Like everything, a bit of advice and prevention goes a long way to make sure your time on the green is pain-free. This time of year is also the ideal time to prepare for the golf new season and prevent injuries.

While back pain is common for many golfers, feet and ankles are also under immense pressure from perfecting the correct stances for each swing and the long walk around the course adding up to several hours on your feet.

Do you hear complaining among your group of aching feet and sore heels when trying to relax at the 19th hole?

Common conditions include pain into the big toe, across the ball of your foot or into the arch. Heel pain such as plantar faciitis, achilles pain, or ankle joint injuries or pain such as osteoarthritis.

Whatever the injury the result is time away from the course or not enjoying your game due to pain and discomfort.

Gait analysis measures the forces your foot has to cope with, which is then transmitted through your legs as you move. These intricacies of movements impact upon the long term resilience of your feet and ankles determining whether you develop pain or discomfort.

Previous methodologies are now dated and leave huge room for error.

• Analysis on a treadmill doesn’t show what is happening underneath the foot, is difficult to interpret and open to bias from the clinician.
• Moulds where you push your foot into an impression box are simply out of date and not as accurate as they could be.
• Off the shelf orthotics treat the left and the right foot equally despite each foot behaving differently requiring a more customisable solution.

The analysis and treatment of these conditions could simply not incorporate the intricacies of each individual case – UNTIL NOW.

Optimal were the first physiotherapy clinic in Scotland to bring you a cutting edge foot scanner which enables dynamic gait analysis.

Our pressure pad have over 4000 sensors that detect and assess everything your foot does as it contacts the ground whether walking, running, squatting or jumping.

This information is linked directly to Phits 3D printed insole technology which is used to create custom made insoles as used by Matt Kuchar’s caddy.

The analysis then informs how best to support and stabilise the gait during exercise preventing undue stress on parts of the feet and ankles due to misalignment, reducing injury risk, reducing pain and improving performance and comfort.

We can improve the fitting to suit golf shoes and combine this technology with our expert physiotherapy clinicians to provide a completely tailored programme and treatment.

TO BOOK A GAIT ANALYSIS APPOINTMENT YOU CAN BOOK ONLINE OR CALL THE CLINIC ON 0333 301 0205