Interview Questions and Answers
- When did you first start using AlterG? 2012
- What attracted you to the AlterG solution? (either business or clinical) From a clinical perspective, it was an opportunity to expand our cardiovascular conditioning of patients without knee, hip or ankle pain.
- How were you achieving partial weight bearing therapy with patients prior to using AlterG? Sending them outside the clinic for aquatic therapy.
- How does AlterG help you overcome those limitations? We can see patients in our office and monitor their therapy/rehab.
- How do you use AlterG? injuries, rehab, pre-/post-op and numerous other diagnosis
- What clinical results have you seen with the AlterG system? We truly believe that the use of the AlterG has led to a more rapid recovery for patients. It allows for the strength and cardiovascular training with minimal pain, swelling, and gait deviations. Most profound impact has been for overweight patients that have been limited in their exercise level, having access to a piece of exercise equipment that allows them to strengthen, improve cardiovascular fitness, and lose weight.
- Has AlterG solved any business problems for your clinic? (e.g., patient retention, lack of direct access customers, etc.) I would not say that AlterG has solved any problems, per say. I would say that it has definitely added an attraction factor to our clinic. Our patients hear about it and want to try it. They get excited about a piece of equipment that is unique and can help them rehabilitate.
- What financial or business results have you seen with the AlterG system? One of the greatest business results we have seen with the AlterG system as an increase in our “word of mouth” referrals. They tell their friends about it and then all of a sudden someone else has a nagging injury they want to get addressed. It helps that we do not charge people to use the machine.
- How many AlterG units do you have at your facility? 1
- What conditions do you most frequently treat with AlterG? We most frequently use the AlterG for patient’s post-operative spinal surgery, hip surgery and knee surgery to get them back to running. We will also use it for stress fractures, Achilles tendonitis, or any other injury in which the patient/athlete wants to continue to train and run without the stress on their body. On occasion, we have used it for persons with significant radicular weakness to help them perform standing exercises that they otherwise would not be able to. For example, we can have the patient in at 35% of their body weight statically doing squats, heel raises, single leg balance, etc.
- How many patients do you treat with AlterG? (weekly, monthly, annually…?) We have an average of 30 patients that use the AlterG weekly.
- Can you give an example of a patient or two of how AlterG improved recovery or overall health? We had one patient who had significant calf weakness and was unable to walk on his toes until we put him on the AlterG Anti-Gravity Treadmill™. This allowed him to train his calf muscles in a functional way which led to improved balance and improved walking patterns. Another patient was an Ironman athlete who was at the onset of a stress fracture in their heel and they used the AlterG to continue training with decreased strain on the foot. This allowed the foot to “rest” and the fracture to heel, thus decreasing pain with running outside.
- Do you expect to increase your use of AlterG in the future? I would expect to increase the use of AlterG in the future simply because our clinic just expanded and we will have a higher volume of patients.
- Top 3 clinical benefits of using AlterG:
- Post-surgical return to running sooner to avoid typical running compensations.
- Functional exercises with decreased weight for patients unable to perform at 100% body weight.
- Maintain training status of higher level athletes who need miles on their legs for running but with decreased risk of injury, especially if they’ve suffered from an overuse injury beforehand
- Top 2 business benefits of using AlterG:
- Brings new potential patients/clients in the door that may not have chosen Altitude PT otherwise.
- “state of the art” equipment always peaks interest
- 2 patient examples (of how they got back into shape using AlterG)
- One of our patients was referred to our clinic for neuropathy. He was approximately 45 lbs. overweight. Since starting his AlterG regime, he has lost over 18 lbs. The pain and numbness has decreased significantly, and his endurance and cardiovascular strength has increased trifold.
- We had a patient come to us after a spinal fusion. She had not been able to run for 14 years, due to her back pain. The impact from running outside caused muscle soreness, a deep pain, coming from the degenerative discs. Since her fusion surgery, we have working with her surgeon to determine an appropriate plan of integrating running into her rehab program. She started jogging at 60% of her body weight. Within 2 months, she was running at 85% of her body weight. She didn’t think she would ever be running again. BIG thanks to the AlterG!