Gait Analysis
Reviewed by Andrew Schox, BSc(Hons) PGradDipPod MPod, October 2026
Gait analysis is a way of measuring how you walk. It can be as simple as a trained clinician watching you and timing a short walk, or as detailed as a gait laboratory using cameras, floor plates and muscle sensors. It is done to answer a specific question, such as which treatment to choose, where foot or leg pain is coming from, or whether your walking is changing. Your results are compared with reference values and written up to help you and your health team make decisions.
What is it?
Gait is the word for your walking pattern. Gait analysis is a way of measuring that pattern. It can be simple: a trained clinician watches you walk, or times you over a short distance. It can also be detailed, using cameras, sensors and special floor plates in a gait laboratory.
It isn't a stand-alone test. It is meant to answer a question about you, such as which treatment to choose or whether your walking is changing over time. Detailed testing usually measures how fast you walk, how long your steps are and how they are timed, how your joints move, the forces going through your joints and the ground, and how your muscles are working.
Why is it done?
Gait analysis helps your health team understand a walking problem that can't be worked out by looking or from a routine examination. The results can help guide treatment and track change over time.
For foot and lower leg problems, it may be used in several ways:
When surgery is being considered.
To find the source of pain, if you have pain.
To look at abnormal loading (strain) on a joint.
To look into in-toeing or out-toeing.
To track changes in how your body moves over time.
It may also be used when you are thinking about orthopaedic surgery or botulinum toxin injections (used to ease muscle tightness), or when your walking seems to be getting worse and an objective measure would help. At some services, a team of different health professionals uses the measurements to put together recommendations. These can include medical care, physiotherapy and orthoses (shoe or leg supports).
Who needs it, and how often?
Detailed gait analysis is aimed at children and adults with a physical disability that causes complex walking problems. Conditions seen include cerebral palsy, brain injury and other nervous system conditions, myelomeningocele (a condition present from birth that affects the spine), muscular dystrophy, and deformity of the foot or lower leg. Gait services accept referrals for a wide range of walking problems, and will advise if it isn't clear whether you would benefit.
There is no general schedule for repeating it. For children with cerebral palsy, one gait service lists an assessment at the start, checks as the child grows, an assessment if walking may be getting worse, one before surgery, and others 6, 12 and 24 months after surgery. A clinical guideline also sets out seven action statements on when and how 3D gait analysis can guide care for children with cerebral palsy.
For older adults, a simple walking speed test is often used instead of detailed lab testing. Walking speed is a quick, low-cost and reliable measure of how well you can function, and it helps predict major health outcomes.
What happens?
The first step is to agree on the question. The measurements are meant to be linked to your own problem, such as a treatment decision or tracking change.
Next, your clinician watches you walk. They look at you from the front and from all sides while you walk at least several metres with nothing in your way. This needs no special equipment, just a trained person.
You may then have a timed walk. For walking speed, you stand still, then walk a 4-m course at your usual pace, as if walking down the street. You won't be given any extra encouragement or instructions. A longer distance such as 10 m can also be used.
You may also have the Timed Up and Go test. You stand up from a chair with arm rests, walk 3 m (using your usual walking aid if you need one), turn around, walk back and sit down again. Your clinician times this.
For complex problems, you may be sent to a gait laboratory. There, small reflective markers are attached to your legs. At one hospital laboratory, 10 cameras around the room track these markers, and the team works out how your hips, knees and ankles move. Floor plates or special walking mats measure the forces going through the ground each time you take a step. Sensors on your skin can pick up muscle activity.
What you wear on your feet matters, so you may be asked to walk barefoot or in standard shoes. This makes results easier to compare from one visit to the next.
After the testing, the results are written up in a report.
What do the results mean?
Your measurements are compared with reference values from healthy adults. It is hard to set one normal range, because walking varies a lot with age and sex. Your height, leg length, weight and body mass index (BMI) also matter, because step length, speed and the number of steps you take depend on body size.
A good report describes the measurements, points out important differences from the reference group, and gives a clear, specific answer to the question you came with. The findings help inform a decision. They don't make the decision for you.
If you are tested again, a small change may just be measurement error rather than a real change. Clinicians can use published tables to judge whether a change is real.
How accurate the tests are depends on the tool:
3D marker-based motion capture is considered the gold standard. It measures walking speed, step timing and step length with small errors.
Wearable sensors and camera-based systems are cheaper and easier to move around. They are good at average measures such as step and stride time, and for how the hip and knee bend. They are weaker at how steady and even your steps are, at the ankle, and at sideways or twisting movements. Video-based tools give mixed results.
Simply watching someone walk is subjective, so it depends on the observer's skill and experience. That affects how accurate and repeatable it is.
These tools may be less accurate for children, for people using walking aids and for people with a walking problem.
Balance tests and walking tests in older adults are not a full falls risk assessment. They are used to identify and track balance problems. For people with diabetes-related nerve damage in the feet and legs, exercise programs improve walking speed, strength and balance test scores. It isn't yet clear whether they lower the chance of falling.
What happens next?
Your clinician goes through the report with you and uses it, together with your history and examination, to plan your care. Depending on your situation, that could mean exercises, physiotherapy, an orthosis, medical treatment such as botulinum toxin, or surgery. If your results are being used to plan surgery, your team will usually arrange the follow-up testing that suits your condition.
Gait analysis has limits. Lab testing is expensive and uses a lot of resources, and there are few labs, so it can be hard to get to. There are also no single agreed standard steps for how it is done, which makes it harder to compare results between centres. It helps guide treatment decisions, but it is less clear whether having it leads to better results over the long term.
Often a simpler option answers the question. This can be watching you walk, timed walking tests, or, for older adults, tools such as walking speed, Timed Up and Go, the Berg Balance Scale, the Chair Stand test and the Short Physical Performance Battery. Wearable and camera systems are another option, though they are not yet a clear substitute for lab testing at the ankle. Your clinician can help you choose the method that fits your question.
When to see a podiatrist
Book an appointment if
Your walking is getting worse, or you have a walking problem that your podiatrist can't explain by watching you and examining you. You are thinking about surgery or other treatment for a foot or leg problem and want to know whether gait analysis could help. You can also book if you are an older adult at risk of falls: ask for a full falls assessment, which includes a heart and blood pressure check (lying and standing) and a review of your medicines.
Seek prompt assessment if
Call your local emergency number if your walking suddenly changes and you also have sudden weakness or numbness of your face, arm or leg, confusion, trouble speaking or seeing, or a sudden severe headache, as these can be signs of a stroke. If your walking has suddenly changed without these signs, see your GP or another doctor today. A sudden change can have causes such as a nervous system problem, an illness, or a side effect of medicines, so don't wait for a routine gait assessment. If your GP can't see you today, go to an urgent care clinic or an after-hours GP. See your GP or another doctor today if your child has a limp and can't put any weight on the leg, or has a fever above 38°C. See your GP soon if a child's limp is no better within 48 hours, or isn't back to normal within 7 days. See your GP soon if you are an older adult who has had falls.
Frequently asked questions
Can a phone, video or wearable sensor be used to measure walking?
Sometimes. Wearable sensors and camera-based tools are cheaper and easier to move around than a lab. They measure average step and stride timing well, and camera systems do well at the hip and knee. They are weaker at the ankle, and at how even your steps are. They are not yet a clear substitute for lab testing.
What does a slow walking speed mean in an older person?
Walking speed is a quick, low-cost and reliable sign of how well someone can function, and it helps predict major health outcomes. Some medicines, particularly those that make you drowsy, are linked to slower walking in older adults. If you are worried about your walking speed, ask your GP to review your medicines.
Do I need a gait lab test for foot pain?
Not usually. Most foot problems can be worked out by watching you walk and examining you. Lab testing is for complex walking problems that simple methods can't identify. Your podiatrist can tell you whether it would help in your case, and gait services will advise if it is unclear.