Gait analysis in Cottleville, MO. Gait analysis, also referred to as motion analysis, is a method used by physical therapists and other healthcare practitioners to evaluate your movement to offer better care and return you to the things you love most. Whether you’re an athlete healing from an injury or you’re trying to manage arthritis, gait analysis can be part of an overall, evidence-backed therapy program that’s personalized for your lifestyle and goals.

Your Cottleville, MO physical therapist can use gait analysis to:

• Identify and manage gait disorders
• Uncover hidden musculoskeletal or nerve impairment that leads to pain or impacts movement health
• Assess and track treatment outcomes
• Prevent and rehab injuries
• Prescribe orthotic or prosthetic devices
• Select footwear that’s comfortable and helps prevent injuries

At Axes Physical Therapy in Cottleville, MO, our team of physical therapists are devoted to one thing: positive patient outcomes. If you’re curious if gait analysis can help you, call the Axes’ location closest to you or request an appointment online to get started with your treatment today.

What Is Gait Analysis?

When carried out by credentialed physical therapists, gait analysis is an assessment of how you move, specifically how you walk and run. By understanding how you move, your physical therapist can offer insights into muscle imbalances, injury risks, the progress of injury recovery, and more. Because our gaits our the product of a combination of factors – strength, flexibility, coordination, vision, the vestibular system – gait analysis can provide a valuable look at your overall movement health.

In a gait analysis appointment, your Axes physical therapist in Cottleville, MO will look at:

• Step length and width
• Cadence (number of steps taken per minute)
• Foot and ankle alignment to see if you have tendencies towards pronation (inward rolling) or supination (outward rolling)
• Joint movement and range of motion
• Movement of the pelvis to see if there is excessive rotating or titling
• Stability, balance, and body sway (the amount of lateral movement)
• Step repeatability (the similarity of your steps)

With precise insights into your gait, your Cottleville, MO physical therapist can customize your treatment and help you get the most rewards for your movement health and fitness.

Who Gait Analysis Can Help in Cottleville, MO

While gait analysis isn’t a healing method by itself, it offers crucial data to your physical therapist about your motion, allowing them to offer more targeted and customized treatment. As such, gait analysis can benefit a wide range of people in Cottleville, MO:

• Athletes desiring a competitive edge — Correct form becomes essential at the peak of competition. Gait analysis allows athletes to improve their form, address muscle imbalances and limited range of motion, and prevent injury.
• Athletes recuperating from injury — If you’re coming off an ACL tear or other sports injury, gait analysis can be used to track how your recovery’s going and confirm that your body is healing and building strength properly.
• Anyone else recovering from injury — Whether you were injured at work, involved in a car accident, or underwent recent surgery, you don’t have to be an athlete to derive positives from gait analysis in facilitating your recovery from injury.
• Runners — Whether you’re just starting out in a beginner running program or you’re an experienced veteran, gait analysis can aid you in finding the right footwear, which, coupled with further insights from gait analysis, can boost your speed, conserve energy, and minimize the chance of injury.
• Amputees — Having a limb removed can significantly disrupt your mobility health, along with causing phantom pain. Gait analysis allows healthcare professionals to design and fit orthotic and prosthetic devices customized to your body and lifestyle. It can furthermore assist you in adjusting to your new device and optimizing its performance and convenience.
• Those suffering from neurological conditions — Parkinson’s disease, cerebral palsy, stroke, and other conditions can significantly impact our everyday lives and mobility health. Gait analysis allows healthcare professionals to monitor disease progression, judge treatment effectiveness, and guide rehabilitation strategies.
• Older adults — Our bodies inherently lose strength as we age. This can result in an elevated risk of falling for older adults, as well as degenerative conditions such as tendonitis and arthritis. Gait analysis can offer support in identifying ways to lessen pressure on sore joints, minimize injury risks, and examine the cognitive and motor aspects of mobility health.

No matter the reason you’re seeking out physical therapy, whether it’s striving to ultimately run that marathon or simply engage in your day-to-day life without discomfort, Axes’ licensed physical and occupational therapists in Cottleville, MO will employ gait analysis to customize your treatment, maximize your care, and help you in returning to the pursuits you cherish.

Two Types of Gait Analysis

There are typically two primary types of gait analysis:

1. Qualitative gait analysis — Also known as clinical gait analysis, this technique entails a physical therapist personally watching your gait in real time and via video recordings. It allows the physical therapist to obtain a broad overview of your movement health and effortlessly spot any apparent patterns. Qualitative gait analysis relies on the clinical expertise of the therapist to make assessments.
2. Quantitative gait analysis — Also known as instrument-assisted gait analysis, this technique employs specific technology, including sensors and motion capture software, to provide objective, measurable data regarding your gait. By employing precise numerical values, it allows greater detailed analysis and monitoring of your improvement over a period of time.

Both clinical and quantitative gait analysis are appropriate in the right circumstances and with specific patients. At Axes, our team in Cottleville, MO possesses the ability and expertise to customize our gait analysis services to fulfill your particular needs.

Axes’ DorsaVi Video Motion Analysis in Cottleville, MO

At Axes, our primary focus is achieving positive patient outcomes and assisting individuals in getting back to what they love most. To accomplish this, we make use of every available tool that can help our patients in Cottleville, MO. When conducting gait analysis in Cottleville, MO, our experienced physical therapists utilize cutting-edge DorsaVi video motion analysis to offer combined qualitative and quantitative services.

With DorsaVi video motion analysis:

• Sensors are attached to your body that monitor your movement, muscle activity, and static postures
• DorsaVi’s software interprets that complex data into useful information that your physical therapist can examine
• During playback, your movements are slowed down to facilitate a more thorough analysis and examination of your motion
• Your Axes’ physical therapist combines these insights with their professional observations to prescribe successful, proven treatment modalities
• Your progress is regularly tracked over time and evaluated against the normal population as well as your prior sessions

Axes’ Approach to Gait Analysis in Cottleville, MO

Axes Physical Therapy is committed to providing our Cottleville, MO patients with successful, safe, and scientifically validated treatment plans that align with their daily lives and goals. Gait analysis can be part of your personalized treatment plan:

• To get started, ask your doctor if gait analysis may be advantageous for you, or visit any Axes’ location for a free injury screening.
• We’ll carry out a thorough patient interview and assessment to understand your objectives, preferences, and medical history.
• We’ll build a partnership with you and your doctor, including the findings of gait analysis into your comprehensive treatment approach, enhancing your mobility health, and promoting overall wellness.
• We’ll design personalized treatment plans incorporating methodologies that have been confirmed through research and scholarly studies, ensuring their effectiveness.
• In addition to offering physical therapy exercises, we’ll help you in picking appropriate footwear, braces, or alternative devices, while educating you on achieving proper posture and improving movement health, utilizing insights obtained from gait analysis.
• We’ll leverage gait analysis, alongside other measurable information and markers, to continuously evaluate your growth and modify your treatment plan as necessary.

Axes provides much more than simply a list of exercises to tick off. With decades of combined experience, professional knowledge, and cutting-edge technologies at our fingertips, Axes offers a specialized team of physical therapists in Cottleville, MO who are driven to provide excellent results in your treatment.

Other services we offer in Cottleville, MO include:

• Neck Pain Treatment
• Physical Therapy Clinic
• Carpal Tunnel Syndrome Treatment
• Sciatica Treatment
• Sports Medicine
• Hand Pain Physical Therapy
• Foot & Ankle Pain Treatment
• Hip Pain Treatment
• Plantar Fasciitis Treatment
• Stroke Rehabilitation

Call Axes’ for Your Gait Analysis in Cottleville, MO Today

Gait analysis is an invaluable tool that can greatly contribute to your overall health and movement health, regardless of whether that involves gliding down the field or playing with your grandkids without pain. As we are committed to offering customized treatment plans that are proven to work, we’re one of the few clinics in the Cottleville, MO area that offer video motion analysis. If you want to improve your movement health, call the nearest Axes location or contact us online to ascertain if gait analysis in Cottleville, MO is right for you.