Running Gait Analysis

A one hour appointment, with the main emphasis on looking at how and why you run the way you do, and then suggesting appropriate changes or follow-up interventions. Runners are usually coming in for 1 of 3 reasons. Firstly, to focus on gait issues which may be contributing to an ongoing injury. Secondly, to pick-up any issues which may predispose to an injury as mileage increases. And, thirdly, out of pure interest and hopefully to make a few performance enhancing tweaks!

A chat about your running history, as well as current schedule. Some details of interest are frequency, variety of distances and speeds, type of quality work (if any) and different terrains and elevation gains. Specifically how this has changed over time, and how you want it to change in future. And the big question is always what are you training for?

Identifying some of your interesting biomechanics that may be relevant to what we'll see when you run on the treadmill. Reviewing your current shoes, and shoe history, as well as the wear patterns.

Runners have varying physical demands, depending on what type of running they do. We also all have different sport and activity histories, giving us a unique picture in terms of our strength and mobility. As an example, someone who comes to running from a cycling background may have very limited hip range. We'll take a Quick Look at these factors, to know how they might affect what we see when you run on the treadmill.

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You'l warm-up and get to a comfortable pace on the treadmill. While you're running we'll get an overall feel for how you're running in real time, and measure things like your cadence. Video will be taken from the relevant angles.

A large part of the session is then the analysis of the video footage. We'll sit together and go through the full gait cycle, highlighting all your strengths and potential adjustments. This is where it becomes more art than science. This is also the fun part! 

Just a small warning however, you may think you know what you look like when you run, but you may be surprised at what you see...

Depending on what we have found in the initial assessment, as well as the gait analysis, we'l decide together on a path forward to take your running to the next level. 

This is different for every runner. It may be purely some tweaks to your running form, some home-work in terms of specific strength or mobility, a change of running shoes, even some follow-up treatment if needed, or a combination of everything!

If there are changes we implement physically and technically, a shorter 30 minute follow-up session can be booked a few weeks down the road. This will enable us to see if what we are trying to achieve is happening. 

Because, at the end of the day, the main objective is to have you running happy, strong and pain-free.