Mastering Clinical Gait Analysis: A Comprehensive Guide for Podiatrists and Orthotists

Gait analysis is a critical tool in your clinic; no one needs to tell you that. What's less intuitive is creating a clinical gait analysis routine that gets you the information you need.

Why? Pressure mapping systems that use sensor-based data to inform treatment plans and footwear choices are the best option for clinicians who want to prevent the broadest range of conditions and treat the most significant number of injuries.

XSENSOR's Intelligent Insoles can give clinicians precisely what they're looking for. Here's how.

How to Master Clinical Gait Analysis

If you want to master clinical gait analysis, serving patients and growing your practice is better. Then, you need a reliable, repeatable system to implement quickly. You also need gait analysis systems that help you speedily map plantar pressure without much setup or recalibration. This is where XSENSOR comes in.

Once you have these tools, it's time to create your clinical gait analysis routine. Each clinician's process will vary according to their patients and niche areas. Still, the following general outline applies to all:

1. Set Goals

First and foremost, you need to understand your own goals. When you go to help a patient, what information do you need? How does that information help you? What data or granularity is lacking from your current routine, and how can you fix it?

For instance, a podiatrist who works with many diabetic patients needs to know how untreated pressure buildup in the patients' shoes impacts their likelihood of developing pressure ulcers. Yet with so many patients unable to feel much or any sensation, this is tricky indeed. In this case, a clinician's primary goal would be to determine pressure areas without requiring patient input.

Again, each professional will have their list of goals, so get clear on them now.

2. Configure Your System

Once you know what you're looking for, it's time to set up your system. Whether lab-based or in the field, you need gear that can accommodate the patient's natural movement without getting in the way or causing them to adjust how they usually move. If they have to do that, you've lost the power to identify their natural biomechanics, which hampers your ability to make correct diagnoses.

The best way to avoid this is to use in-shoe pressure mapping systems that connect wirelessly to software. That way, the patient can move as usual, but you don't miss out on any of that sensor-based data.

3. Explain the Process to Patients

Patients must be let in on the secret of pressure mapping. If they're unsure what's going on, this will affect their ability to follow your directions and move normally.

Instead of conducting analyses from an ivory tower, tell the patient exactly what you're doing and what each test will record. Then, please explain what you'll do with the data: identify pressure areas, use it to craft treatment plans and find shoes, and continue fine-tuning your understanding of their condition with repeated tests.

4. Gather Data

It's time to gather the data. This is where XSENSOR's Intelligent Insoles will make a massive difference to your routine. With thin, flexible, slip-in devices that rest undetectably on the bottom of the shoe and connect wirelessly to software, you can record what is happening beneath the patient's foot while they usually move.

Each data run gives you more data so you can compare them to one another and get a wide array of information regarding how they stand, walk, pivot, and more. This leaves you with a clear picture – both data-based and 3D visual – of what's going on with the pathology, injury, or gait abnormality.

5. Design a Patient Treatment Plan

Using that information, you can design a solid treatment plan and predict outcomes reliably. You can then create whatever orthotics are needed, explain the plan to patients and caregivers (where applicable), and prescribe physical therapy.

6. Test the Treatment Plan

One of the best things about mastering a gait analysis system is that you have an immediate and long-term way to test your treatment plan and ensure its efficacy. For instance, if you prescribe a specific type of corrective movement, you can test that movement with the insoles still in the patient's shoes to see whether it alleviates the pressure and problems in a particular area.

Where the treatment plan falls short, you can redesign it to target the problem more accurately, helping you create better overall treatment plans.

This isn't a one-time benefit, either. You can track your patient's improvement and treatment outcomes each time you see your patient. If you need to adjust, you can test it in your lab or outside the real world, where the patient will be working or moving. Whatever you need, a wireless insole can help you get there.

The Intelligent Insoles Clinical Pressure Mapping and Gait Analysis System from XSENSOR

If you're ready to leave the challenges of gait analysis behind, then XSENSOR is the best option. Our plantar pressure and gait measurement system lets you easily quantify foot function, loading, and motion while patients usually move. This results in improved patient outcomes and also solves several other common clinical challenges, including:

• Incorrect or difficult diagnosis;
• Ineffective treatments or problems that don't resolve in a reasonable time frame;
• Client or patient dissatisfaction;
• Misunderstanding of the problem on the part of clinicians or patients;
• Unreliable equipment and product design deficiencies;
• Too much rework or results that can't be replicated; and
• Difficulty with orthotic design, sales, testing, and tailoring.

If these are issues to which you are ready to say a hearty goodbye, then it's time to contact XSENSOR today.