Gait analysis in Swansea, IL. Gait analysis, in combination with video 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 activities you love. 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 treatment plan that’s customized for your lifestyle and goals.

Your Swansea, IL physical therapist can use gait analysis to:

• Detect and address gait disorders
• Discover hidden musculoskeletal or nerve impairment that causes pain or influences movement health
• Assess and track 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 Swansea, IL, our team of physical therapists are committed to one thing: getting you back to what you enjoy most. If you’re curious if gait analysis can help you, call the Axes’ location nearest you or make an appointment online to get started with your treatment today.

What Is Gait Analysis?

When performed by licensed physical therapists, gait analysis is an assessment of how you move, specifically how you walk and run. By understanding how you walk and run, your physical therapist can offer insights into muscle imbalances, injury risks, the status of injury rehabilitation, and more. Because our gaits our the product 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 Swansea, IL 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 a precise understanding of your gait, your Swansea, IL physical therapist can tailor your treatment and help you get the most benefit for your movement health and fitness.

Who Gait Analysis Can Help in Swansea, IL

While gait analysis isn’t a healing method by itself, it offers essential insights to your physical therapist about your movement health, allowing them to offer more specific and customized approach. As such, gait analysis can benefit a wide range of people in Swansea, IL:

• Athletes desiring a competitive edge in their sport — Proper form becomes vital at the peak of competition. Gait analysis allows athletes to improve their form, address strength imbalances and range of motion limitations, and prevent injury.
• Athletes healing from injury — If you’re coming back from an ACL tear or other sports injury, gait analysis can be used to monitor how your recovery’s going and verify that your body is healing and gaining strength properly.
• Others recovering from injury — Whether you were injured on the job, in a slip and fall, or had to get surgery, you don’t have to be an athlete to gain positives from gait analysis in aiding your recovery from trauma.
• 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 appropriate footwear, which, together with additional insights from gait analysis, can improve your speed, save energy, and reduce the risk of injury.
• Amputees — Having a limb removed can drastically interrupt your mobility health, in addition to resulting in phantom pain. Gait analysis allows healthcare professionals to design and fit orthotic and prosthetic devices tailored to your body and lifestyle. It can also support you in adjusting to your new device and optimizing its function and convenience.
• Those with neurological conditions — Parkinson’s disease, cerebral palsy, stroke, and other conditions can profoundly impact our daily lives and mobility health. Gait analysis enables healthcare professionals to track disease progression, evaluate treatment effectiveness, and guide rehabilitation strategies.
• Older adults — Our bodies inherently lose strength as we age. This may lead to an increased risk of falling for older adults, in addition to degenerative conditions like tendonitis and arthritis. Gait analysis can provide assistance in discovering ways to relieve pressure on sore joints, reduce injury risks, and examine the cognitive and motor facets of movement health.

Regardless of the reason you’re considering physical therapy, whether it’s working to ultimately run that marathon or just engage in your daily life without discomfort, Axes’ licensed therapists in Swansea, IL will utilize gait analysis to customize your treatment, optimize your care, and assist you in returning 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 directly watching your gait as you walk and via video recordings. It allows the physical therapist to obtain a overall overview of your movement health and easily identify any observable patterns. Qualitative gait analysis depends on the clinical expertise 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 about your gait. By utilizing precise numerical values, it allows greater thorough analysis and tracking of your progress over a period of time.

Both qualitative and quantitative gait analysis are suitable in the right circumstances and with specific patients. At Axes, our team in Swansea, IL has the capacity and knowledge to personalize our gait analysis services to fulfill your individual needs.

Axes’ DorsaVi Video Motion Analysis in Swansea, IL

At Axes, our main aim is delivering positive patient outcomes and helping individuals in getting back to their cherished activities. To accomplish this, we make use of every available tool to support our patients in Swansea, IL. When conducting gait analysis in Swansea, IL, our experienced physical therapists employ state-of-the-art DorsaVi video motion analysis to provide both qualitative and quantitative services.

With DorsaVi video motion analysis:

• Sensors are placed on your body that record your movement, muscle activity, and static postures
• DorsaVi’s software interprets that hard data into useful information that your physical therapist can analyze
• During video replay, your movements are slowed down to enable a more comprehensive analysis and breakdown of your movement
• Your Axes’ physical therapist combines these insights with their professional observations to prescribe successful, proven treatment modalities
• Your progress is regularly monitored over time and compared against the typical population as well as your prior sessions

Axes’ Approach to Gait Analysis in Swansea, IL

Axes Physical Therapy is devoted to delivering our Swansea, IL patients with effective, safe, and research-supported treatment plans that suit their daily lives and objectives. Gait analysis can be part of your individualized treatment plan:

• To get started, speak with your doctor to assess if gait analysis may be helpful for you, or visit any Axes’ location for a complimentary injury screening.
• We’ll carry out a detailed history taking and assessment to understand your goals, preferences, and health background.
• We’ll build a team with you and your doctor, including the results of gait analysis into your comprehensive treatment approach, enhancing your movement health, and promoting overall well-being.
• We’ll design personalized treatment plans integrating methodologies that have been validated through research and peer-reviewed studies, ensuring their effectiveness.
• In addition to providing physical therapy exercises, we’ll support you in choosing appropriate footwear, braces, or alternative devices, while educating you on maintaining proper posture and optimizing movement health, incorporating insights obtained from gait analysis.
• We’ll use gait analysis, together with other measurable data and markers, to continuously review your progress and modify your treatment plan as needed.

Axes provides a lot more than simply a series of exercises to tick off. With decades of combined experience, professional knowledge, and state-of-the-art technologies at our fingertips, Axes offers a dedicated team of physical therapists in Swansea, IL who are determined to provide the best results in your treatment.

Other services we offer in Swansea, IL 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 Swansea, IL Today

Gait analysis is an invaluable tool that can greatly contribute to your overall health and performance, whether that involves soaring down the court or climbing stairs without pain. As we are committed to offering customized treatment plans that are proven to work, we are among the few clinics in the Swansea, IL area that offer video motion analysis. If you want to enhance your movement health, call the nearest Axes location or contact us online to find out if gait analysis in Swansea, IL is right for you.