What should you know about gait pattern analysis?

A clinician may watch your stride, compare both sides and assess foot contact, step timing, balance, joint motion and the way your body absorbs load. The review may be done while you walk, jog or perform a task that brings on symptoms. It can help connect a pain pattern with movement habits, but it does not diagnose every cause of pain by itself.

Wear comfortable clothes and the shoes you normally use for the activity being assessed. Tell the clinician where symptoms start, what surface changes them and whether an injury or operation came first. Results may lead to exercise coaching, a change in training, footwear advice or consideration of custom orthotics. A pressure-based review can complement a camera-based assessment; see [3D Motion Capture](/technology/3d-motion-capture/) and [Pressure Plate Gait Scanner](/technology/pressure-plate-gait-scanner/).

Arrange medical assessment promptly for sudden inability to walk, a new foot drop, marked weakness, loss of feeling, severe swelling after an injury or pain with a visibly deformed limb. During an assessment, mention fever, a wound or rapidly worsening symptoms because these details can change the urgency.

Ask which movement finding may relate to your symptoms, whether the assessment should include walking and running, what change you should practise first, and how progress will be checked. Ask whether [Custom Orthotics](/treatments/non-surgical-orthopedics/custom-orthotics/) fits your needs and what alternatives exist.