Depending on where you purchased your first pair of running shoes, your first foray into running may have involved a gait analysis by a shoe fit expert at your local running store.
If so, that might have been your first and only running gait analysis.
Moreover, although many specialty running shoe stores do offer a complementary running gait analysis, not all do, and many runners are reluctant to step on the treadmill and have their form scrutinized by a store associate, especially if they’re just getting started with running.
Therefore, it’s not uncommon for even experienced runners to have only had one running gait analysis, if any at all.
We have put together a running gait analysis guide to provide a resource for beginners and experienced runners alike to learn about the benefits of getting your running gait analyzed and what to expect from a running gait analysis.
In this guide, we will cover:
- What Is a Running Gait Analysis?
- Where Can You Get a Running Gait Analysis?
- What Does a Running Gait Analysis Cost?
- The Benefits Of a Running Gait Analysis
- Who Should Get a Running Gait Analysis?
- How Often Should You Get a Running Gait Analysis?
Let’s dive in!
What Is a Running Gait Analysis?
As the name describes, a running gait analysis is an assessment of your running gait. But, what exactly is running “gait”?
Running gait refers to your running stride, or the cycle and motions that your feet and legs make when you run.
There are two primary phases of the running gait cycle: stance and swing.
The stance phase is when your foot is in contact with the ground, while the swing phase is when the leg is up in the air, non-weight bearing.
The stance phase has different stages, such as initial contact, mid-stance, and toe off, while the swing phase has the float stage, which is unique to running over walking.
A running gait analysis assesses where and how your feet and legs are positioned and absorb forces during these phases and stages of the gait cycle.
Where Can You Get a Running Gait Analysis?
A running gait analysis typically takes place at a specialty running shoe store or sports shoe store, but you can also get a professional running gait analysis at certain universities, biomechanics labs, or sports medicine and rehabilitation clinics.
What Does a Running Gait Analysis Cost?
The good news is that almost every running shoe store that offers a running gait analysis service provides this as a complementary perk, meaning it’s completely free.
It behooves the running store to offer a free run and gait analysis before you purchase shoes in order to enable the store associate to guide you towards the most appropriate running shoes for your needs.
By assessing your form before choosing shoes, they can ensure the shoes will support your feet and optimize your running stride.
There’s a better chance you’ll love your running shoes if they fit right, feel comfortable, and keep your body healthy.
Happy customers = return customers.
It’s also possible to seek out a running gait analysis at a private lab or facility.
The cost for these evaluations will vary from free to a few hundred dollars, depending on what is offered in the gait analysis and the facility’s chosen rates.
The Benefits Of a Running Gait Analysis
The primary aim of a running gait analysis is to provide an assessment of your running gait to select the best type of shoes for your needs.
It also can be used to inform what types of mobility and strengthening exercises you should do to improve your running gait.
In these ways, getting your gait analyzed can reduce the risk of injury and make you a more efficient runner.
Who Should Get a Running Gait Analysis?
All runners! From beginners to the elite, every runner can benefit from getting a running gait analysis.
They are particularly helpful if you are having pain or dealing with injuries, but are beneficial for all runners.
What to Expect At a Running Gait Analysis
When you first arrive for a running gait analysis, you may be asked to fill out a questionnaire or answer questions about your experience as a runner, injury history, current training, type of shoes you usually wear, concerns and complaints, etc.
This background information serves as a useful guide for the expert conducting your running gait analysis in terms of what to potentially look for and what type of shoes you may need.
Although a running gait analysis may occur outside if you are having it done at a university, sports rehabilitation clinic, or private facility, at most places (including these sites), a running gait analysis takes place on a treadmill.
Most often, a running gait analysis will take place at a specialty running shoe store, where fit experts can observe your gait and running form while wearing different types of running shoes.
This will enable the store associate to evaluate how different types of shoes affect the way your feet land and absorb your impact, and the angles and kinematics of your ankles, knees, hips, and feet.
Usually, the person performing the running gait analysis may have you start in a pair of neutral running shoes.
After putting on the shoes, you will be asked to run on the treadmill at a pace that feels comfortable to you.
You do not need to feel self-conscious about the speed at which you are running; just run at a pace that you would use during a typical training run. Running shoe store experts have seen it all—very slow runners and very fast. Just be confident and comfortable with the pace that feels good.
While you run on the treadmill, the person conducting the running gait analysis will observe your running form and gait from a variety of different angles, particularly the back and each side, though the front view provides helpful information as well.
Again, he or she is looking at the positioning, timing, and angles of how your feet land; support your weight at midstance, and then push off for the next stride.
More specificially:
- Are you landing on your rearfoot, midfoot, or forefoot?
- Is your foot rolling in when you land? Do you have a normal degree or pronation or is your foot collapsing inward too much (overpronation)?
- Are you supinating (landing on the outside of your foot)?
- How is your foot positioned at toe off?
- How do your knees and hips look? Do your knees collapse inward?
- Are your shins parallel and upright stacked over the ankles and under the knees?
- How does the length of your stride look? Are you overstriding?
- Is your running gait cycle balanced and even?
- Are you spending the same length of time and following a similar path of motion between the right and left legs?
In addition to observing your running gait visually, many running gait analysis facilities now also record video while you run.
The benefit here is that a video gait analysis can be slowed down and observed in fine detail rather than in real time.
Depending on where you get a running gait analysis and the sophistication of their technology, you may also be asked to wear motion-capture technology like little reflective stickers or balls on your joints.
Using positioning systems and built-in algorithms, this type of motion-capture technology used for a running gait analysis allows the expert to get specific joint angles and exquisite detailed data during a frame by frame review of your running gait after the recording has stopped.
For example, you can get your contact time, joint forces and angles, symmetry, and running cadence.
Any type of video running gait analysis is helpful because assessing running gait in slow motion can elucidate far more information than you can glean trying to keep up in real time.
Plus, taking a video recording of your running gait allows you to review your own running stride yourself with the expert, helping you better comprehend the findings and tips to improve your form.
After running in a neutral pair of shoes for anywhere from 30 seconds to a couple of minutes, you will step off the treadmill and the video will be reviewed frame by frame.
Coupled with what was observed by the naked eye, the video replay will inform the expert with how you are landing on your feet, the part of the foot you are landing on, your degree of pronation, how you push off, and if there are any misalignments biomechanically within the ankles, knees, and hips.
Then, this information will be considered in the context of your running goals, current training, and history of injuries.
Based on this assessment, you may then be asked to run in a different type of shoes thought to be a more appropriate fit.
For example, if you are overpronating when you run, you may be asked to try running in stability shoes or motion control shoes, depending on the degree of overpronation. Or the expert may suggest you try running insoles.
The same type of observation and video recording will occur in the new pair of shoes, noting any improvements or changes.
Once the general category or type of running shoes that best fits your needs is identified, you might try on several different styles of this type of shoe to fine-tune which shoes feel most comfortable and yield the most biomechanically-sound gait.
The whole process of a typical running gait analysis from start to finish usually takes about 15-20 minutes, but only usually requires a few bouts of a minute or less of running.
How Often Should You Get a Running Gait Analysis?
Although it can be argued that your first running gait analysis is the most important because it establishes a baseline for the type of shoes you need and any form corrections you should try to work on, it’s actually a good idea to get a run and gait analysis each year.
Your biomechanics can change, particularly if you gain or lose weight, add a new sport or type of exercise to your workout routine, change your training significantly, or experience an injury.
Getting your gait and stride assessed once a year can steer you towards the right shoes without making any assumptions that might otherwise contribute to developing an injury.
Speaking of purchasing running shoes, have you tried out a shoe rotation? Check out the benefits of a shoes rotation in our very own guide.
