The DeLorme (Weight) Boot is a piece of equipment devised to provide a secure method of affixing weights to the end of a limb. Usually this is in the form of a boot, attached to the foot and ankle, but it can also be modified, for example, to fit an amputated leg at the stump. Today’s DeLorme boot is a low-technology piece of equipment, constructed with a foot plate of aluminum, attached to the leg with a collar and straps, having a rod projecting at right angles to the foot plate. By affixing weighted discs to the rod, the boot is then raised against gravity, requiring contraction of the targeted muscular. Quadriceps, ankle dorsiflexors, inverters and everters, and hamstrings are the most common muscles worked in this manner.
Thomas L. DeLorme, Jr. (1917-2003), was an American physician who created the boot as a convenient way to increase strength and promote muscle hypertrophy in the lower limbs. As a young man, he had been diagnosed with rheumatic fever, and was required to adhere to bedrest for long periods of time, resulting in muscle atrophy and weakness.
By the time he finished his medical degree, in the 1940s, DeLorme had devised a ‘heavy resistance training’ regime, that became what we now refer to as progressive resistance training, a fundamental component of many physiotherapy rehabilitation programs. DeLorme used iron boots with removable and interchangeable lead plates to accommodate the need for progressive weight increases. These were used in the original protocol three sets of ten repetitions (a familiar pattern to many physiotherapists) thus building strength in the legs of injured servicemen returning from battle in World War II.
Description provided by Sarah C Marshall of Canada.
