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Biomechanics is the science of human movement. It takes mechanical principles and applies them to how the human body moves.
In podiatric medicine, biomechanics focuses on the forces that affect your feet and ankles. It looks at how your biomechanics can cause foot and ankle problems. When applied to sports medicine, it can help prevent injury and improve athletic performance.
At Washington Foot & Ankle Sports Medicine, located in Kirkland, Washington, our expert podiatrists have a strong understanding of biomechanical foot problems. Let’s discuss how biomechanics can affect your mobility.
Biomechanics closely reviews how your muscles, tendons, ligaments, and bones influence each other when you move. It also focuses on force, balance, and momentum.
Your feet and ankles keep you balanced, support your weight, and absorb shock. That’s why foot and ankle biomechanics are so important. When faulty, you have a greater risk of injury.
Biomechanics can affect your mobility. Mobility is the ability to move around easily and freely. And if you have faulty biomechanics, you can suffer an injury or other foot conditions.
Let’s say you go for a run. While you’re running, you start to change directions but apply too much force or rotation to your ankle. You lose balance, fall, and sprain your ankle. This is where biomechanics comes in.
It looks at how the injury occurred and how to prevent it. For example, were you trying to run uphill when you made the turn? Was it on concrete or grass? It even looks at the type and condition of your shoes. All of these factors can affect biomechanics and mobility.
Faulty biomechanics can result in problems with your feet and ankles. These problems can affect your gait, the way you take a step. Here are a few of them.
Bunions form on the base of your big toe. They occur as a result of overpronation, which is turning your foot in when walking or running. This applies too much pressure on your big toe and misaligns the joint. Bunions cause a lot of pain. As a result, they affect your gait and mobility.
This condition causes inflammation of the tissue that connects your heel bone to your toes. Plantar fasciitis can make walking painful, as it causes a stabbing pain in your heal. One of the causes is irregular gait, or biomechanics.
Our team at Washington Foot & Ankle Sports Medicine can determine if your foot pain is from faulty biomechanics. We perform a gait analysis that reviews how you take a step. Once we look at your gait analysis, we can develop a treatment plan for you.
To learn more about biomechanics and your mobility, call our office or visit our website to book your appointment online.
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