Gait Analysis update

Last June I had a Gait Analysis done by Wendi P. at Gear West. The appointment was 40 minutes and Wendi figured out my shoes were wrong, I needed SuperFeet inserts and my left leg was 5mm longer than the right. The shoes, inserts, and heel lift made great progress in reducing the intermittent foot pain I was having.

Occasionally, I would still get foot pain and it was mostly after running hills. Lately my feet would have pain after nearly every run. I was coming off a few months of not running so I didn't worry too much. Two weeks ago I had my final post-foot-surgery checkup with my podiatrist. At that appointment I asked about the foot pain I was having. He knew I had a 5mm heel lift (from Wendi) and wanted to verify my leg length difference via X-Ray. Today I had the results faxed to my Doc and I was a little surprised that the measurements from the X-Ray found that my left leg was 5mm longer than the right. I find it amazing that Wendi could feel my hips and watch me run and determine that 5mm was the proper heel lift thickness without using any measuring devices. The same measurement determined by X-Ray machine. Amazing.

If you read back a few blog posts you will see that I found my shoe laces were loose and that's what I found caused my recent intermittent pain problem. Something simple but it's doing the trick for now.

--Mark

New shoes

On Friday I had an appointment for a 'gait analysis'. My goal was to find a solution to my foot problems after fast/hard road races or fast treadmill workouts.

I was originally fit into Brooks Adrenaline stability shoes when I first took up running about 3 years ago. For the most part they have been very comfortable and have worked well for me. I am susceptible to hurting my foot, either right or left, near the front of the cuboid bone. The injury usually resolves itself in a few days to a few weeks.

To keep this short, here is what my 'gait analysis' person found: My left leg is 5mm longer than the right, my ankles are strong and my arches are weak. I should be wearing 'neutral' shoes, not 'stability' shoes.

I tried three different shoes and the ones that I had the best form in are Brooks Glycerin. So, I'm wearing the new Brooks shoes with 'green' Superfeet insoles and a 5mm lift under my right heel. This appointment took almost 40 minutes and she didn't cut corners and made sure I was in what she thought was the best setup for me.

I can expect to be a little sore for a few weeks and then I should feel great in the shoes in about 6 weeks. I'm interested to see how this goes.

edit: I had my Gait Analysis done by Wendi at Gear West. See http://www.gearwest.com/gait-analysis-pg-14.html for more information.

--Mark