Gait And How It Impacts Your Health

Defintion

1 : a manner of walking or moving on foot. 2 : a sequence of foot movements (such as a walk, trot, pace, or canter) by which a horse or a dog moves forward. 3 : a manner or rate of movement or progress the leisurely gait of summer.

What Is Gait?

Gait, in simple words, is your manner of walking, and an increasing amount of research shows that it is a significant predictor of overall — and ongoing — health. Your gait is a function of how mobile you are, which means it’s connected to virtually every system in your body. That’s what makes it such a useful measure of health. And that’s why gait is often called the sixth vital sign.

Health care professionals can tell a lot about a person’s health from their gait, hence it is likely that people with neurologic, muscular, or skeletal problems will undergo an observational gait analysis as part of their physical evaluation. Think about your blood pressure. Alone, it doesn’t reveal the complete story about your health. But high blood pressure can tell your level of risk for a number of negative future health events, like heart attacks and strokes. And it becomes an even more helpful measure when used in combination with other health indicators.

Similarly, your gait can tell a lot about your health and functional status. Gait and walking speed serve as clinical indicators for wellbeing and longevity. Walking speed can predict a number of future health events, from functional decline and falls to hospitalization and mortality. And a recent study found a strong link between reduced walking speed and accelerated rates of aging in otherwise healthy adults in their 40s.

How can your gait change?

Simply put, the body responds to pain. Mechanoreceptors detect pain and send signals to the brain to compensate and adjust the movement pattern to avoid pain. This is one of the reasons why our gait pattern changes when we suffer from lower extremity (such as your knee) pain. We avoid weight bearing when possible and we reduce our velocity and step length to avoid pain. In some cases, we will notice some changes in gait symmetry, indicating the one limb is more painful than the other. Understanding gait deviations might help us understand the level of severity and could help us choose the appropriate treatment.

Having problems with your gait?

If you’re struggling with mobility issues, gait modification treatment may help. Consider making a New Year’s resolution to talk to your primary care provider about treatment options. There are a number of medical, surgical and biomechanical treatment options for gait-related pain. But there are also non-invasive treatment options that can tackle the root causes of pain, improve body mechanics and muscular function, and don’t require disruptions to daily routines.

Gait analysis tool

Gait analysis is a tool for understanding the way the human body moves. Runners have long used it to improve performance, relieve pain and reduce the risk of injury. In the recent past, that meant visiting specialty running shops for a professional gait analysis. Today, it’s easier than ever for anyone to access the benefits of gait analysis from the comfort of their own home.

Whether you are looking to improve your mobility, address a chronic pain issue or just interested in getting a picture of your overall health, biometric technology puts the power of gait analysis in your hands — and it starts with your feet. Similar to the fitness tracker you may already be wearing on your wrist, biometric devices and sensors that collect key data about your body’s movements can be attached to or embedded within your footwear.

Tech giants like Apple and Google have begun to recognize the potential of gait analysis. Apple recently updated its signature Apple Watch to include metrics that measure gait quality. And Alphabet, Google’s parent company, is reportedly looking to develop shoes with sensors embedded to track users’ gait, walking speed, weight and other metrics.

References

• https://artofhealthyliving.com/gait-the-not-so-secret-predictor-of-lifelong-health/

• https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3958266/

• https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30764502/

• https://jneuroengrehab.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1743-0003-3-4

• https://systematicreviewsjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13643-019-1063-z

• https://www.researchgate.net/publication/233792965_A_study_on_human_gait_analysis

• https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0224409