For most people, walking just happens with no time spent thinking about how to move the body forward. But for others, usually due to illness, aging or injury that results in a poor gait, walking can be quite difficult. For instance, a defective gait tends to throw the body off balance, making it hard to keep one foot in front of another and move efficiently. In turn, it becomes more difficult to move from one place to another without frequent tripping, stumbling or dizzy spells. Then the confidence to navigate challenging terrain fades and mobility is impaired.
What does gait training involve?
Gait training begins with an initial evaluation to assess a patient’s strengths and weaknesses, posture and balance, and what needs to be done to correct the abnormalities. The patient’s gait is also evaluated for potential problems in strength and flexibility, with simple movements for testing balance usually being part of the assessment. Together, these evaluations point in the direction of what to focus on during physical therapy.
For instance, since weakness in the hips, ankles and knees can cause balance and posture problems, the training may include flexibility and strength exercises to counteract these weaknesses. The recommended exercises may be as simple as lifting a leg while seated in a chair, standing on one leg, walking heel-to-toe, knee marching, or tracking the motion of the thumb moved in various positions with the eyes.
So what are the benefits of gait training?
Get training improves the ability to stand and walk and reduces the risk of stumbling and falling as you walk. It helps to strengthen joints and muscles, enhance posture and balance, build muscle memory, boost endurance, and retrain the legs for repetitive motion. It is recommended after an illness or injury to help regain independence in walking, even if an adaptive device is still in use. It also increases confidence, reduces fatigue, boosts ability to exercise, minimizes care needs, ensures more efficient walking patterns, and decreases reliance on walking aids.
By opting for gait training, you can:
Normalize your gait pattern
Normalcy in gait means a symmetrical walking pattern that lies within the “average” range in terms of step length, limb positioning, rate of speed and posture. Normalizing this pattern through physical training involves applying a patient care plan in which proper stance takes precedence over normal swing. Usually, gait training plans include exercises that target hip extensors, ankle plantar flexors, knee extensors and dorsiflexors because significant weakness in any of these muscle groups can adversely affect gait pattern. The exercises ensure proper weight shift, equal stance time and step length on both lower extremities as well as improved walking speed.
Optimize standing, walking and running if you have functional deficits
Gait training improves ability to stand, walk and even run by including activities to strengthen muscles and joints, improve posture and balance, build endurance, retrain legs for repetitive motion, and develop muscle memory. Through training, you will not only be able to stand and walk, but also to walk at speed or run and overcome your functional deficits. That is why these exercises are often recommended after an illness or injury to help you regain independence in standing and walking, even if you still need an assistive device. Gait training is also useful if you have problems ambulating independently due to developmental disabilities, stroke, acquired injuries or aging-related loss of functional ambulation due to deconditioning and immobility.
Reduce the risk of slip and fall injuries
Gait training reduces the chances of dizziness and falling through exercises that realign the body naturally and improve posture, making walking less of a struggle and minimizing the risk of injury. Actually, engaging in gait exercises will make you more confident with every footing, decrease the pain and aches from poor posture, and boost your independence. Since bad falls are a big worry for the elderly and people with physical challenges—with falls being a leading cause of serious health problems and injury-related deaths—gait training reduces the overall burden of illness and need for assistance in seniors.
Improve balance and stability as you walk
Balance has a direct impact on walking. When balance is off, it is difficult to make the feet and legs move and work as they should. Actually, every time you begin to stumble, the chances of slipping and falling increase massively. But since your balance problems may be due to muscle weakness or poor circulation, gait training can help you improve the ability to bear your weight on your legs, shift your weight from side to side and back and forth until you achieve consistent stability and balance. Working with a skilled physical therapist, you will be exposed to specific exercises tailored for your balance issues, helping you to learn to walk effectively without stumbling and falling.
Reduce the risk of various illnesses
Gait exercises offer a degree of physical activity and movement that reduces illnesses such as heart disease and osteoporosis. The training integrates bone, muscle and the nervous system, eliminates limited mobility and improves cardiovascular health, lower-extremity strength, lung function and blood circulation. The exercises also help to improve respiration through opening of the chest cavity and restoration of upright position. Equally, gait training boosts bowel and bladder function, enhances digestion, relieves pressure, and shifts weight by enabling you to change position from lying or sitting down to standing.
Improve cognitive, emotional and social wellbeing
Since the eyes, inner ear and your entire musculoskeletal system are involved in the walking pattern, gait exercises designed to correct abnormalities take into account all these systems. During training, the therapist works to bring each of these factors into balance, ensuring harmony within the movements that help to eliminate stumbling and falling. Likewise, you will have improved emotional and social wellbeing by being able to explore your environment in an upright position, learn about the world and actively move around it. By giving you the capacity to walk again confidently and independently, you will enjoy enhanced cognition through environmental exploration, improved visual awareness and enhanced circulation, which contribute to superior mental focus and acuity.
At FYZICAL, we are a physical therapy and orthopedic center with a compassionate, patient-centered approach to training and rehabilitation. We enable you to receive gait training in a more progressive setting, where focus is usually on the more advanced tasks like walking without assistive device, traversing inclines, climbing stairs, and walking at varying speeds. We cover basics such as side-to-side weight shifting, balancing in place, marching in place, side-stepping, and balancing on one leg.
With the help of our skilled, experienced and dedicated therapists, you will eventually overcome your gait, balance, strength and flexibility issues, learn to master uneven terrain, walk carrying bulky items or even run. We also provide exercises to increase range and strength of motion in order to boost your chances of reaching your functional status. For more information on our tailored physical therapy and orthopedic rehabilitation services, visit the FYZICAL website.