What is gait training therapy

Neurologically, long-term repetitive gait training helps to strengthen nerves damaged during stroke, decreasing spasticity and weakness in crucial areas of the body. The exercises help to improve a lot of gait issues including:. You should begin gait exercises soon after injury or illness affecting your ability to walk as long as you feel healthy enough to start the training.

The process is quite similar to other forms of physical therapy, so you may use machines to help you walk safely or have your therapist assist you by supporting your bodyweight, providing stability and giving you other necessary assistance. Commonly, the exercises involve walking on a treadmill, lifting your legs, sitting down, standing up, stepping over objects and completing various muscle strengthening activities. You may wear a harness while walking on the treadmill or during other exercises.

While in other instances, your therapist may ask you to practice stepping over objects, sitting down, standing up, lifting your legs, or other activities. Standing on one foot while lifting a weighted knee up to your hips helps to strengthen the muscles responsible for moving forward your thigh as you walk.

Leg extension movements help to straighten your legs against resistance while you are in a seated position. Similarly, placing a resistance band under or above the front of your foot helps to add resistance to dorsiflexion and plantar flexion movements, respectively.

And to improve balance and support a functional gait, you may engage in activities such as turning your head left and right, tilting it side to side, looking up and down while walking. But you may also be asked to perform targeted exercises such as:.

Gait exercises target the muscles responsible for walking, since it is weaknesses in these muscles that contribute to a range of walking abnormalities.

For instance, the hip extensors, including the hamstrings and glutens maximums, are targeted because they are responsible for straightening the hip joint while walking. Likewise, the quadriceps are targeted because they are the most prominent knee extensors in straightening the legs. Calf muscles such as the soleus and the gastrocnemius are targeted because they are responsible for the plantar flexion that occurs with every footstep. The dorsiflexor muscles found at the shins are also targeted because they help flex the ankle and point the top of the foot up with every forward step.

In every case, the exercises are designed to strengthen the muscles, boost posture and develop muscle memory that helps to restore mobility. Equally, the exercises reduce the likelihood of having a fall due to instability or lowered mobility when walking. But before you can get started with gait exercises, you should evaluate your safety doing the exercises without aggravating your injury or condition. Most often, gait exercises are performed using assistive devices, particularly if you have had a surgery, leg injury or balance and strength impairment.

However, while the exercises are done with treadmills, parallel bars and support systems, the aim of the training is often to reduce your dependence on such devices in order to walk more in your daily devices. Well, you can do these exercises at home, possibly with minimal assistance from family or friends.

But there is no substitute for working with a skilled, experienced, knowledgeable and reputable physical therapist. The process can be both physically and mentally challenging, but with the right mindset and hard work, the benefits can be life-changing.

Our team of licensed physicians offer a comprehensive range of treatments designed to fix virtually any bone or joint in your body. With six convenient locations throughout Fairfield County, help is never far away. Request an appointment online, or call So What is Gait Training? When is It Beneficial? You may practice stepping, sitting, standing, and lifting your legs in addition to walking. In the beginning of therapy, your therapist may have you use parallel bars to give you plenty of stability.

This helps increase your muscle memory. Gait trainers are another option for therapy. There are several types of gait trainers. One option, called end-effector devices, uses foot plates that move in a pattern that mimics human walking. Body-weight support systems BWS systems are harnesses that wrap around the torso and attach to a suspension system. The harness helps support your weight as you learn or re-learn to walk. BWS systems can be used for walking on the floor or on a treadmill.

The benefit of this type of training is that it allows people with no ability to walk or to support their own body weight while standing to train to walk again. These systems have been used for people with spinal cord injuries, and they can be incorporated into gait training routines, giving hope to people who might otherwise never walk again.

Balance is something most of us take for granted. The eyes, muscles, and inner ear all send signals to the brain, which in turn interprets these signals and tells the body how to move in order to keep balance. If these sensations continue for more than a few days, you may have a balance disorder.