Record Breakers

TECHNICAL What does your gait say about you?

Our gait says a lot about us and our physical wellbeing - but what does it all mean?

By Nick Moloney

Sean Murphy has worked in the running industry for the best part of six years, specialising in gait analysis and matching runners with the perfect shoe. An avid runner himself, Sean has a YouTube channel called Ritheoiri BAC where he shares some of the wisdom he has collected over many years of marathon running and racing at club level.

Running is a

ubiquitous form of movement. It is instinctual across humans and most land-based animals.

Similarly, your gait is not something you think about but is simply the pattern of how you walk and run.

When we run, we are in the floating stage of our gait cycle. The length of this cycle is defined by the initial contact of one foot with the ground and ends when the same foot hits the ground again.

“Your [running] gait is essentially your stride per minute. It is the way you first make contact with the ground, whether you are a forefoot, mid-foot or a heel striker. People who heel strike tend to get more shin and knee issues, people who strike at the ball of their foot tend to get more heel and calf issues. The sweet spot is the mid-foot strike,” says Sean, who has specialised in gait analysis over the past six years working in running stores around Dublin.

Our gait says a lot about us, our physical well-being and our lifestyle

Our gait says a lot about us and our physical well being. This is because it usually reflects our lifestyle, such as how much time we spend sitting, how our weight and body shape affect the way we move and, according to recent studies, even the amount of sleep we get. Runners stand to gain a lot from having an efficient gait. If you ever look at the leading pack in an elite marathon, you will spot a lot of similarities. The obvious thing we can see about their gait is stride length – Kipchoge and Mo Farah have an average stride length of just over two meters, slightly longer than average. But what we can’t always see is what’s happening when their feet hit the ground.

“Mid-foot striking is all potential motion, you are never breaking. When you heel strike you are breaking every time you actually hit the ground. It is not an efficient gait cycle. That doesn’t mean there aren’t professional runners who heel strike, but the majority of them are mid-foot strikers or on the balls of their foot.”

Figuring out your gait is easier than you think. You could start by getting a professional gait analysis at a running shop which will take a lot of the guessing out of the process when it comes to matching you with the right pair of shoes. Or if you just want to see for yourself first, you can get a friend to film you while you’re running and zoom in to see exactly how your foot hits the ground, paying attention to what happens at your ankle.

A quick and easy method you can do from your couch is to simply analyse the sole of your current or old running shoes to see where all of the wear is occurring.

“Look at the wear on the sole of your shoe. If all the wear is on the inside of the shoe under the ball of your foot, that means you are running inwards. If all the wear is in the middle of the shoe, that means you’re running fairly neutrally and if all the

wear is on lateral side of the shoe, it’s suggesting that you’re supinating.”

Sitting at a desk or at a steering wheel can negatively affect a person’s gait as the seated position can actually shorten your muscles over time.

“If you’re sitting a lot, you’re going to get short hamstrings, your glutes are going to tighten and you could get calf issues as well. But it is the hamstrings mainly, so the thing you find with a lot of those people when they’re running is their gait will veer towards the centre line underneath them because of the tightness in those areas.”

You might not feel tight or sore but as you begin to run more, issues will likely begin to show. As simple as it sounds, an easy way to alleviate the effects of sitting for long periods of time is to just get up every now and again to go for a walk or have a little stretch.

“I call it nutritious movement. If you’re eating the same meal every day, five days a week you will get fairly fed up of it pretty quickly and the body is the same as regards its position. If it is in the same one all of the time it gets fed up.”

The majority of people who go for a jog 2-3 times per week will usually be fine as long as they’re in a good quality neutral shoe that has proper protection from the concrete. The problems usually crop up when you are looking to run longer distances.

“It is when people want to move up to do longer distances that they go and get their gait analysed. The longer distances unmask the problems as the body is generally able to absorb the shorter distances and move on,” Sean says. The first and arguably easiest step to correcting your gait starts with having the right footwear. Once you have determined your gait, the next step is to decide whether you need a neutral shoe with minimal stability or whether you need a shoe with more stability such as a guide shoe – which helps to correct your foot and counteract pronation - or a max stability shoe.

“A good quality neutral shoe has a huge amount of stability in it. If you’re just doing 5km three times a week, then a good quality neutral shoe will do the job for you. There is still no harm going into a running store to have someone look at your gait because if you are over-pronating – most people pronate to a certain degree – that means your ankle is collapsing in over your arch to a large degree so something from the guide range would be a better option.”

For most people, working on your core strength and incorporating more stability exercises can improve your gait - as well as making you injury resistant and a faster runner. According to Sean, balance is the other most important factor in improving your gait.

“Balance is really important as when you hit the ground, the muscles in your lower leg and all the way up to your hip have what are called muscle stabilisers, and if they aren’t firing properly then the rest of your body has to work harder to stabilise you and that can cause injuries.”

Ultimately, if you have been running in a particular shoe for a year and the wear is all on the inside and you’re having no issues then there is no need to panic. But for the longer distances, if you’re not in the right kind of shoe the body will let you know.