The Biomechanical Assessment Consultation
One of the most frequently asked questions we hear is, “my foot/ankle/hip/knee/back hurts, can you help me with this?”
The answer is – of course we can!
Many people also come to these consultations not knowing what to expect, so we thought a general run-down would be useful.
During a biomechanical assessment consultation, the first thing we’ll do is have a chat with you and ask several key questions about your pain or injury including things like:
- where the pain is,
- how long it’s been an issue,
- what tends to aggravate it,
- and what tends to relieve it.
We will also have a look at your shoes for any unusual wear patterns so it’s a fantastic idea to bring in a few pairs of your most frequently worn shoes – particularly ones you wear for exercise.
We will then assess your range of motion, palpate for the specific location of the pain and perform a few other assessments.
State of the Art Diagnostic Techniques
At Dynamic Podiatry we use a state-of-the-art Sensor Medica Treadmill as a key diagnostic tool in our biomechanical assessment.
This technology allows for highly accurate static and dynamic assessment by calculating your plantar pressure during static assessment, walking and/or running gait.
There are many different assessments we can perform with this treadmill, but the most frequent ones we will utilise are static stance tests and a walking assessment.
The static stance tests help us to assess the symmetry of the force you exert on the ground, as well as being a great test of your balance.
Dynamic assessments where we ask you to walk and/or run on the treadmill allow us to assess your gait in terms of pronation (rolling in) and supination (rolling out).
Our treadmill captures slow-motion video, which helps us to show you the relevant stuff – sometimes the forces are very subtle and can be difficult to see otherwise!
This part of our biomechanical assessment also produces dynamic pressure maps of your feet which we will use to illustrate where your body mass is travelling when you walk or run.
Achieving the Best Outcomes
After we’ve completed the biomechanical assessment and gathered all other relevant information, the next thing is – what are we going to do to treat the pain?
This is different for everyone as no two sets of feet are the same, but when you come to us with an injury we will almost always trial some temporary treatments to ensure we are providing you with the best possible plan.
This will often take the form of strapping, in-shoe padding, exercises and sometimes advice on new shoes if you need them.
After we’ve done all this, we will want to reassess how things are going in the next couple of weeks – your podiatrist will specify how long this is.
When you come back, we will have (hopefully!) had some improvement which will direct our longer term plan. Sometimes this involves orthoses, but can take many different forms.
We're Here to Help You Stay Active
We believe that our job is not over when the pain is gone; we also have to make sure it doesn’t come back!
As a result, we will frequently give you a strengthening and conditioning program with exercises to compliment our offloading techniques.
This advice is general in nature and does not consider your individual circumstances. It is intended to be educational in nature and does not constitute medical advice.
If you believe you are affected by any condition mentioned in this article, seek the advice of a health professional.
You can make an appointment with one of our highly qualified podiatrists by calling 3351 8878, or book online by clicking here.
