Walk/Gait Assessment Question
Hi everyone. I’ve seen a few mentions here of gait assessments. As my interest will primarily be in working with older adults, I imagine that such an assessment would be a valuable tool. But it wasn’t part of my certification materials, and I’d like to find out how to perform it correctly. I know I can find videos on Youtube, but I really want to make sure I’m doing a scientifically sound assessment. Can anyone point me in a direction for learning this? Thank you!
Hi Tom,
I suggest that you look into getting a Corrective Exercise Certification. I have taken the courses from NASM and Justin Price’s The BioMechanic Method. Both courses were great. I learned quite a lot from each course. I highly recommend each program. If you check into the Justin Price course and you are interested in it you can use this code to get a 10% discount TBBMFriend10.
Denny
The only way to acquire the knowledge and skill is to research the material and practice implementing the material. You could try to find a physical therapist in your area to mentor you. Or another Personal Trainer with more experience. The suggested courses in Denny’s answer are very good for this and much more.
Hi Tom,
I second Martin’s answer. I have not found anything for personal trainers for gait assessments. This is the area for physical therapists. I have taken lectures at IDEA from various presenters about gait. I use observation of gait as an addendum to the assessments that are part of NASM CES or Justin Price’s TBMM. While I agree with Denny that those courses are great, they do not provide any information on gait assessment.
When I do a gait observation (I do not call it assessment on purpose), I always use a video camera. Watching frame by frame has helped me get a better picture in conjunction with the assessments I made based on the other modalities.
Karin Singleton
www.meltnc.com
Hello Tom Borromeo,
I also agree with the others to look into corrective exercise education, which happens to be more readily available for the physical therapy field. I would also further my education to work with the older population, which will bring you to the gait work. It can’t hurt to contact the certifying agencies such as ACE, IDEA, etc. for help with topics that are not listed on their sites…yet. The library is a great source for books, so I have heard…love that place.
Take care,
Natalie aka NAPS 2 B Fit.
Thank you everyone. I’m happy to say that I did enroll in the CES course through NASM, but I haven’t started those studies yet. I’m in the middle of the Senior Fitness Specialization program right now. It hadn’t occurred to me that the gait assessment might lie within the physical therapist’s purview, but this is all so new to me. I appreciate all the responses and great advice. I’ll go check out the Justin Price course, too.