GAITway

Opening new pathways to improve walking through education, training and research

GAITway is a new initiative of the School of Health Sciences, driven by Professor Richard Baker, who last year became the world’s first Chair in Clinical Gait Analysis when he joined the University of Salford. Our vision is to become an international centre of excellence in the understanding and measurement of walking. 

Around 10% of all adults experience some difficulties walking. We believe that many of these people can be enabled to walk more easily through a better understanding of how clinical interventions can improve walking and that this in turn must be based on a better understanding of why we walk the way we do and improved techniques for describing and measuring the way individuals walk (clinical gait analysis).

GAITway’s core programmes will address the understanding of walking and the description and measurement of walking. Understanding clinical interventions will be a collaborative venture with a range of clinical partners.

GAITway will strive to attain excellence through integrating clinical service provision, clinical and technical research, and educational and training activities. It will provide appropriate education and training to specialist and more general clinicians through innovative multimedia learning packages. It will engage in promoting a better understanding of walking to the general public.  GAITway will develop enriching collaborations with leading national and international partners from industry, academia, the health services and consumer organizations. It will develop outputs that are independent of commercial products and are widely available to the communities we serve.

Flagship projects

GAITWay’s initial activities will be focus on three inter-related flagship projects: A new understanding of walking will address the twin questions, “Why do we walk the way we do?” and “Why do our patients walk the way they do?”. It will focus on how individuals achieve the requirements of walking and provide a conceptual framework which is clinically relevant and biomechanically rigorous. This framework will foster a common approach to the presentation and interpretation of the results of observational, video and instrumented clinical gait analysis.

A new generation model clinical gait analysis service will offer streamlined and efficient clinical gait analysis services delivered by appropriately trained health professionals using reliable standardized protocols for both the collection and interpretation of data. New procedures and software will be developed in partnerships with the major suppliers of gait analysis systems.

A new annual Clinical Gait Analysis Course will provide 4 days of education and training in how to capture and interpret gait analysis data. This will be aimed at health professionals directly involved in the delivery of gait analysis services. The first day will focus on how to make better measurements and the second will guide clinicians to a better understanding of a patient’s gait pattern through a new approach, Impairment Focused Interpretation. Course material will include innovative multimedia techniques. .