What is running gait analysis?
Running gait analysis is a frame-by-frame look at how your body moves through foot strike, midstance and toe-off, used to spot habits that waste energy or are often linked with pain.
Gait, in plain words
Your gait is the pattern your body repeats with every stride. Where the foot lands. How much the knee bends when it takes your weight. How far the torso leans. What the arms do. How many steps you take per minute.
A gait analysis freezes that pattern at a few key moments and measures it. The three moments that matter most are foot strike, midstance and toe-off. Foot strike is the first frame the foot touches down. Midstance is when the hip passes over the planted foot. Toe-off is the last frame before the foot leaves the ground.
Walking gait analysis exists too, mostly in clinics. This page is about running.
How it is done
There are three common ways.
By eye. A coach or physio watches you run, live or on video, and names what they see. Fast and cheap. Depends on the person.
2D video. Someone films you from the side and front, then measures angles on the frozen frames. This can be done by hand with a ruler on the screen, or by software that finds the joints for you. How does running form analysis work walks through that pipeline.
3D motion capture. Many cameras, reflective markers and a force plate. Measures rotation and force that a single camera cannot. Used in labs and by elite teams.
Shoe shops do a fourth, simpler thing. They watch your feet from behind on a treadmill to pick a shoe. It is often called gait analysis but it only looks at the ankle.
What it tells you
A side-view analysis answers the questions most runners have.
- Do I overstride? That is, does the foot land well ahead of the hip with a straight knee.
- Do I lean from the ankles or fold at the waist?
- Does the front knee bend enough at midstance to absorb the landing?
- Do my arms swing front to back or across my body?
- Is my cadence low for my pace?
A front or rear view adds two more. Does one hip drop when the other foot is on the ground, and do the knees drift inward.
Each of those has a coaching range. Land near the hip with a soft knee and you are in range. Land far ahead with a straight leg and you are out of it. The analysis tells you which ones are out and by how much. Whether that is worth paying for is covered in is gait analysis worth it for runners.
What it cannot tell you
A video gait analysis cannot tell you the cause of a pain. It shows what your stride looks like, not why. Overstriding is often linked with shin and knee complaints, but plenty of overstriders run pain free, and plenty of tidy runners get hurt.
2D video also cannot measure force, pronation or hip rotation. Those need a lab or a clinician's hands. Treat the numbers as a description of your stride on that day, at that pace. Run faster and the numbers move.
How to check it with Caden
- Tap Run a new analysis and set up a side-on shot. Film 10 to 20 seconds at easy pace.
- The results screen shows a form score out of 100 and six dials: where your foot lands, knee bend on landing, knee bend at push-off, upper body lean, arm bend and head position. Cadence sits below them.
- Open Breakpoints to see foot strike, midstance and toe-off as frozen frames with a skeleton overlay and a short note each.
- Read the coach's tip for one cue per metric.
FAQ
Is gait analysis just for running?
No. Clinics analyse walking gait for older adults, after surgery and for children. The running version looks at different things because the body moves differently at speed.
What is a normal running gait?
There is no single normal. Coaching ranges are wide because height, leg length and pace all shift the numbers. Foot under a bent knee, tall torso, relaxed arms and a cadence above 160 at easy pace describe most healthy strides.
Does gait analysis measure pronation?
A rear-view video shows the ankle rolling in, but it cannot measure how much. Pressure plates and clinicians do that. A side-view analysis does not look at pronation at all.