Stanford Hall DMRC - Wattbike for Training and Rehab in the MOD (Case Study)

Stanford Hall, home of the Defence Medical Rehabilitation Centre (DMRC), is the UK's premier military rehabilitation facility.

Its purpose is simple - give injured soldiers the facilities they need to get back to full health, no matter how serious the injury.

10 new Wattbike Air-Pros have been installed across three gyms at the facility in 2026, supporting soldiers at every stage of their recovery. These additions have built upon an existing fleet of Wattbikes already present.

Musculoskeletal injury (MSKI) remains the leading cause of medical discharge from the UK Armed Forces, and when soldiers are injured, training on-feet isn't an option.

Wattbike can be incorporated into a soldier's regime in two ways.

First, as a rehabilitation modality. Where running is off the table, Wattbike provides “off-feet conditioning” - allowing soldiers to maintain and build aerobic fitness without placing load through an injury.

Second, as a general conditioning tool. Rather than defaulting to running for PT, soldiers can use Wattbike instead - reducing the repetitive impact that often leads to injury.

Recent data from Pirbright PCRF backs this up.SSgt Martin Quinn conducted a study aimed to assess how impactful Wattbike's were at aiding running fitness.

All recruits will take a fitness assessment on joining the Army, this includes a 2km Run test.

However, many recruits pick up an injury during basic training soon after joining the Army. Minor injuries can be cured by a few days rest, but the more serious cases would be removed from the training course to attend treatment and rehabilitation at PCRF Pirbright. Historically, this would result in their fitness stagnating.

Wattbike solves this issue.

Recruits followed an intervention of 2 x 20-minute Wattbike sessions a week, alongside gym-based S&C, with no running or high impact training until fully recovered. They then re-took their 2km Run test.

The results speak for themselves: 45 out of 56 soldiers discharged faster than their pre-injury time, with the average discharge time improving from 10 minutes 12 seconds to 9 minutes 41 seconds (31 second improvement).

In other words, soldiers came out of rehabilitation faster than they went in - without running a single step. For the military, that's invaluable. Rather than losing time and resource to injury, the Armed Forces can ensure soldiers keep improving even whilst injured enabling re entry into basic training faster.

Stanford Hall's commitment to Wattbike reflects the recognition that off-feet conditioning and rehabilitation aren't a compromise, but a necessity. The health of the individual soldier remains the foundation of the Army's ability to deploy, fight and win — and Wattbike is helping support that.