Can Improper Gait Impede Your Performance?

Yes it can. With the influx of foot and ankle problems I have seen in practice, I can gather a good hypothesis that with improper foot and ankle mechanics this can ultimately lead to various leaks in performance. With the extremely fast pace of society and more health conscious individuals sprouting up getting side lined with some sort of common back ailment, I believe the weakest link not being addressed is mechanical flaws within the foot and ankle.

To increase or even maximize your performance you have to be moving at your most optimal state.  Altered mechanics at, let’s say, the big toe can lead to a decrease in hip extension, and with repetitive altered improper hip extensions, the Gluteus Maximus can decrease its ability to fire properly an in the correct pattern. Just like with your car, if your alignment is off, it causes other issues down the road (pun intended) if it goes unaddressed. It’s not ideal to zero in on just the pain because not treating the underlying problem will only cause a recurrence of symptoms.

One of the most important tasks of a chiropractic physician is to decrease the threat of pain because the pain signals will only disrupt the movement patterns, thus giving us false positives during our movement assessment. Control the pain, treat the source and pattern the movement. It is as simple as that. This is the most effective sequence to abide by in the movement sciences.

Move well,

Dr. Schroeder