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What is gait re-education?
Gait re-education teaches a person how to walk again. Neurological conditions such as a stroke, Parkinson?s, multiple sclerosis or an incomplete spinal cord injury can affect the way you walk and you may be at risk of falling and other injuries.
Above: Gait re-education exercises closely supervised by a specialist neurological physiotherapistHow can physiotherapy help?
Normal gait requires our muscles and joints to work together in an efficient manner. This means we need adequate muscle power and sufficient joint range of movement in order to walk effectively.
Neurological conditions can compromise muscle strength and joint range of movement and also slow down walking speed.
Physio.co.uk will assess your gait and teach you ways to normalise it to the best of your ability.
Physiotherapy will begin by teaching you to weight bear and then to target the skills of controlling the muscles that support and move your hips and legs. Your physiotherapist will focus on re-educating your muscles and joints to weight bear, weight shift and control the leg movement. This will also be done to prevent unwanted compensatory movement.
Above: Gait re-education exercises closely supervised by a specialist neurological physiotherapistWhat will physiotherapy involve?
At Physio.co.uk your physiotherapist will initially look at how your gait has been affected. Everyone presents differently so treatment will depend on your individual requirements.
Physiotherapy treatment will also improve your functional ability by facilitating the way you walk. Physiotherapy treatment may involve:
- Exercises to help regain standing balance
- Muscle strength training
- Stretching to increase range of movement
- Using parallel bars or with the aid of assistive devices
- Walking through doorways, and on different surfaces
- Auditory and Visual stimuli to encourage you to take bigger steps and reduce the effects of freezing. For example, mirror imaging or modulating gait with a metronome (a device that produces regular beats)
- Activities to increase the magnitude of the step and the amplitude of the movement.
- Breaking the gait cycle down into smaller more manageable chunks and repeating movement to stimulate nerve pathways.
At Physio.co.uk we also work closely with podiatrists and occupational therapist who can provide additional treatment and equipment if necessary.
If you would like more information about our gait re-education treatment or to book an appointment with us, please call Physio.co.uk today on 0330 088 7800 or book online.
