Physiotherapy & Gait Analysis

Gait Analysis

Walking disorders are common among people with neurological conditions such as stroke, Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis, cerebral palsy, Huntington's disease or a head injury. Gait disorders can also develop from a sporting injury or lower limb fracture.

Role of physiotherapy

Physiotherapists play an important role in analysing walking patterns in people with movement disorders and undertake specialist training to analyse gait problems at all levels of disability.

Gait analysis by a physiotherapist assists in identifying the underlying cause of the disorder and provides measures of the severity of the condition that can be used to chart the effectiveness of treatment. From the analysis, physiotherapists can advise patients on the appropriate course of treatment.

Physiotherapists can analyse gait either in a research laboratory or in a clinic. Although there are only a small number of gait laboratories, patients can have a full assessment using computerised motion analysis and footswitch devices, force platforms, electromyography and accelerometry and energy consumption.

Usually physiotherapy clinicians analyse the walking pattern at a clinic using a range of validated clinical assessment procedures to objectively measure movement disorders, functional outcome and the effects of treatment on the walking pattern.

Benefits of physiotherapy

When treated with physiotherapy, people with gait disorders can experience improved mobility and independence and reach their maximum performance levels whether it be in everyday tasks or high level sporting pursuits.

Gait analysis assists physiotherapists to determine if the walking disturbance is due to abnormalities of:

	muscle tone including spasticity, rigidity, dystonia, hypotonia;
	coordination, as occurs in ataxia;
	muscle strength, including weakness and paresis;
	balance, including vestibular, visual and somatosensory inputs;
	soft tissue extensibility, including muscle shortening, joint contractures or hypermobility of joints;
	extra movements, such as chorea, athetoid movements, dystonia, tremor;
	reduced movement, such as hypokinesia and akinesia;
	bony deformities that can occur in disorders such as scoliosis, kyphosis, talipes equinovarus;
	sensation, including proprioception, tactile discrimination, touch, pressure, pain, temperature and vibration;
	cognitive and perceptual problems such as apraxia, depth perception and vertical perception disorders and neglect.

Finding a Physiotherapist

Would you like the names of physiotherapists who have a special interest in Gait Analysis? This falls under the categories of Sports, Neurology and Paediatrics in our online search. [Find a Physiotherapist online now!]