Gait Analysis
Gait is the term used to explain the way we walk and run.
In order to understand movement and prevent or manage injury, it is important to evaluate an individual’s gait accurately.
Physiotherapists specialise in this. Some of us have taken on extra training to further analyse running techniques and analysis.
Various issues can be caused by inefficient gait or muscle imbalances, stiff joints, previous injuries or technique deficiencies.
You may have an underlying muscular imbalance that is contributing to your foot, ankle, leg, knee, hip or back pain.
Running style is very individual there is no one correct way to run despite what you may hear. Every runner develops a gait that feels comfortable and efficient to them. Changing gait is not an easy process and can be gamble if done without supervision as other injuries may result from attempts to change running gait, especially switching to a forefoot strike.
Reducing load in one area will always result in increased load somewhere else.
Physiotherapists use Gait analysis to try to redistribute load away from an injured tissue towards healthier structures thus allowing the injured area to heal. The relationship between running style and injury is not clear and is widely debated. In many cases, it is how much you run, how regularly and what your muscular system capacity for strain is rather than exactly how you run that is most relevant in developing injuries.
However, there are some areas with a strong connection between gait and injury for instance runners knee (ITB syndrome), lateral hip pain, forefoot pain and shin splints (medial tibial stress syndrome). For these injuries, evidence suggests that modifying gait improves symptoms.
Process
During our gait analysis, we will film and observe you on a treadmill.
From this, we will identify specific deficits to target depending on your problem.
Common things we see are over stride, a scissor-type gait, low cadence, high vertical oscillation various rotation deficits and postural issues during the gait cycle.
We conduct a physical assessment initially then progress to the gait analysis where we may identify further issues or be able to link issues or any symptoms you may be having.
A treatment plan will then be formulated in conjunction with yourself which, usually will involve some gait re-training drills, specific exercises for mobility or strength and any physical manipulation that may be required.
We will then typically follow this up within 4-8 weeks to reassess for changes and make our next plan.
Common complaints we see are
Runners knee is the most common injury among runners
Shin splints (Medial tibial stress syndrome)
Lateral hip pain (Trochanteric Bursitis, Gluteal tendinopathy)
Plantar fasciitis/ plantarfasciopathy
We also see Runners looking to improve efficiency, speed, endurance or even reduce the risk of injury as they train for events e.g. marathon training.