Gait Disorder Management with Physical Therapy
Gait disorders can impair your walking patterns and affect your mobility and independence. Fortunately, there are steps you can take to address these issues! Gait disorder management focuses on improving balance, coordination, and muscle strength to restore normal walking patterns.
There are many reasons why someone might develop a gait disorder, including injury, neurological conditions, or age-related changes. At Crane Physical Therapy, our team will tailor a program to help you regain stability and confidence and address any underlying causes affecting your gait.
Through personalized care, you can improve your walking ability and reduce your risk of falls. Today, we want to explore some techniques and approaches we use when developing our gait disorder management programs. Keep reading to learn more!
What Causes Gait Disorders?
When you visit us to help manage a gait disorder, we’ll always start by identifying the underlying cause. Here are some of the most common that we see at our Mansfield, OH clinic:
Muscle Weakness
- Leg or core weakness can make walking difficult, affecting stability and balance. Strengthening these areas can improve mobility and reduce the risk of falls.
Joint Pain and/or Stiffness
- Stiff or painful joints caused by arthritis or injury can limit your range of motion, making it harder to walk with a proper gait. We can show you exercises to improve your range of motion, reduce pain, and restore movement.
Neurological Conditions
- Several neurological conditions, including stroke or Parkinson’s disease, can affect gait. These conditions may cause muscle coordination issues or balance problems. Our physical therapists can help retrain the body to move more effectively with a structured therapy program.
Gait Disorder Management: What To Expect
At your first appointment with Crane Physical Therapy for gait disorder management, we’ll begin with a thorough assessment to help us understand your needs. We’ll take a complete health history and evaluate your mobility, balance, strength, and specific gait patterns to help us determine the best treatment plan for your needs.
We pull from several different treatment techniques when creating our programs, including the following:
Pain Management
- In some cases, addressing joint pain can help improve your gait disorder. We might utilize manual therapy techniques or treatment modalities to reduce pain and improve mobility.
Therapeutic Exercises
- We’ll show you customized strengthening exercises that target weak muscles in your legs, hip, and core, helping to improve your balance and stability. Range of motion exercises help improve mobility and further reduce pain as well.
Balance Training
- We’ll guide you through exercises that challenge your balance, helping to enhance your coordination and stability and prevent falls.
Gait Training
- We’ll also help you correct any abnormal walking patterns directly. These techniques focus on improving your posture, foot placement, and stride length.
Neuromuscular Reeducation
- We might incorporate this technique if you have a neurological condition affecting your balance. Neuromuscular reeducation helps retrain the brain and body to move more effectively.
Schedule an Appointment to Get Started
Living with a gait disorder can be challenging, but a personalized care plan from Crane Physical Therapy can dramatically improve your quality of life. Our dedicated physical therapist will work with you to find the right blend of techniques for your needs.
Call our Mansfield, OH clinic today to get started.