Spinning patients in a giant machine ‘may stop muscle wasting’
Forcefully bedridden volunteers will be spun in a human centrifuge for 30 minutes a day
Patients could one day be spun around in machine that simulates the effects of gravity to prevent muscle wastage during long hospital stays.
A new study will explore what happens when volunteers, subjected to 60 days of bed rest, spend 30 minutes per day strapped to a human centrifuge.
The research is being carried out by two UK universities and could also help astronauts who are sent on long missions.
“Artificial gravity could help astronauts to maintain muscle mass in space and help back here on Earth too by preventing severe muscle degeneration in hospitalised patients,” said lead author Professor Hans Degens, from Manchester Metropolitan University.
