What To Expect

So, you've researched the subject and come to the conclusion that your foot function may be the culprit for the problems you suffer. You've identified a practitioner close to home and you'd like to have a GaitScan assessment, but you're a bit unsure of what to expect.

Well, relax. Below is what a typical assessment involves:

1. Case History Just like many other healthcare assessments, you'll need to provide a history of your health problems, which gives the practitioner clues about the real underlying cause and how the problem has affected your particular body.

Be sure to include all health problems, not just those for which you are initially requiring treatment. Try to remember all those small otherwise insignificant problems - a bloated tummy after eating, stuffy nose, sleep problems, lack of energy, feeling exhausted, weight gain, repeated colds/infections - they may not seem much on their own but combined into the big picture they will be useful and usually make a lot more sense.

2. Physical Examination You will normally need to remove your clothes with the exception of your underwear, and slip into a gown. This enables the practitioner to assess your posture, or the physical relationship of different parts of your body to others. They will then get you to lie face down and face up on an examination table. You should also be asked to walk up and down so they can assess how you walk barefoot.

3. Sub-Talar Joint Neutral Assessment For this you will need to lie on the examination table face up, with your feet hanging clear of the end of the table. They will then place your foot in Sub-Talar Joint Neutral, which is the netural alignment of the foot and lower leg. Ideally when the foot is in this position, the sole of the foot should be perpendicular to the line of the lower leg. Any deviation of the alignment of the rearfoot and/or the forefoot in this position will be the most likely underlying cause for any functional foot problems.

4. GaitScan Assessment The fun bit. Firstly, you will be asked to stand on a black mat. This is the pressure-sensitive digital plate that maps the pressure distribution across the base of your feet. You will then be asked to walk normally across the mat, placing the foot centrally within the mat area. You will need to repeat this exercise several times on each foot. For runners, you can also undertake the same thing whilst running across the mat.

The whole assessment will probably take somewhere between 1 and 2 hours. The gaitscan analysis itself is very quick, and the results are available instantly as printouts which you can keep. Whilst the information collected from the other assessments helps to build up a picture of what causes your abnormal foot function and your current health problems, it is the results of the gaitscan assessment that are used to create a pair of prescription functional orthoses, if required.