Every year during the physical examination season, a series of student health screenings are always carried out on campus. Vision, scoliosis, nutritional weight, blood pressure… These items are already familiar to everyone. But in recent years, a new technology has quietly appeared at the physical examination sites of some schools-gait analysis and evaluation instruments
It can measure the arch of the foot, see the gait, evaluate the structure, and can also give warning data such as “X-shaped legs”, “O-shaped legs”, “inward-toed”, and “flat feet”. Many teachers and parents are curious: Is this thing reliable? Can students use it? Is it really necessary?
Today we will talk about: Is the gait analysis and evaluation instrument suitable for school health screening?
1. The child’s footsteps actually hide the “early signals” of the body
You may not have noticed that the child’s footsteps are actually a mirror of whether the body is developing healthily.
When children have the following symptoms, it is often related to gait:
Frequently tripping or “tripping” when walking
Walking with one foot outward and the other inward
Always complaining of sore feet, leg pain, and knee discomfort
Asymmetrical wear of the soles, one serious on the outside and one normal
Always sitting crookedly, unable to stand with both feet together
Behind these problems may be posture development problems caused by abnormal foot structure, lower limb force line deviation, pelvic misalignment, etc.
Most traditional physical examinations are based on observation, and doctors rely on experience to judge, with limited accuracy and easy to miss. Gait analysis instruments can “visualize and quantify” the development of lower limbs through dynamic pressure maps, sole distribution, step frequency rhythm and other data to help discover hidden risks in advance.
2. Abnormal gait ≠ disease, but it should be taken seriously
Many people think that flat feet, high arches, and X-shaped legs are just normal processes that “will get better as they grow.” But the reality is: if these “small deviations” are not discovered in time and scientifically intervened, they may affect the child’s body shape and even athletic ability throughout his life.
Especially during the rapid development period of children from 3 to 15 years old, the bones have not yet been finalized, which is the golden period for correction. At this stage, potential problems can be identified, and compensatory injuries in adulthood can often be avoided through insoles, posture training, and daily habit adjustments.
And gait analysis instruments can provide basic data of these “developmental trajectories” and provide a basis for early intervention for parents and teachers.
3. What are the advantages of gait analysis in school scenarios?
Non-invasive, painless, and easy to operate
The child takes off his shoes and walks barefoot on the measurement platform. The system automatically captures the data and completes it within a few seconds. It will not cause any psychological burden on students and is suitable for efficient use in collective scenarios.
Intuitive data and clear images
Children’s parents and teachers can see specific analysis through the report, such as whether the heel is tilted, whether the arch of the foot is low, whether the walking is inward-facing, etc., which is easy to understand and easy to track.
Records can be saved and highly comparable
Once a year, a healthy growth file can be established, horizontal comparison, vertical monitoring, and scientific evaluation of the child’s posture change trend can be made.
Assisting education and improving health awareness
Through the analysis report, teachers can strengthen posture teaching in physical education classes, and parents can also realize the importance of bad walking habits and promote family health management.
4. It is not a “diagnostic tool”, but it can be an “early warning radar”
It must be emphasized that: **Gait analyzer is not a doctor, nor can it replace medical diagnosis. **Its value lies in providing reference data to assist families and schools in discovering abnormalities.
Its role is more like an “early warning radar” – helping you capture developmental deviations in advance and reminding you whether further evaluation or intervention is needed. It will not tell you whether your child is “sick”, but it can tell you: whether it is worth paying more attention to your child’s body posture.
When many parents find that their children have obvious O-legs or spinal curvature, they often miss the best time for intervention. The real meaning of campus health management is to “preemptively” deal with health problems through early screening.
5. When is it more appropriate to introduce gait analysis?
The school has a stable health screening mechanism and hopes to add new projects to improve comprehensiveness
Students are between 5 and 15 years old, which is the critical period of bone development
Sports injuries are prevalent in the region and we hope to prevent them from the source of posture
We want to establish a student sports and growth development database to assist long-term physical education teaching and evaluation
