What to Expect During and After Your Gait Analysis

The way you walk has a profound impact on your body. For example, your foot arch absorbs the shock of the step while the complex network of your ankle stabilizes you. 

Walking might seem like a basic human function, but it’s actually extremely complicated. As a result, even a small misalignment can put tremendous strain on your body, especially over time. If you run, stride misalignment becomes even more problematic. 

That said, most people don’t realize they’re walking or running abnormally. That’s where we come in. 

With gait analysis, our team at Rogers Foot & Ankle Institute gets a powerful tool to analyze the way you walk and run. We can look for stride abnormalities, joint issues, muscle problems, and more. With this service — which we offer at our offices in American Fork or Saratoga Springs, Utah — we can learn a lot about what’s going on with your body. 

What happens during gait analysis

During gait analysis, all you need to do is put one foot in front of the other. We have you walk as you normally would so we can assess your stride. We may also have you run during your gait analysis, especially if you’re a runner, jogger, or you engage in a sport during which you run. 

As we analyze your walking or running pattern, we look at how your foot strikes the floor, how it moves as you propel yourself forward, and more. 

For example, we can tell if you have overpronation, meaning your arch collapses as your foot strikes, or underpronation, meaning your ankle rolls outward as your foot strikes. Over time, under and overpronation can strain your body and contribute to other problems, like Achilles tendonitis, plantar fasciitis, and back pain. 

We analyze your gait using more than our eyes. We may also deploy video cameras and computer-assisted technology. This technology measures your gait precisely, giving us more clarity about what happens as you move. 

Depending on your situation, we might also put electrodes on your skin that evaluate your muscle activity as you walk or run. 

In short, we scale up the tools used during your gait analysis as needed to get a clear picture of your stride, how your body functions as it moves, and any conditions that might be affecting you as you walk or run. 

In some cases, gait analysis takes several hours. Talk with our team, and we can tell you what to expect during your specific analysis. 

Using your gait analysis results

After your gait analysis, we use what we learn to help you. If we identify any muscle or joint issues, we treat them. If we observe underpronation or overpronation, we may tailor orthotics to insert into your shoes to alleviate the strain on your body. 

If your gait analysis suggests the presence of a certain condition, we might recommend additional testing or diagnostics — like an X-ray — to confirm it. 

Once we know what’s going on with your stride and your feet and ankles, we create a treatment plan to alleviate any discomfort. Some treatments we often recommend after gait analysis include:

• Physical therapy
• Chiropractic care
• Orthotics

With the right support or treatment, you can correct gait abnormalities. That reduces the strain on your body and helps you avoid further complications. 

If you want to learn more about what gait analysis can do for you, contact our team at the Rogers Foot & Ankle Institute by calling us at (801) 756-4200.