What to expect with your Biomechanical Examinations
APPOINTMENT
When you attend our clinics for your biomechanical assessment please arrive at least 10 minutes early so you can complete the relevant patient details forms. Your assessment will take approximately 45 minutes.
Please bring:
-Shorts or tights, and clothing suitable for your examination.
-Current (and old if you have them) sports shoes, including running, cycling, netball, tennis etc and even ski boots if they are relevant to your problem. Please DO NOT buy new shoes before your appointment, as we often need to recommend new shoes as part of the treatment regime. The wrong shoes can really harm some people and lessen the effectiveness of some treatments.
-Relevant scans
-Referral letter if you have one (a referral isn’t necessary, but many patients are referred by physios and doctors)
THE ASSESSMENT – what to expect
At Sydney Sports Podiatry, we pride ourselves on looking at “The Big Picture”. Sometimes called a holistic approach, we aim to diagnose the cause of your problem. Too often we see unsuccessful treatments coming in where the focus is too much on just fixing the symptoms without identifying the cause.
We collect a detailed history from you of events and activities that may have contributed to your current injury or pain.
We then observe your entire standing posture for asymmetry, assess your strength and range of motion through joints and measure your legs and feet to screen for leg length differences, twists and torsions in your leg and foot structure.
We assess your walking and/or running gait recorded using Dartfish for slow motion analysis on replay.
We assess your existing shoes (and old orthotics if you already have them) for telling wear and tear that frequently reveals the big picture of what is going on and what may be going wrong.
And finally, we will prescribe a treatment program that may involve stretching, strengthening, balance training, running technique advice, which shoes to buy and either over the counter of prescription orthotics when necessary.