Gait imbalances
Imbalances in one's gait can cause significant problems in one's spine. When you walk, you normally hit the heel of your foot slightly to the outside (about 12 degrees). Then as you swing your leg through a gait cycle, you push off from the ball of the foot. This process of heel strike to push off from the outside of the heel to the inside of the ball is called “pronation.” An orthotic can correct this.
As indicated, a small amount of pronation is normal and needed in the process of shock absorption. But commonly, one pronates unevenly, and even a small amount of difference can shift a significant amount of body weight to one side.
In an example 200lb adult male, if there is a slight difference in the height of the hips, caused by:
a. pronation difference; and/or
b. anatomical difference in leg length; and/or,
c. functional differences in the operation of the ankle joint,
Let’s say for example of only 2 mm, this can shift as much as 10% of the body’s weight to that side and that means 20 lbs is shifted.
If an adult walks an average of 5000 steps in one day, that can mean shifting 5000x20lbs=100,000 lbs or 50 TONS to one side EVERY DAY of your life! Imagine if you left the tires on your car 20% low on air through their life? How much faster would that side’s tires wear out than the other? And orthotic is like re-inflating that tire.
This immense weight shift causes the classic destruction of hips that we are now seeing in our baby-boomer generation so commonly. It also places a strain on the entire spinal column and causes your adjustments not to hold as well as if you walked with an orthotic balanced gait.
Ask your doctor about getting your child evaluated today, and any imbalance corrected by a real orthotic, made by Gait Scan technology; the latest innovation in gait analysis.