Do you ever wonder how the way you walk affects your overall physical fitness? Believe it or not the right shoe and a little coaching on your stride could make all the difference in the world. I bet you would be suprise to see how the way you walk effects so many joint and muscle functions within your body. Please check out this article below from our friends at active.com and see how your stride could be improved!

If you are having problems with your walking posture, or something just doesn't feel quite right,  give Head to Toe PT a call to see how we can help!

By Coach Al Lyman, CSCS, FMS, HKC • For Active.com

Many people think gait analysis is all about—and only about—someone watching you walk or run and evaluating your feet and your shoes. How many of you have done the following? A clerk in your local running store watches you jog, and suggests a pair of shoes that are more stable, or more neutral, or more cushioned, or are the type that "forces" you to land mid-foot. Voila! Your biomechanical problems are solved. This is what most people know and have come to accept as gait analysis.

Let’s examine the most common misconceptions about gait analysis, and create a real picture of what it is, what it isn’t, and how it can be helpful to you as an athlete. True gait analysis is not a generic exercise, but is a scientifically-based and technically-precise process. It is highly individualized, and reveals a lot about how you will hold up to training and, ultimately, perform.

What Is a Gait Analysis?

When we conduct a gait analysis, your feet are only one small piece of your biomechanical puzzle. What happens to your feet is merely part of a holistic, whole body, integrated movement pattern. Running, like most other whole-body activities (such as swimming or many field sports), is essentially a unique way of moving.When an athlete is analyzed statically, dynamically, and then running on the treadmill during a gait analysis, it serves to provide a unique, personal movement "map." That "map" reveals the programming of everything happening within your body—from kinesthetic awareness and habit, to individual levels of mobility, stability, flexibility, and functional strength. The analysis of all these different elements taken together is what creates a complete picture of a person’s gait. In essence, it is far more than just gait analysis. It is true "movement" analysis.

Gait analysis uncovers precisely how your body is moving. Every activity, even standing still, represents a unique movement pattern. That pattern is bred from your habits and lifestyle, as well as your body’s mobility, stability, flexibility and strength. Every action you take—running stride, pedal stroke, swim stroke, etc.—represents that unique movement pattern. If your movements include compensations (and they likely do), gait analysis can pinpoint the areas in the body where these losses of efficiency originate.

Athletes get into trouble when major compensation, which often leads to true dysfunction, continues for extended periods of time.

How Compensations Affect Your Gait

Compensations in the body lead to imbalance around the joints. The larger prime movers (hamstrings, glutes, quads, etc.) become less active, and end up contributing less than their fair share of the work in moving us around. The smaller/tiny stabilizing muscles are forced to step in (compensate) and do the work of the larger, more powerful prime movers. The stabilizers are taxed day in and day out, mile after mile. Over time they end up, in a word, fried. Shredded. The wear and tear on the stabilizers greatly compromises recovery and your ability to train consistently. In short, this scenario is an injury waiting to happen. We see it over and over again.

Discovering the inefficiencies and compensations unique to you is the power of what true gait analysis can reveal. Once uncovered, these inefficient and costly "energy leaks" that rob you of power and free speed can be addressed. This cannot be overstated: Improper, unbalanced movement limits your ultimate potential and puts you at an exponentially-increased risk of injury.

In short, gait analysis is about you, and your personal and unique way of moving. Unless the underlying causes of your dysfunctional movement patterns are addressed, your patterns won’t change, and, thus, the risk of injury won’t improve. Gait analysis is about looking at your entire body as a holistic organism—a single amazing unit. It goes far beyond an untrained eye watching you jog in a pair of sneakers.

Can you remember the last time you were watching the local or national news and there was NOT a mention of the troubling state of the economy? We certainly can’t. Unemployment is up, small town America is suffering and many Mom and Pop businesses are being forced to close their doors due to big box competitors.  With such a big problem, it seems overwhelming to determine where to begin to try and solve it.

There are many ways to make an impact to our Nations economy, beginning at the local level.  Buy local. Shop at the Mom and Pop businesses, visit your local farmers market and try to be conscious of where the items you are purchasing were made. If you can, why not buy something that was created in the state you live in? The money you spend will support local families and businesses allowing them to survive all while sustaining your local economy.

How does this fit into Physical Therapy you may be wondering? Just as there are Mom and Pop stores with big box store competitors, the same goes for physical therapy clinics. At Head to Toe Physical Therapy, we are a locally owned and operated outpatient physical therapy clinic. We are not affiliated with any medical providers and choose to support other area local businesses when good or services are needed.  We try and do a small part to lend a hand in hopefully changing the economical environment surrounding us.

At a more grass-roots level, the result will begin to create itself through minimal changes in one’s lifestyle. Stop at your local coffee shop in the morning instead of a large corporately owned chain. Visit your local hardware store instead of one of its larger competitors.  Ultimately these choices will not have a huge impact on your personal bottom line, but will have a great impact on the local business you choose to support and their overall survival.

If nothing more, we hope that this blog post will provoke a little thought in your purchasing habits. Though it seems like a huge mountain to climb, we can make a difference, one transaction at a time.

“Be the change that you want to see in the world” –Mahatma Gandhi

A very dear friend of mine recently developed a cyst like growth on her leg. Initially she dealt with it as most of us would, by conducting personal research on what it could possibly be and praying it would just go away! She did not have health insurance and was avoiding a visit to the doctor like the plague. After about a week, it had only worsened. She bit the bullet and went to see a doctor and was diagnosed with cellulitis. Because she was in severe pain and only had the option of waiting until the antibiotics did their magic to help her condition, the doctor prescribed her with pain medication. As someone who did not frequent the doctors’ office, pain medication is not something she has or would usually take, but in this case the pain was unbearable.

In hindsight, she wishes she had never taken the pain medication. It made her paranoid, have crazy dreams both while sleeping and awake, become temporarily depressed all while living in a fog while the meds were in her system. She took the pain medication over a 2 day period and felt it took a solid three days of not taking the medication before she somewhat felt like herself again.

For her condition, physical therapy was not an option to aide in her healing process. But for many others who take pain medication on a consistent basis to deal with chronic low back pain, neck pain, headaches or whatever the ailment may be, physical therapy is a treatment alternative.

According to the American Physical Therapy Association, physical therapists teach patients self-management skills and how to deal with pain in day-to-day life. They show people how to build up strength and improve range of motion, and how to make sensible decisions on how to avoid pain flare-ups. They teach the skills necessary to eliminate the pain and its triggers all together, rather than providing a mask for the pain (such as pain medication).

“Bodies are meant to move. Healthy joints and muscles need to go through their complete range of motion to prevent stiffness and soreness we often experience when being inactive,” says Patrice M. Winter, PT, MS, FAAOMPT.  It’s a simple concept, but totally makes sense. For more information on how physical therapy can help your chronic pain, give us a call to see how we can help.

The next time you find yourself reaching for pain medication to alleviate your chronic low-back pain, take a moment to ask yourself: “Do I want to ease the pain through medication? Or take control of the problem through physical therapy?”  

With the holiday season in full swing, the excitement of family gatherings and togetherness can often be overshadowed by physical pain and mental stress. While this period is often referred to as “the most wonderful time of the year”, you may not agree as you are baking that last apple pie at one o’clock in the morning.  “The added demands of the holidays can stress the body, thus increasing your risk of injuries,” says APTA spokesperson and physical therapist E. Anne Reicherter, PT, DPT, PhD. “Using proper body mechanics can help prevent muscle and joint discomfort this holiday season.” 

Here are a few simple tips to help make life easier during the holiday season.

• Make time for yourself. Though it may seem obvious, yet unachievable, making time for relaxation in a hectic day can make all the difference in the world. Dim the lights, practice deep breathing techniques, take a warm bath or relaxing shower, gently stretch tired and sore muscles or take a stress relieving walk.

• Lifting. Test an object’s weight before attempting to lift a heavy package or luggage. Keep the load close to your body when lifting. If back pain persists more than a few days or gets worse, seek help from your physical therapist or other health care provider.

• Shopping without dropping. Distribute the weight from your shopping bags evenly on both sides of the body. Wear comfortable shoes while shopping. Make frequent trips to the car to drop off purchases. Plan your trip accordingly; make a list to avoid aimless wandering.

• Baking or cooking.   To allow for better posture with less bending over, be sure to choose a work surface that is an appropriate height.  Stand on a padded surface. If you have a tile floor, purchase a non-slip rug or foam mat to stand on.  Frequently perform gently movement exercises to keep the muscles in your neck and shoulders loose.

A full list of tips on ways to prevent holiday-induced neck, shoulder and back injuries, including some photos demonstrating proper lifting and carrying techniques can be found in the “consumer tips” section of APTA’s consumer website, www.moveforwardpt.com.  With hope, by taking a moment to follow these few helpful tips you will not fall victim to holiday pain and stress!

*Information within this article was provided from the American Physical Therapy Association and should be considered as educational, not medical advice.