NuStep: Inclusive to Its Roots

NuStep’s connection to inclusive design can be traced back to its roots in the 1980’s. That’s when Dick Sarns founded the company with the goal to design exercise equipment for heart patients.

At his first company, where he developed medical devices for open heart surgery, including the heart lung machine, Sarns observed that the exercise equipment used in cardiac rehabilitation wasn’t suitable for patients recovering from a cardiac event. The equipment wasn’t easy to access, nor was it easy to use. 

That observation became the driving force of his new company and in the ensuing years, Sarns and team worked to develop cardiac rehab equipment that could accommodate patients as they moved through each phase of cardiac rehab.

So, when the company launched the recumbent cross trainer in the 1990’s, it served as one of the first examples of inclusive exercise equipment.

Removing Barriers with Inclusive Design

The word inclusive has multiple meanings and is used in a variety of ways. In the context of exercise equipment, inclusive means products that are designed for accessibility and usability. This approach seeks to remove barriers to fitness by designing equipment that supports users with varying functional abilities, fitness levels and fitness needs.

Evolving to Meet More Needs

Throughout NuStep’s 30+ year history, user feedback has been key to the evolution of the company’s products. One of the earliest examples of this involved the company’s first product, a recumbent stationary bike and what turned out to be a consequential visit to a customer site.

Steve Sarns, Dick’s son, and then the company’s sales manager, had traveled to a rehab center to see the bike in action. He was surprised to discover that some of the users were having a less than optimum experience using the bike. Their feet were slipping off the pedals and they had difficulty with the pedaling motion.

He took his findings back to headquarters and the team went back to the drawing board. And the result? They switched out the foot pedals for large foot plates with deep heel cups. Then they changed the pedaling motion to a stepping motion.

Later observations yielded more improvements including the addition of:

• Long handles engineered to work in unison with the pedals. This created a contralateral motion that worked the upper and lower body simultaneously.
• A wheelchair height seat that swiveled 360 degrees. This provided greater access on and off the machine for those with limited mobility.

Adding Adaptive Equipment

Another bit of feedback — from closer to home — fueled the development of NuStep’s first piece of adaptive equipment. Norma Sarns, the co-founder of NuStep, and Dick’s wife, exercised on the NuStep daily. Due to lower body weakness from multiple sclerosis, Norma found it difficult to keep her legs in alignment while using the NuStep. After conferring with physical therapists, who confirmed that some of their patients had the same difficulty, the NuStep team developed the Leg Stabilizer and launched it in 2006.

Other adaptive equipment includes hip and torso belts, and the WellGrip® for users with upper body weakness.

Uncovering a Growing Need

In the mid 2000’s, the NuStep R&D team set out to design a next generation recumbent cross trainer as a complement to its then current product, the T4. They spent months interviewing a variety of customers with the aim of understanding how they were using NuStep’s T4.

One of the most surprising pieces of feedback from healthcare professionals was that the 400 lbs. user weight capacity of the T4 was inadequate for an increasing number of patients they were seeing. Armed with that information, the team focused on designing a recumbent cross trainer that was structurally sound enough to accommodate bigger, heavier users.

In 2008, NuStep launched two new models, the T5 Recumbent Cross Trainer, with a 500 lbs. user weight capacity, and the T5XR, with a 600 lbs. user weight capacity. The T5XR also offered the option to add a wider seat.

Other inclusive enhancements introduced with the T5/T5XR models included a low step-through design for greater accessibility and clamshell release levers for easier adjustment of the arm handles.

Enhancing User Experience

Accessibility and usability are key factors beyond mechanical design. It also applies to technology and software design. In recent years, NuStep has concentrated on expanding the technological capabilities of its products. When it came to adding smart technology to its latest products — the T6 Cross Trainer, UE8 Upper Body Ergometer, and RB8 Recumbent Bike — NuStep’s software designers also focused on accessibility and usability.

With an eye to removing barriers for users of varying technical aptitudes, the designers kept things simple with a streamlined console design, intuitive user interface and engaging workout apps, all to create a positive experience for all NuStep users.

Staying True to Its Roots

As NuStep approaches its fourth decade, much has changed from its early days. What hasn’t changed is the company’s commitment to designing and building inclusive fitness equipment that provides opportunities for people of all abilities to experience the health benefits of a cardio and strength workout.

To learn more about NuStep’s inclusive products contact us today.