Dooley Noted: 11/16/2015
I spend a fair amount of time each day analyzing gait (otherwise known as the way you move).
I’ve done this for a number of years, and I’m just recently hitting my groove of understanding it.
New York is like a massive case study of n=8 million.
And if I let myself watch them, I make attempts to predict where they may be currently – or in the future – experiencing pain.
When I explain the evolution of walking to my patients, I describe the near-perfect process of the developing child learning to ambulate. I get the same question:
“Where did I go wrong?”
They always seem to blame themselves for their faulty gait mechanisms, as if they are being punished for choices they made.
This is simply not true.
Ankle sprains happen.
Falls happen.
Parents rush their kids to stand and walk.
People are convinced to wear inserts they may not need.
People are pressured to be more fit and move more, no matter the unstable platform.
And these things show up in gait.
The truth is that there is no perfect gait.
But we all could chase perfection more.
By perfection, I mean moving on a stable platform that sets one up less for injurious processes.
Have an expert watch you walk.
If you have pain, you can learn how the way you move may be increasing the discomfort you feel.
The way you move can change. Movement is a behavior. And it’s stored in a memory bank that can be altered with your efforts.
Hopefully, you walk 10,000 steps a day. You do this more than you do most things.
Make sure it’s not undoing you.
Your gait may never be perfect. But you can chase perfection and attempt to achieve a more stable platform on which to move.
As always, it’s your call.
– Dr. Kathy Dooley
