Walking may seem simple, but the way your body moves with every step reveals a great deal about your overall foot health. Gait analysis is a specialised assessment that examines how you walk, stand, and distribute pressure through your feet. In Singapore, where long working hours, active lifestyles, and hard urban surfaces place extra stress on the lower limbs, gait analysis has become an essential tool for identifying hidden issues that often go unnoticed until pain develops.
Whether you’re dealing with recurring foot discomfort, recovering from an injury, or looking to understand your movement better, gait analysis offers valuable insights. It is especially beneficial for runners who want to improve performance and prevent injuries, as well as individuals considering custom orthotics to correct biomechanical imbalances. This article explains what gait analysis is, how it works, and why it plays such an important role in maintaining healthy, pain-free movement.
What Is Gait Analysis?
Gait analysis is a detailed assessment that studies how you walk or run, offering a window into the complex mechanics of your lower limbs. Every step you take involves coordinated movement between your feet, ankles, knees, hips, and even your spine. By observing and measuring these subtle patterns, gait analysis helps uncover hidden biomechanical issues, such as uneven pressure, joint misalignment, or muscle imbalances, that often lead to pain or injuries. This assessment is commonly used to help determine biomechanical factors that contribute to the development of various injuries:
- Flat feet or high arches
- Heel pain or plantar fasciitis
- Knee, hip, or lower back pain linked to abnormal foot mechanics
- Overuse of running injuries
- Recurrent ankle sprains
- Poor alignment or uneven weight distribution
How Gait Analysis Works
Gait analysis is a detailed, step-by-step assessment that examines how your body moves when you walk or run. Rather than simply watching your footsteps, it breaks down each phase of your gait cycle, from the moment your heel first makes contact with the ground to the moment it lifts off again. This close examination reveals how your body absorbs impact, shifts weight, stabilises itself, and propels you forward. When even one part of this sequence is out of alignment, your body often compensates in subtle ways, placing extra strain on muscles, joints, and ligaments.
Over time, these compensations can contribute to pain, overuse injuries, or reduced performance. By analysing your movement in detail, a gait assessment highlights what’s functioning well and what requires correction. Understanding your unique gait pattern allows a podiatrist to identify early warning signs, recommend tailored corrective strategies, and improve your overall mobility, helping you move more efficiently and comfortably in day-to-day activities, sports, and beyond.
Gait Analysis Assessment
At My Foot Dr Singapore, your gait assessment combines clinical expertise with modern technology to provide an accurate, personalised understanding of your biomechanics. The process typically includes several key stages:
Clinical Examination
Before any technology is used, your podiatrist performs a hands-on assessment of your feet and lower limbs. This includes checking foot posture, joint mobility, muscle strength, flexibility, and structural alignment. These findings help identify underlying issues such as flat feet, high arches, tight muscles, or joint instability that may influence your gait.
Walking or Running Assessment
You’ll then walk or run on a specialised treadmill equipped with high-speed video and motion-tracking systems. These tools allow us to observe your movement in real time and capture slow-motion footage for detailed review. Some assessments may also include pressure-mapping sensors to analyse how your weight is distributed with each step.
Data Interpretation and Movement Analysis
We will identify imbalances, restricted motion, or excessive pressure areas, and we can pinpoint the exact causes of pain or reduced performance. Your podiatrist will review the captured footage and sensor data to evaluate key gait elements, including:
- Foot strike pattern and timing
- Step length and rhythm
- Arch behaviour during loading
- Heel and ankle alignment
- Knee and hip movement
- Pressure distribution across the sole
Personalised Recommendations
Once your movement pattern is understood, your podiatrist will outline a tailored management plan based on your needs. This may include:
- Custom orthotics to correct alignment and redistribute pressure
- Footwear recommendations suited to your walking or running style
- Running technique guidance to reduce injury risk
- Strengthening and stretching exercises to address muscle imbalances
- Follow-up appointments to track progress and refine your treatment
What Does the Video Gait Analysis at My Foot Dr Involve?
At My Foot Dr, our video gait analysis provides a detailed, high-precision look at how your body moves—far beyond what the naked eye can capture. The gait cycle consists of three key phases: heel strike, mid-stance, and toe-off. Because these movements happen in fractions of a second, subtle abnormalities are often missed without specialised technology. Our computerised video system breaks your movement into high-resolution frames, allowing us to analyse your foot position, posture, and joint function with exceptional accuracy.
Using this motion-capture technology, we can identify complex causes of pain or dysfunction linked to the feet, ankles, knees, hips, and lower back. Our integrated software enables us to measure key angles, evaluate joint alignment, and study how each part of the lower limb behaves during movement. These insights help us diagnose biomechanical issues that may not be visible during a standard clinical examination.
All recordings, including videos and images are securely stored in our multimedia system. This allows us to compare your gait over time, assess how different footwear or orthotics affect your movement, and track your progress during treatment or post-surgery rehabilitation. You’ll also receive printed or digital images to help you better understand your own movement patterns. With video gait analysis at My Foot Dr, we ensure every assessment is clear, personalised, and supported by precise, evidence-based data.
Benefits of Gait Analysis
Performance Enhancement for Runners and Athletes
Gait analysis helps runners and active individuals understand how efficiently their body move. By identifying movement patterns that waste energy or place unnecessary stress on certain muscles, athletes can refine their running technique, improve stride efficiency, and achieve better speed and endurance. This leads to smoother, more controlled movement—and ultimately, better performance.
Early Detection and Prevention of Injuries
Many injuries start from subtle imbalances that go unnoticed until pain develops. Gait analysis identifies these issues early, such as overpronation, uneven step patterns, or excessive pressure on certain joints. By correcting these problems before they worsen, you reduce the likelihood of developing overuse injuries, chronic strain, or recurring pain.
Helps Address Common Movement-Related Problems
A gait assessment can spotlight underlying issues that contribute to everyday discomfort and mobility challenges. This may include poor posture, chronic foot, knee, or back pain, balance or stability problems, and repetitive overuse injuries. Understanding these root causes enables more targeted and effective treatment.
Essential for Accurate Custom Orthotics or Choosing the Right Footwear
Custom orthotics created based on gait data are significantly more precise. They improve alignment, redistribute pressure, and support your natural foot mechanics. This ensures better comfort, enhanced function, and long-term relief—especially for those with chronic foot pain or structural abnormalities. Your gait also reveals how your feet interact with the ground, helping your podiatrist recommend shoes that match your movement style. Whether you need stability shoes, cushioned running footwear, or specialised support.
Supports Injury Recovery and Rehabilitation
For individuals recovering from injury or surgery, gait analysis is an essential tool. The detailed findings help guide personalised rehabilitation plans, including strengthening exercises, mobility work, or movement retraining. This ensures you recover safely, regain proper function, and avoid reinjury.
Who Is Gait Analysis Suitable For?
Runners and Athletes
Highly beneficial for anyone looking to boost performance, reduce injury risks, or correct stride inefficiencies. Gait analysis provides precise insights into movement patterns, helping athletes optimise speed, balance, and endurance.
Individuals Needing Custom Orthotics
A detailed gait assessment informs the design of orthotics that properly support the feet, correct alignment issues, and relieve chronic discomfort. It ensures each device is tailored to how you move—not just how your feet look when static.
People With Chronic or Unexplained Foot Pain
An effective tool for uncovering the root cause of conditions such as plantar fasciitis, flat feet, bunions, and even pain in the knees, hips, or lower back that originates from gait abnormalities.
Patients With Recurrent Injuries
Ideal for identifying subtle biomechanical faults that contribute to repeated ankle sprains, tendon irritation, muscle strain, or stress-related injuries, especially when conventional treatments haven’t resolved the problem.
Anyone Seeking Better Balance or Mobility
Particularly valuable for older adults or individuals recovering from injury who want to move with greater confidence and reduce the risk of falls.
Book Your Gait Analysis at My Foot Dr Singapore
Don’t let persistent foot pain, recurring injuries, or movement imbalances hold you back from living and moving comfortably. Gait issues often develop gradually and may go unnoticed, but they can significantly affect your daily activities, sports performance, and long-term joint health. At My Foot Dr Singapore, our experienced podiatrists use modern gait analysis technology to assess how you walk and run, identify hidden biomechanical problems, and recommend targeted solutions, from customised orthotics to personalised treatment plans.
If you’ve been dealing with discomfort, frequent injuries, or simply want to improve the way you move, getting a professional assessment is the first step. Book a gait analysis with My Foot Dr Singapore today and receive comprehensive care tailored to your unique movement needs!