Gait Assessment // Not just for Marathoners!

Walking should be one of the easiest things we do.

If we expand that to looking at a running gait - not much should change.

What I mean is that running is literally straight forward. We shouldn’t see your foot, knee, hip, or body sway much left or right. Figuring out why you might sway or compensate is exactly why we do gait assessments! It’s easy to sit there and say “your left foot overpronates in your stance phase” - but why? Why does it do that? Is it the foot’s fault or the hips?

When I assess someone’s gait I’m always looking for how ‘free and easy’ it seems first. Does it look effortless? Or does it look cringeworthy? Always start from 50,000 feet up looking for the biggest elephants in the room. Then you can focus on the nitty gritty.

After a thorough assessment and finding your strengths as well as weaknesses with your gait we can deduce exactly what corrections need to be made to restore and improve the efficiency. Because efficiency is key. If you’re out running 1 mile around the neighborhood but you feel like you ran a 5K that’s most likely because your gait isn’t the best set-up for you. This means you’re wasting energy and calories!

How does your gait look? Better yet, how does it FEEL?!

Interested in a gait assessment? Let’s set one up!