Gait Analysis
Gait Analysis
Many people think gait analysis is all about—and only about—someone watching you walk or run and evaluating your feet and your shoes. When we conduct a gait analysis, your feet are only one small piece of your biomechanical puzzle. What happens to your feet is merely part of a holistic, whole body, integrated movement pattern.
Running, like most other whole-body activities (such as swimming or many field sports), is essentially a unique way of moving.When an athlete is analyzed statically, dynamically, and then running on the treadmill during a gait analysis, it serves to provide a unique, personal movement "map." That "map" reveals the programming of everything happening within your body—from kinesthetic awareness and habit, to individual levels of mobility, stability, flexibility, and functional strength.
The analysis of all these different elements taken together is what creates a complete picture of a person's gait. In essence, it is far more than just gait analysis. It is true "movement" analysis. Gait analysis uncovers precisely how your body is moving. Every activity, even standing still, represents a unique movement pattern. That pattern is bred from your habits and lifestyle, as well as your body's mobility, stability, flexibility and strength.
Every action you take--running stride, pedal stroke, swim stroke, etc.—represents that unique movement pattern. If your movements include compensations (and they likely do), gait analysis can pinpoint the areas in the body where these losses of efficiency originate.
Many people think gait analysis is all about—and only about—someone watching you walk or run and evaluating your feet and your shoes. When we conduct a gait analysis, your feet are only one small piece of your biomechanical puzzle. What happens to your feet is merely part of a holistic, whole body, integrated movement pattern.
Running, like most other whole-body activities (such as swimming or many field sports), is essentially a unique way of moving.When an athlete is analyzed statically, dynamically, and then running on the treadmill during a gait analysis, it serves to provide a unique, personal movement "map." That "map" reveals the programming of everything happening within your body—from kinesthetic awareness and habit, to individual levels of mobility, stability, flexibility, and functional strength.
The analysis of all these different elements taken together is what creates a complete picture of a person's gait. In essence, it is far more than just gait analysis. It is true "movement" analysis. Gait analysis uncovers precisely how your body is moving. Every activity, even standing still, represents a unique movement pattern. That pattern is bred from your habits and lifestyle, as well as your body's mobility, stability, flexibility and strength.
Every action you take--running stride, pedal stroke, swim stroke, etc.—represents that unique movement pattern. If your movements include compensations (and they likely do), gait analysis can pinpoint the areas in the body where these losses of efficiency originate.