It’s that time of the year again….beach cam

With Dr Ivo’s yearly trip to the beach, we have some interesting footage. Today’s winner was this gentleman. We apologize for the shakiness of the camera, as he free handed it for this shot.

Note the following:

• the lack of glute action and the  loss of ankle rocker; his hips NEVER extend past zero. In this case, if they did, he would probably fall forward., due to his abdominal weakness

• To go along with this, we have some premature heel rise, to help him to move forward. As soon as his body mass passes over the foot, the heel comes up.

• Note the forward posture of the head, to attempt to move his center of gravity forward

• Note how his arm swing is only forward. Normally, we like to se the arms move posterior to the body

• He does appear to use his abs to initiate flexion of the thigh. See how he picks up his leg and extends the knee suddenly? This is given away by the acceleration of the leg as he “kicks” it forward.

As you can see, no one is safe from the gait cam. We are everywhere and the army of gait geeks is growing.  Do yourself a favor. Train yourself and others to have ankle rocker, use their glutes to extend their thigh and initiate hip flexion with their abs, rather than the psoas and rectus femoris.

This message is brought to you as a public service by The Gait Guys. Friends don’t let friends have bad biomechanics…