Introduction: The Gait cycle “ The Gait cycle starts when one foot makes contact with the ground and ends when that same foot contacts the ground again”. (TheFreeDictionary.com, 2009) An entire gait cycle is made up of two steps. The Gait cycle can be divided into two phases that occur in cycles, the Stance phase and the Swing phase. As seen in figure 1 the stance phase accounts for 60% of the gait cycle, while the swing phase accounts for the other 40% of the cycle. Gait analysis is an essential tool used by podiatrists to help analyse a person’s normal walking and assess problems that may arise due to their gait. The Stance phase consists of five main components. This phase starts with heel strike and ends with toe-off. Heal strike …show more content…
This index can is used for a variety of biomechanical assessments ranging from identifying foot type to assessing biomechanical risk factors for ulceration in diabetes. To carry out an assessment, a podiatrist must have their patient standing is a relaxed position with both feet placed on the ground. The person should be instructed to stand still, looking straight ahead. The clinician carrying out the assessment must have space to move around the patient to be able to carry out the proper evaluation. The assessment consists of six individual tests. As seen below in figure 2, the tests are scored according to the foot posture index. These scores are then compiled to give an overall result. The final score will be between -12 and +12. If the foot has a score between 0 and +5, the foot can be considered normal. A supinated foot will have a rating of -1 to -4, with a highly supinated foot ranging from -5 to -12. A score of +6 to +9 indicates a pronated foot and scores over 10 indicate a highly pronated foot. (Redmond,