An interesting article in the newsletter Medical News Today
Knee osteoarthritis: Small change to gait may relieve symptoms
The nub seems to be research showing that retraining walking patterns to turn the toes further in or further out by a small amount was, in some cases, as effective for Knee pain as medication.
Worth some further thought if you have knee issues. Its possible, although clearly would need research, that similarly hip pain could be aided.
Seemingly not explored here is whether freeing up tensions in soft tissue – muscle and connective tissue – to take out restrictions and imbalances acquired over time with the aim to returning to a normal gait from an altered one could achieve the same thing? Its entirely possible, and this is where a practice like Yoga or Pilates would help.
Gait however is complex and whilst many of us have variances in gait – including a common one of foot turn out – in some cases this is a natural effect of skeletal variation, and certainly not something to be corrected of changed for the sake of it – I’ve known Personal Trainers who have taken a simplistic view that any turnout is wrong – that’s not supported by studies of human anatomy and variance.
