What is gait?
Gait refers to the way you walk. Though you’ve been doing it since you were a toddler, it’s quite complex, involving your central and peripheral nervous systems and various muscles and joints.
Normal gait involves systematic, coordinated movements of your limbs and trunk to move your body forward. These movements often have a regular rhythm.
Many people don’t have a normal gait though. There are many different gait abnormalities, which can arise from underlying health conditions, habitual patterns of movement or biomechanical faults.
What is gait analysis?
A gait analysis (or gait assessment) involves observing, measuring and recording your body’s movements to diagnose and treat any conditions, which are causing pain or affecting your ability to walk.
A gait analysis may involve a:
- Clinical assessment by your podiatrist, who observes you closely as you walk or run.
- Video-based assessment of your biomechanics using a treadmill with a video camera and gait assessment software.
What does a gait analysis provide?
Strange as it may seem, the way you walk can tell us quite a bit about your overall health and wellbeing. If you walk in an unusual way, your body will compensate by relying less on some muscles and more on others.
For example, your toes, knees or hips may be turned in when you walk leading to imbalances around your joints and main muscles like your hamstrings, glutes, calves and quads.
Running provides another example. If you have a persistent running-related injury, a gait analysis may help you understand why. It can show how you’re using your feet, ankles, knees and hips and identify whether those repeated movement patterns are contributing to injuries like a runner’s knee.
Common gait abnormalities
Gait abnormalities may change the way you walk, causing you to:
- Limp
- Drag your toes
- Shuffle
- Take short steps.
You may also find it hard to support the weight of your body or coordinate your movements when you walk, increasing the risk of overbalancing.
Trendelenburg gait makes it look as though you’re swaying from side to side when you walk. It’s caused by weak hip muscles, which may be due to osteoarthritis, stroke, hip injuries/surgeries or developmental conditions of the hip.
If it’s not addressed, Trendelenburg gait may lead to chronic pain, especially in your knees or ankles, and may speed up the effects of degenerative arthritis.
If you have a weakness in your hips or upper thighs, you may waddle when you walk, dropping your hip with each step.
Pregnancy is one of the most common causes of a waddling gait. This is partly due to the relaxin hormone loosening your joints and partly due to the weight of your developing baby shifting your own centre of gravity.
Muscular dystrophy, a genetic condition that mostly affects boys, can also cause waddling gait.
Shuffling means you walk without lifting your feet completely off the ground. You may drag your feet along the ground like this if you’re recovering from an injury or struggle to hold your balance when walking.
An ataxic gait makes it hard to walk in a straight line. You take irregular steps and may feel unsteady. An ataxic gait occurs due to changes in the nerves at the back of your brain (cerebellar degeneration).
People with Parkinson’s disease may have a propulsive gait – a stooping, rigid posture with the head and neck bending forward and short, fast steps to maintain the centre of gravity.
Tandem gait means walking as if you’re on a tightrope, with one foot placed carefully and closely in front of the other. Your podiatrist, physiotherapist or GP may ask you to walk in tandem gait to assess your balance (it may make you feel unsteady). Similarly, a police officer may ask you to walk in tandem gait as a quick way of finding out if you’ve had too much to drink.
If your foot drops, it’s hard to walk forward. To compensate, you may swing your leg out in a semicircle to move it forward. Hemiplagic gait is commonly seen in stroke patients.
Crouch gait means your knees bend excessively when you walk, making it look as though you’re crouching down rather than standing straight. Crouch gait is a common movement pattern among people with cerebral palsy.
