Get Faster Through the Power of Gait Data

How your body moves as it goes through the motions of walking or running has a shockingly significant effect on how fast you are. Then again, if you’re a serious runner, that might not be so shocking to you. You may be quite familiar with the idea that different forces affect your foot function and that your body’s unique motion pattern can make you faster or slower.

That’s where gait data comes in. By measuring how you move, – your “gait” – you can learn about what’s working and what isn’t. Over time, you’ll find that gait data is helping to make you faster. Let’s explore how.

Why Understand Gait to Run Faster?

The gait cycle – the full range of motion as you move from stride to stride – paints a complete picture of how you move. Unfortunately, while the human eye can catch many things, it often isn’t good at catching tiny hitches in your giddy-up.

A gait analysis that uses sensors and machine learning can prove useful. This approach prioritizes gait data over instinct. You can compare session to session or runner to runner with a rich dataset. You will begin to see where the problems lie and how to fix them.

How Can Runners Get Faster With Gait Data?

So, just how can gait data make you faster, specifically? Glad you asked. There are several ways a quality gait analysis can point out what you’re doing wrong and help you correct it. Some of the most common issues corrected by gait data include, but aren’t limited to:

• Improper stride length: If your stride is too long, you’re overreaching and are likelier to get injured, which will slow you down. If your stride is too short, you’re stepping too many times per minute and wasting time hitting the ground that you could be spending in float.
• Pronation: If you are running or turning your feet in when you run, your body’s biomechanics are not working in your favor. Again, if you don’t get outright injured, you will experience slowing as a result of this.
• Arm swinging: While some arm swinging is necessary to keep a smooth running motion, too much is counterproductive. While a sensor-based gait analysis is focused more on the bottom half of the body, the physician or running expert performing the analysis will be able to see the counterproductive arm movement. Plus, it will have downstream effects that impact the sensors as well.
• Foot strike: Whether you come down with a heel strike or on the ball of your foot will impact how fast you are and how prone you are to injury.
• Symmetry: As you consider each of these it is important to understand anything that affects the symmetry of your gait. Asymmetries can develop in plantar pressure, loading or timing. Asymmetry can be an indicator of a developing injury…..

So how do you get such data? That’s where a gait analysis comes in.

How Can You Gather Data on Gait?

There are many types of human gait analyses and, therefore, many ways to gather the gait data you need. One of the most common is wearing sensors in shoes that will create a complete picture of your gait data. Another is to walk on a treadmill or stance pad with sensors. These create a fully realized, 3D map of your motion and a raft of data.

Once you have that gait data in hand, your physician can compare it to a gait dataset or an entire gait database to determine your exact movement patterns.

From there, with gait analysis in hand, a physical therapist, personal trainer or physician can help you use those facts and figures. You’ll design strength training routines and drills to help you minimize issues and maximize speed. Further, plantar pressure can be used in follow-up to ensure interventions are successful. Plantar pressure mapping can ensure you’re wearing the right shoes and strengthening your body correctly. Overall, your body will get stronger, and you’ll be less likely to get injured.