Alexia Putellas, closer to return

Barcelona midfielder Alexia Putellas, a two-time Ballon d'Or winner who has been out since July due to cruciate ligament surgery on her knee, has begun a new phase in her recovery by starting to run on an anti-gravity treadmill where there is no impact on her joint.

This is what the player shared on her Instagram account with her more than 2.3 million followers. In a video posted by the player, she was running on a treadmill with her body surrounded by a pressure chamber to reduce gravity and, therefore, her running weight (a reduction of between 20% and 100%).

It is an anti-gravity system originally developed by NASA, which created it to readapt the muscle tone of astronauts returning from space who suffered from muscle atrophy caused by exposure to the lack of gravity.

In sports medicine, this type of equipment is used for injury prevention, especially in long-distance runners to minimise the impact produced by the kilometre load, as well as in the rehabilitation or readaptation of injured or recovering athletes.

This was the case of Alexia Putellas. This process is used by the world's major football clubs, as well as NBA teams and stars such as Rafa Nadal. It costs up to 30,000 euros and the rehabilitation sessions cost more than 20 euros.