Apparently I walk wrong...

Check out Joanna Hall's DVDs. She's a qualified sports scientist, and her Walkactive methods are very good. I'm in the process of re-learning to walk properly. Wish I'd taken more notice of her when she was a guest speaker on a cruise I did, a few years ago!

Any tips or tricks?

Did your PT give you any exercises to do to help change your gate? If so my biggest tip would be to do those exercises.

Lots of people have to wear orthopaedics, they will really help.

hmhill17 wrote: »

PT said make sure to stretch my calves and feet and to try to make myself walk on the inside of my feet and push off with my big toe instead of my pinky toe. Says that based on muscle development in my calves, I used to walk/run properly but that I must have changed my stride at some point. I'm wondering if it was back when I ran regularly and was working on forefoot running instead of heel striking and overcompensated on pronation.
Tried it this morning and my calves hurt where they're supposed to for a better gait, so hopefully it won't be as hard as I though.

it could be something as simple as a minor sprain/strain that caused your gait to change and it just stuck around

I had epic hip issues a few years ago and did PT for it - when i was talking to my physical therapist trying to figure out the root cause she was asking me about running etc - and we identified that i had slightly rolled my ankle while on a run one day - not enough to stop me from running, but enough that i adjusted my gait - which then in turn caused my knee and hip to get out of whack

Make sure you get a shoe that fits, and tie it properly. Sounds silly, but if I don't properly tighten my shoes I'm more prone to walking on the edge of my foot.

In my opinion shoes are casts and orthotics makes it even worse.

I have spent about the last year (maybe 2) or so using minimalist footwear more, and regular running shoes less.

The longer I have been doing this the more I think that minimalist is the way to go, but it must be done gradually over at least a year.

When your foot is restricted by shoes and orthotics, it does not use all the muscles, which causes atrophy in your feet as well as other muscles in your legs and elsewhere that do not have to work the same way when you are walking or running.

Shoes with a raised heal can affect your whole posture, and cause problems with joints all the way up the chain of your body.

I would recommend getting a good pair of very flexible zero drop shoe with little to no arch support, and little to no cushion. Start off by wearing them for short distances (whatever is comfortable) at first, and slowly build up from there. Wear you regular shoes the rest of the time, and slowly over time wear the minimal shoes more and the regular shoes less.

Believe it or not, when I run in my barefoot shoes or sandals, my feet & legs don't feel near as beat up as they do when I run in my regular running shoes. It took a while to get to that point though, but I have not had any knee, shin, foot, or back pain since.

I am not a spokes person for minimalist running either. I own close to 40 pair of regular running shoes...