Every Step Counts – But Not How You Think
You’ve just hit your 10,000 steps for the day. Your watch buzzes with congratulations. You feel accomplished—but should you? What if those 10,000 steps were slowly damaging your joints, creating muscle imbalances, or setting you up for future injuries?
Think of walking improperly like driving a car with misaligned tires. Adding more miles doesn’t fix the problem—it compounds it. Your body’s movement patterns work the same way, and that little fitness tracker on your wrist can’t tell you if you’re headed for trouble with every step.
At Omega Project, we view gait as a crucial vital sign. We exist so that everyone can have confidence that each step (walking or running) is helping them live longer and healthier lives. This article is going to give you the critical info you need to turn something that most people take for granted (gait) into your secret for a long and happy life.
Why This Matters to You
Have you ever watched how someone walks? The way we move can reveal a lot about our body’s health – kind of like how a limp might show you’ve hurt your foot. But here’s the thing: sometimes our body changes how it moves without us even noticing!
Think about it this way: if our ancestors were running from a lion and hurt their ankle, they wouldn’t stop to think about how they were running – they just ran! Today, we’re not running from lions, but our bodies still quietly adjust to problems, like sitting too much or having tight muscles.
This is why getting your walk and/or run checked out (called a gait analysis) is so important. Here are three real stories that show why:
Story #1: A woman with no pain got her walk checked out of curiosity. The analysis showed her right side moved differently than her left. Turns out, she’d been in a car accident three months earlier and had right sided pain after the accident that lasted for about a week. With one simple tip to fix her walk, she improved by 75%. Without the gait analysis, she might have developed serious problems later and be clueless as to where the issues were coming from.
Story #2: A runner who ran every day started getting knee pain. The analysis showed his hip wasn’t moving correctly, which stressed his knee. After just 5 minutes of gait re-training, he fixed his form. Two weeks later? No pain, and he could run faster!
Story #3: A man who walked all day for work had hip pain with every step. The analysis showed he wasn’t using his ankle properly. With guidance, he was able to correct his movement, and his pain disappeared instantly!
The Big Picture: Your body is good at adjusting to problems – maybe too good! It can change how you move without you feeling it. Getting your walk and/or run checked can catch these changes early and help prevent pain before it starts. We have countless stories of how people benefit from gait analysis, and you can likely have your own story of how it helped you, too!
Gait or Die
Too aggressive on the heading for this section? Maybe not! If you are still not convinced that you need a gait analysis, this section will provide some compelling statistics about how gait is the most (if not one of the most) crucial vital signs. If you are already convinced about needing to get your gait checked, you can skip ahead to figure out what type of gait analysis is right for you.
What do we mean when we say gait is a vital sign? Vital signs are measurements that doctors use to check how your body is working. Just like a car has gauges that tell you if something is wrong with the engine, vital signs tell doctors if something might be wrong with your body.
The most common vital signs are:
- Temperature
- Heart rate (pulse)
- Blood pressure
- Breathing rate
Doctors check these numbers at almost every visit. They help spot problems early, before you feel sick.
But there’s another vital sign that doesn’t always get checked: how you walk, or your “gait.”
Why Gait Should Be a Vital Sign
The way you walk can tell doctors a lot about your health – sometimes even more than traditional vital signs! Your walking pattern shows how your brain, muscles, bones, and nerves all work together.
Gait is the only vital sign that measures how all your body systems work together and can predict so many different health outcomes!
Still need more convincing…here are some amazing facts about gait that might surprise you:
Gait Can Predict Your Future Health
Did you know that how fast you walk might tell doctors how long you’ll live? It’s true! Research (Von Kan 2009) shows that when someone’s walking speed drops below 2.24 miles per hour (which is a fairly slow walk), they face bigger health risks. This slower pace means they’re more likely to have memory and cognitive problems within 5 years. Even more concerning, they have a higher chance of ending up in the hospital or dying within just 1 year.
How they walk is also important. People who can walk with more frequent steps (100 steps per minute or more) have a 21% lower chance of dying early. For every 10 extra steps per minute you can walk, your risk drops by another 4%!
Walking Problems Can Be Early Warning Signs
Changes in how you walk might be the first sign of health problems, even before other symptoms show up. Doctors have found that unusual walking patterns can warn about:
- Memory problems
- Fall risk
- Need for nursing home care
- Higher risk of dying earlier
The take away…it is never too early to start understanding how you are walking!
Balance Matters
When your body isn’t balanced while walking, it can cause big problems. Osoba 2019 showed that falls in people 65 years and older accounted for 55.8% of accidental deaths. Balance issues may come from normal changes in strength and other body functions that can be easily detected with gait.
Symmetry Matters
If one side of your body works harder than the other (called “asymmetry”), you’re more likely to develop:
- Knee arthritis (painful knees)
- Hip arthritis (painful hips)
- Injuries on your weaker side
In fact, runners with just 1 degree of difference in how their pelvis tilts have an 80% higher chance of getting injured on that side!
Taking Action: What This Means For You
Think of gait analysis as a window into your whole health. While doctors can learn a lot from checking your temperature or blood pressure, watching how you walk gives them a complete picture of how your whole body is working together.
When your doctor checks your other vital signs, ask them to look at your walking too. Or better yet, see a specialist who can do a complete gait analysis. It might be the most important health check you ever get!
Remember these key points to share with friends and family:
- How you walk can predict your future health
- Walking at normal speed (2.24 mph) can identify significant health risk, physically and mentally
- Walking with faster steps can indicate significant reduction in risk of death
- Uneven walking patterns can lead to joint problems
- Gait changes might be the first sign of health problems
- Gait is the only vital sign that shows how your whole body works together
By checking your gait regularly, you can catch problems early and stay healthier longer. That’s why gait truly deserves to be called a vital sign!
Your Next Step Is Simple
Getting a gait analysis isn’t complicated, expensive, or time-consuming. Depending on your needs, you might start with a simple observational analysis, a smartphone video, or go straight to the gold standard—3D motion analysis.
The investment is small, but the potential return is enormous: less pain, fewer injuries, better performance, and possibly even a longer, healthier life. Here are some pointers on what to do next.
- Start Simple: Take a quick video of yourself walking or running from the side using your smartphone. While this won’t give you all the answers, it can help you spot obvious patterns.
- Get Professional Help: Look for experts with advanced training for the most accurate analysis and personalized guidance. At Omega Project, we use 3D motion analysis to get the most accurate results and optimal outcomes.
Don’t Just Count Steps—Make Your Steps Count
Your fitness tracker can tell you how many steps you take, but not how well you take them. Quality matters just as much as quantity. One properly analyzed gait assessment might be worth more to your health than thousands of unexamined steps.
Isn’t it time you discovered what your walk or run is trying to tell you about your health? Take that first step today—your future self will thank you.
Don’t wait for pain or problems to appear – take the first step toward better movement today!
