Gait analysis may help runners
By Amanda MacMillan, Outside
A full gait analysis is definitely more informative than whatever you’ve heard from your shoe store or a well-meaning jogger in the park, but it’ll cost you—usually more than $200. Here’s what to consider before you shell out.
“There’s an old idiom in sports medicine: If it’s not broken, don’t fix it,” says Lewis “The Running Doc” Maharam, MD, past president of the New York chapter of the American College of Sports Medicine and former medical director of the New York City marathon. “If you’re happy with your times and you’re not getting injured or experiencing pain, there’s no need.”
If you are broken—meaning you’re chronically injured, or pain is affecting your running form—Maharam recommends seeing a sports medicine doctor. If that doctor says your problem could be gait-related, then it’s time to have an analysis done, either by that doctor or by someone he or she recommends.
