
20 Apr What is a Gait Analysis?
Your feet are the foundation of your body, why not understand them better with a Gait Analysis. They literally carry you through your daily activities by supporting your weight. However, foot problems can significantly impact your overall health and wellbeing. It causes discomfort and pain, as well as limits your mobility and leads to issues with your gait.
What is gait?
Gait simply refers to the way you move your limbs. It’s your pattern of walking or running and the way you coordinate various muscles and joints to generate locomotion.
However, everyone has a different way of moving, depending on your age, fitness level, physical condition and injuries. That’s where our podiatrists come in. If you have problems doing everyday activities or a long-standing injury that affects your gait, they can do a biomechanical assessment to diagnose and monitor your movement and mobility to check for gait abnormalities.
Our cutting-edge Gait Analysis
One of the most effective treatment options for foot problems identified through gait analysis is customised orthotics. As you probably know, orthotics are shoe inserts that are designed to correct abnormal foot mechanics and provide support and stability to the feet. At our in-house orthotics lab, we craft customised orthotics that are tailored to your unique foot shape, gait pattern and functional needs, making them highly effective in addressing the root causes of foot problems.
At footinjuryclinic, our gait analysis makes use CAD/CAM technology (Computer Aided Design/Computer Aided Manufactured) for designing and manufacturing foot orthoses using the Orthema system. There is no need for an old-style messy plaster cast to make your orthotics. Instead our hi-tech Orthema digitiser records the exact contours of your foot while being held in its corrected standing position by our podiatrist.
We will do a comprehensive evaluation of how you move, including the alignment of the feet, knees, hips, and spine, as well as the distribution of weight and pressure during walking or running. This information is then processed by our onsite Orthema computer. The Orthema milling machine will then carve out your custom Orthema orthotics from a soft, supportive EVA rubber according to the exact contours of your feet.
Our podiatrists will identify abnormalities, imbalances, and irregularities in foot mechanics, which can be contributing factors to foot problems such as plantar fasciitis (heel pain), shin splints, bunions, and Achilles tendonitis, among others. This detailed assessment of your gait will pinpoint areas of concern so that our podiatrists can develop an appropriate treatment plan.
How customised orthotics can help
These customised orthotics will provide proper alignment and support to the feet, helping to distribute weight and pressure more evenly across the feet and reducing excessive strain on specific areas. This can alleviate pain, inflammation, and discomfort associated with conditions such as plantar fasciitis, etc.
Customised orthotics can also help improve foot function and mechanics. By correcting imbalances and abnormalities in gait, orthotics can optimise the way your feet move, reducing excessive pronation (inward rolling of the feet) or supination (outward rolling of the feet). This can help prevent overloading of certain areas of the feet and lower extremities, reducing the risk of injuries such as shin splints or stress fractures. Customised orthotics can improve overall body posture and alignment. When your feet are aligned properly, it positively impacts your body’s posture and reduces the risk of developing musculoskeletal problems in other parts of the body.
When it comes to sports, customised orthotics can enhance comfort and performance during physical activities. Orthotics can provide cushioning, shock absorption, and stability to the feet, allowing you to walk and run without discomfort or pain.