years

Healthy volunteers

Yes

Inclusion criteria

* maximal oxygen consumption below age-sex specific standard

Exclusion criteria

* acute infection within the last four weeks * anemia (males: Hb \< 8.1 mmol/L; females Hb \< 7.4 mmol/L) * previous reports of myo-, endo, or pericarditis * previous stroke or acute myocardial infarction * heart failure (NYHA \> 1) * aortic valve stenosis * congenital heart disease * cardiomyopathy * severe left ventricular hypertrophy * cardiac arrythmias * hypertension * diabetes * BMI \> 35 * cancer * pregnancy * aneurysm of aorta or cerebral arteries

Design outcomes

Primary

Measure	Time frame	Description
Maximal oxygen consumption	12 weeks	VO2peak \[ml/min\]

Secondary

Measure	Time frame	Description
Oxygen consumption at anaerobic threshold	12 weeks	VO2@AT
Pulse wave velocity	12 weeks	—

Countries

Germany

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Feb 4, 2026