Gait analysis

It is also commonly used in sports biomechanics to help athletes run more efficiently and to identify posture-related or movement-related problems in people with injuries.

The study encompasses quantification (introduction and analysis of measurable parameters of gaits), as well as interpretation, i.e. drawing various conclusions about the animal (health, age, size, weight, speed etc.)

In the 1890s, the German anatomist Christian Wilhelm Braune and Otto Fischer published a series of papers on the biomechanics of human gait under loaded and unloaded conditions.

[3] With the development of photography and cinematography, it became possible to capture image sequences that reveal details of human and animal locomotion that were not noticeable by watching the movement with the naked eye.

For example, serial photography first revealed the detailed sequence of the horse "gallop", which was usually misrepresented in paintings made prior to this discovery.

Although much early research was done using film cameras, the widespread application of gait analysis to humans with pathological conditions such as cerebral palsy, Parkinson's disease, and neuromuscular disorders, began in the 1970s with the availability of video camera systems that could produce detailed studies of individual patients within realistic cost and time constraints.

The study of gait allows diagnoses and intervention strategies to be made, as well as permitting future developments in rehabilitation engineering.

[20] Options for treatment of cerebral palsy include the artificial paralysis of spastic muscles using Botox or the lengthening, re-attachment or detachment of particular tendons.

Both doctors of chiropractic and osteopathic medicine use gait to discern the listing of a pelvis and can employ various techniques to restore a full range of motion to areas involved in ambulatory movement.

Chiropractic adjustment of the pelvis has shown a trend in helping restore gait patterns[21][22] as has osteopathic manipulative therapy (OMT).

[27] In 2018, there were reports that the Government of China had developed surveillance tools based on gait analysis, allowing them to uniquely identify people, even if their faces are obscured.