ACL Rehabilitation
For improved rehabilitation results and to reduce the risk of re-injury the kBox and the kPulley, as well as the LegExx and LegFlexx, can help your patients become stronger during the Anterior Cruciate Ligament rehabilitation process.
Flywheel training on the kBox, kPulley and the SingleExx line of machines accommodates both rehab patients and clinicians with a plethora of options to cover a wide range of physical conditions and performance levels, including pain, decreased mobility, and many others.
Rehabilitation after an ACL injury can be a long and complex process. Despite the lack of published data on this topic, many clinicians and patients are experiencing a benefit already after introducing the flywheel into their rehab. The major goals of ACL rehab are to improve stability, regain strength, maximize function, and reduce the risk of re-injury. Many clinicians and patients are using flywheel training in the later, more dynamic stage of rehab, in order to increase strength and to minimize the risk of re-injury.
Practical advantages
Due to their variable resistance, the kBox, kPulley, LegExx and LegFlexx offer many different options when it comes to training, whether it be with lower forces and lower speed, higher forces, or power training. They also offer the possibility of varying between pure concentric contractions to eccentric overload.
This means the kBox, kPulley, LegExx and LegFlexx can be utilized by patients when they require higher loads to gain strength, all throughout the rest of the rehab process, and even once they have completed rehab. The kBox offers a wide range of both open and closed chain exercises to strengthen the muscles surrounding the knee including squats & lunges. The kPulley is optimized for horizontal exercises to strengthen the upper body, core body, and lower body. While the LegExx and LegFlexx are seated and uniquely mobile non-weight stack machines for leg extensions and curls respectively.
Training with the kBox, kPulley, LegExx and LegFlexx is safe and ergonomic, operating in a soundless manner and with no risk of accidents. The equipment also fits easily into smaller clinics where space is limited or even in the patient’s home if necessary.
The kMeter feedback system is a useful tool to motivate your patients, keeping track of their progress and, when necessary, limit their exertion by tracking their power output and effort levels. They might initially call it a ‘torture device’ but in the end, they are going to thank you for it.
Physiological advantages
The kBox, kPulley, LegExx and LegFlexx are based on flywheel technology, which as mentioned earlier, creates variable resistance levels. As a result, your patients are able to determine their own force output, making your sessions safer, more efficient, and allowing you to avoid shifting any weights between sets and patients.
Using traditional weights, the load is applied unevenly throughout the motion. With the kBox, kPulley, LegExx and LegFlexx , due to the smooth resistance applied throughout the entire movement of any exercises, users can achieve the strengthening of the targeted muscle throughout the entire range of motion (ROM). Furthermore, ROM can be easily adjusted to account for any limitations your patients may have. Here is an example showing how the depth of a squat can be controlled on the kBox (Watch video).
Moreover for complex movements due to the structure of our harnesses, there’s no need to worry about the proficiency of your patient’s lifting technique, it distributes pressure depending on a user’s position during each individual repetition. An upright position will distribute load across the shoulders, otherwise, the lever of the force will be shortened reducing torque on the lower back. So even if the patient is completely uninitiated to the intended type of lift, you can immediately start performing squats and other functional lower limb exercises with them on their first day in the clinic.
The eccentric load is widely accepted as one of the most effective methods of building strength and it has never been simpler than on the kBox, kPulley, LegExx and LegFlexx. Useful in late-stage rehab, by using various methods you can achieve a significant eccentric load in all possible exercises.
Further reading
Go back to Applications or proceed to flywheel training equipment.
