qualitative analysis of walking
Goals:
· Walking for distance
· Walking for quickest velocity to get to the destination
· For an athletic trainer we often use walking to examine contributing factors to lower body injuries, pain, and imbalances
Biomechanical Factors of Walking:
Stride length will be impacted by:
In the stance phase
Stride rate will be impacted by:
· overall cadence
· turnover or transition between stance and swing
· In the athletic training setting, stride rate is often affected by pain or injury. People will spend less time weight bearing on their injured limb and will have a quicker and uneven stride rate.
Critical Features to observe:
· range of motion
· balance (usually impaired after a weight bearing injury)
· speed of swing through
· cadence
· time spent in stance phase on each limb
· if an imbalance is noted, you could secondarily observe leg length for asymmetries
Observation Plan:
· Frontal view (from front and the back)
· Sagittal view
· Start at the feet, then work up the kinetic chain
· Listen to the feet hit the floor
· Look for imbalances/asymmetries
· Walking for distance
· Walking for quickest velocity to get to the destination
· For an athletic trainer we often use walking to examine contributing factors to lower body injuries, pain, and imbalances
Biomechanical Factors of Walking:
- stride length x stride rate = velocity
- velocity x time = distance
- Walking may be more about efficiency as well. From the athletic training perspective, efficiency is more of a concern than traveling farther or quicker.
Stride length will be impacted by:
In the stance phase
- leg length
- range of motion
- force produced during swing phase (from strength, flexibility, injury) and force produced during rocking while
- preparing for swing
- force produced during stance/push off, before swing and from heel, ankle, and forefoot rocker. Force is also influenced by type of foot strike.
- balance from the center of mass and base of support
- speed at which you can swing leg through (from strength in the hip)
Stride rate will be impacted by:
· overall cadence
· turnover or transition between stance and swing
· In the athletic training setting, stride rate is often affected by pain or injury. People will spend less time weight bearing on their injured limb and will have a quicker and uneven stride rate.
Critical Features to observe:
· range of motion
· balance (usually impaired after a weight bearing injury)
· speed of swing through
· cadence
· time spent in stance phase on each limb
· if an imbalance is noted, you could secondarily observe leg length for asymmetries
Observation Plan:
· Frontal view (from front and the back)
· Sagittal view
· Start at the feet, then work up the kinetic chain
· Listen to the feet hit the floor
· Look for imbalances/asymmetries
Walking checklist | |
File Size: | 13 kb |
File Type: | docx |
Evaluation Plan:
· Fix observations from the feet/ankle first, it may fix (or could worsen) other problems up the kinetic chain.
· Focus on what contributes to an existing injury (or predisposing factors to injury) first, if applicable.
· Chronic biomechanical problems will create weakness and/or tightness in various areas. Should incorporate a training program early and simultaneously while working on other problems.
· Potential interventions/strategies include: strength and flexibility training, orthotics or braces, heel lifts, taping, posture work, etc depending on the problems observed.
· Fix observations from the feet/ankle first, it may fix (or could worsen) other problems up the kinetic chain.
· Focus on what contributes to an existing injury (or predisposing factors to injury) first, if applicable.
· Chronic biomechanical problems will create weakness and/or tightness in various areas. Should incorporate a training program early and simultaneously while working on other problems.
· Potential interventions/strategies include: strength and flexibility training, orthotics or braces, heel lifts, taping, posture work, etc depending on the problems observed.