Clinical gait analysis: A systematic study on diagnostic tools for specific movement disorders and prevention of sports injuries

Introduction: Clinical application of quantitative gait analysis method is a useful study of human movement, especially human gait. Although these tools have no long history but like other diagnostic tools, can measure the effective parameters on movement. Furthermore, by applying pathological analysis of patterns and mechanisms, these instruments give general information about better understanding health-related interventions occurrence to rehabilitation and treatment groups; which finally leads to creating a specific and more precise prescription for prevention, treatment or surgery. According to previous assessments, poor biomechanics was one of the causes of many injuries, especially in athletes. This article examines the use of clinical gait analysis tools to diagnose and prevent athlete's injuries. Methods: A standard, noise-free clinical gait laboratory, which is capable of performing and recording diagnostic tests of movement activity cycles on healthy individuals with motion disorders, has at least the following facilities: ۱) A recorder for video recording of kinematic and kinetic behavior of motion, ۲) a force plate for three-dimensional measurement of kinematic forces and, ۳) a dynamic electromyography (EMG) for simultaneous recording of kinetic and dynamic muscle activity. It is recommended that information such as personal information and case history (if any) be collected before an objective assessment of gait and muscle activity patterns. It is typical that the whole process is briefly explained to the examinee before performing evaluations as well. In order to reduce possible errors, it is good to accomplish each test once or twice more. In the final stage, kinematic and kinetic data are gathered and analyzed by a laboratory biomechanics specialist. These sets are generally selective parts of the collected favorable information by the researcher during evaluation, such as: forces and torques, velocity, acceleration, joint angles, muscle activity, and so on. After carrying out an in-depth analysis, the final results are prepared and interpreted in a set of diagrams and tables. Results: By interpreting and rendering the graphs of motion analysis laboratory data, the results of deviations or the value of functional differences in the systemic motion cycle of individuals can be easily observed. Physicians in collaboration with scholars also continue treatment processes on clients with access to final reports. This cooperation has been surveyed for two following groups: Firstly, In the field of sports activities, researchers can interpret the final information and provide optimal models to athletes in order to increase their efficiency and reduce the potential risk of injury. Moreover, they design and manufacture rehabilitation tools such as wearables orthoses and implantable prostheses which result in improving their efficiency and physical condition or; provide specific and personalized exercises to boost the rate of treatment and recovery of injuries. Secondly, in samples of patients with gait abnormalities, biomechanics specialists and therapists can always choose an appropriate solution to start treatment and recovery and advise a unique treatment for each. Important parameters such as: Gait Velocity, Step Length and Stride Length, Step and Stride Time, Output Angle and Torque of joint movements in different movement planes and comparison with a normal statistical population illustrates a good estimation of movement disorders. Conclusion: Nowadays, the Clinical Gait Clinical Laboratory is one of the most important, challenging and useful diagnostic and therapeutic tools of biomechanics specialists and therapists in the field of kinesiology to improve the quality of motion health and readiness of athletes. As well as it provides important parameters for the analysis and recognition of movement abnormalities or possible injuries. Compared to other test systems, it is non-invasive and the patient is examined in different static and dynamic conditions, which is the important point of this diagnostic test.