The modern exercise treadmill is now 60 years old.
The treadmill concept is much older. In the 1800s animal-driven treadmills were used in agriculture and industry. Sometime a bit later, human-driven treadmills started to be used as punishment in the U.S. Exercise was not a common goal in a time when hard labor was common.
It wasn’t until 1952 that Drs. Bruce and Quinton introduced a treadmill to help diagnose lung problems. The treadmill gradually became popular as an exercise aid, largely with people born around the same time. The Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association says the the modern fitness movement started forty years ago. That would put the movement as starting not long after the publication of the book Aerobics.
It is now widely believed that fitness can improve health. However, this has no always been the case. In the 60s and 70s, cigarettes and obesity were targeted as health problems and fitness was offered as part of the solution. Fitness gyms became more accepted and prospered in the 80s. They added treadmills and soon treadmill quality improved, and prices dropped, to the point where people started buying them for their own homes.
