Technology known as an anti-gravity treadmill is helping injured people get walking again.

Wandsworth Times:

St George's Hospital: The new equipment

Thanks to fundraising, St George's Hospital was able to buy the £400,000 treadmill to help treat patients with injured limbs. It allows patients to exercise at a reduced gravity, meaning there is less weight being placed on their injured leg.

It can be set-up anywhere between 20-100 per cent gravity, with 20 per cent being likened to walking on the moon.

One patient it will help is Nick, who was brought to St George’s A&E after being involved in a motorbike accident.

X-rays showed he had fractured his leg in two places and broken his collar bone. The nature of Nick’s injuries meant that he needed physiotherapy to start walking again.

In the past, patients such as Nick would need to keep pressure off their broken leg until they had the capacity to use an aid. It would be a slow recovery process and could sometimes mean a lengthy hospital stay.

He was the first patient at the hospital to use the specialised treadmill.

Lucy Coughlan, a specialised physiotherapist at St George’s, said: "There are huge benefits to being able to offload up to 80 per cent of your body weight - it can help with pain, reduce strain on the legs and because you don’t need to support yourself with your arms people with upper limb injuries can also be accommodated."