Optimising Your Stride: The Role of Running Gait Assessments
Andy Farley: Sports Physiotherapist
Running is one of the most accessible and rewarding forms of exercise, offering incredible benefits for your cardiovascular health, mental clarity, and physical performance.
However, because running is a highly repetitive movement, it carries a natural risk of overuse injuries.
Key Takeaways
- Overuse injuries are common due to the repetitive load placed on muscles and bones.
- Gait analysis identifies patterns like stride length, cadence, and foot strike to help redirect physical stress.
- Individualisation is vital: Any change to your form must account for your unique injury history and strength levels.
- Integrated care: We combine technique modification with targeted strength and conditioning for long-term results.
Why Do Running Injuries Happen?
While it is difficult to predict exactly when an injury will occur, we frequently see three primary culprits in the clinic:
- Training Errors: Rapid increases in volume or poorly structured programs.
- Insufficient Strength: Muscles unable to absorb the impact of each step.
- Poor Mechanics: Inefficient movement patterns that overload specific tissues.
What is a Running Gait Assessment?
A gait assessment is more than just watching someone run; it is a clinical deep-dive into your mechanics. During an assessment at our Ultimo clinic, we observe:
- Cadence & Stride Length: How many steps you take and how far you reach.
- Foot Strike Pattern: How your foot interacts with the ground.
- Hip & Foot Control: Your ability to maintain stability under load.
- Upper Body Positioning: How your torso and arms influence your efficiency.
By identifying these factors, we can make subtle adjustments to redirect forces away from injured or overloaded areas, such as the knees or shins.
The Science of “Redirecting” Force
It is a common misconception that changing your technique makes impact forces disappear. In reality, force is redirected. For example, a change in gait might reduce pressure on a painful knee, but that load may move to the Achilles or calf. This is why professional guidance is essential; we ensure that by fixing one issue, we aren’t creating a new one like a calf strain or bone stress injury.
Efficiency vs. Aesthetics: If It’s Not Broken, Don’t Fix It
Many elite runners have “unconventional” styles but remain injury-free and incredibly fast. This is because the body often self-selects the most efficient movement pattern for its specific build.
We only recommend changing your mechanics if there is a clinical reason to do so—such as chronic “niggles” or recurrent injuries. Our goal is to find the balance between your natural efficiency and the structural demands of your sport.
Who Benefits From an Assessment?
- Injured Runners: If you are dealing with shin splints, knee pain, or tendinopathy, an assessment is a critical part of your rehabilitation.
- The “Niggle” Phase: If you have persistent aches that won’t go away, we can help identify the mechanical cause.
Performance Seekers: If you want to get faster, we pair gait analysis with a strength and conditioning program managed by our Exercise Physiologists to improve your power output.
