Gait analysis in St. Clair, MO. Gait analysis, also referred to as motion analysis, is a way physical therapists and other healthcare professionals can examine your mobility to offer personalized treatment and return you to the activities you love. Whether you’re an athlete dealing with an injury or you’re trying to manage chronic pain, gait analysis can be part of an overall, evidence-backed plan of care that’s customized for your lifestyle and goals.

Your St. Clair, MO physical therapist can use gait analysis to:

• Detect and address gait disorders
• Discover hidden musculoskeletal or nerve impairment that causes pain or impacts movement health
• Evaluate and monitor treatment outcomes
• Prevent and recover from injuries
• Prescribe orthotic or prosthetic devices
• Select footwear that’s comfortable and helps prevent injuries

At Axes Physical Therapy in St. Clair, MO, our staff of physical therapists are devoted to one thing: positive patient outcomes. If you’re wondering if gait analysis would be beneficial for you, call the Axes’ location most convenient for you or make an appointment through our website to get started with your treatment today.

What Is Gait Analysis?

When done by professional physical therapists, gait analysis is an evaluation 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 status of injury rehabilitation, and more. Because our gaits our the result of a multitude of factors – strength, flexibility, coordination, vision, the vestibular system – gait analysis can provide a valuable look at what may be keeping you from living the life you want.

In a gait analysis appointment, your Axes physical therapist in St. Clair, 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 St. Clair, 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 St. Clair, MO

While gait analysis isn’t a healing method in and of itself, it offers valuable insights to your physical therapist about your motion, allowing them to offer more targeted and personalized care. As such, gait analysis can be advantageous for a wide range of people in St. Clair, MO:

• Athletes searching for a competitive advantage — Correct form becomes essential at the zenith of competition. Gait analysis allows athletes to improve their form, identify muscle imbalances and limited range of motion, and prevent injury.
• Athletes recovering from injury — If you’re coming back from an ACL tear or other sports injury, gait analysis can be used to monitor your progress and verify that your body is recovering and developing strength adequately.
• Anyone else recovering from injury — Whether you were injured on the job, in a slip and fall, or need post-surgical therapy, you don’t have to be an athlete to experience positives from gait analysis in facilitating your recuperation from injury.
• Runners — Whether you’re just starting out in a beginner running program or you’re an experienced vet, gait analysis can help you in discovering the suitable footwear, which, coupled with further insights from gait analysis, can boost your speed, preserve energy, and minimize the chance of injury.
• Amputees — Having a limb removed can drastically disrupt your movement health, in addition to resulting in phantom pain. Gait analysis allows healthcare professionals to design and fit orthotic and prosthetic devices customized to your body and lifestyle. It can also help you in adapting to your new device and optimizing its performance and convenience.
• People with neurological conditions — Parkinson’s disease, cerebral palsy, stroke, and other conditions can profoundly impact our daily functioning and mobility health. Gait analysis enables healthcare professionals to observe disease progression, evaluate treatment effectiveness, and shape rehabilitation strategies.
• Older adults — Our bodies naturally weaken as we age. This can cause an elevated risk of falling for older adults, in addition to degenerative conditions such as tendonitis and arthritis. Gait analysis can offer support in discovering ways to alleviate pressure on painful joints, reduce injury risks, and assess the cognitive and motor facets of mobility health.

No matter the reason you’re considering physical therapy, whether it’s working to finally run that marathon or simply engage in your daily life without pain, Axes’ licensed therapists in St. Clair, MO will apply gait analysis to personalize your treatment, optimize your care, and help you in getting back to the activities you love.

Two Types of Gait Analysis

There are generally two primary types of gait analysis:

1. Qualitative gait analysis — Also known as clinical gait analysis, this technique entails a physical therapist personally observing your gait as you walk and via video recordings. It allows the physical therapist to acquire a general assessment of your mobility health and readily spot any observable patterns. Qualitative gait analysis depends on the professional judgment of the therapist to draw conclusions.
2. Quantitative gait analysis — Also known as instrument-assisted gait analysis, this method employs specific technology, including sensors and motion capture software, to deliver objective, quantifiable data concerning your gait. By using precise numerical values, it allows more thorough analysis and tracking of your improvement over time.

Both clinical and instrument-assisted gait analysis are suitable in the right situations and with specific patients. At Axes, our team in St. Clair, MO possesses the capabilities and expertise to personalize our gait analysis services to fulfill your particular needs.

Axes’ DorsaVi Video Motion Analysis in St. Clair, MO

At Axes, our main focus is achieving positive patient outcomes and helping individuals in getting back to what they love most. To accomplish this, we utilize every available tool that can help our patients in St. Clair, MO. When conducting gait analysis in St. Clair, MO, our expert physical therapists utilize innovative DorsaVi video motion analysis to provide combined qualitative and quantitative analysis.

With DorsaVi video motion analysis:

• Sensors are positioned on your body that record your motion, muscle activity, and static postures
• DorsaVi’s software converts that algorithmic information into useful information that your physical therapist can examine
• During playback, your movements are slowed down to enable a more thorough analysis and breakdown of your motion
• Your Axes’ physical therapist incorporates these insights with their professional observations to recommend successful, proven treatment modalities
• Your progress is regularly monitored over time and compared against the average population as well as your prior sessions

Axes’ Approach to Gait Analysis in St. Clair, MO

Axes Physical Therapy is committed to offering our St. Clair, MO patients with effective, safe, and evidence-backed treatment plans that suit their lifestyles and goals. Gait analysis can be included in your customized treatment plan:

• To begin the process, ask your doctor if gait analysis could be advantageous for you, or come to any Axes’ location for a no-risk, no-obligation injury screening.
• We’ll perform a thorough history taking and physical examination to gain insight into your goals, preferences, and health background.
• We’ll build a team with you and your doctor, integrating the findings of gait analysis into your comprehensive treatment approach, enhancing your mobility health, and promoting overall wellness.
• We’ll develop personalized treatment plans integrating methodologies that have been validated through research and peer-reviewed studies, ensuring their success.
• In addition to providing physical therapy exercises, we’ll support you in choosing proper footwear, braces, or other devices, while educating you on maintaining proper posture and optimizing movement health, drawing on insights obtained from gait analysis.
• We’ll leverage gait analysis, together with other measurable data and markers, to continuously assess your growth and adapt your treatment plan as needed.

Axes provides much more than simply a list of exercises to tick off. With decades of combined experience, professional knowledge, and innovative technologies at our fingertips, Axes provides a specialized team of physical therapists in St. Clair, MO who are motivated to provide the best results in your treatment.

Other services we offer in St. Clair, 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 St. Clair, MO Today

Gait analysis is an invaluable tool that can greatly contribute to your overall well-being and performance, whether that means flying down the court or playing with your grandkids without pain. As we are committed to providing customized, evidence-based treatment plans, we’re among the few clinics in the St. Clair, MO area that offer video motion analysis. If you want to enhance your movement health, call the nearest Axes location or contact us online to determine if gait analysis in St. Clair, MO is appropriate for you.