Pain tells you where it hurts. It rarely tells you why. A movement and gait analysis looks at how you actually squat, hinge, press, and run, so the treatment goes after the cause and not only the sore spot.
Free ConsultationA movement and gait analysis is a physical therapy assessment of how you walk, run, and perform the movements your sport or training demands, used to find the mechanical cause of pain or the risk of injury. At Fortitude & Freedom Performance Therapy in Waukee, Iowa, Jake Pawol, PT, DPT, OCS watches you run, squat, hinge, and press, then tests the strength and mobility behind each movement and builds a treatment plan from the results. Iowa allows direct access, so no physician referral is required.
Gait is the way you walk and run. Movement is everything else your training asks for: the squat, the hinge, the press, the jump, the landing. An analysis means watching those movements closely and finding the part that breaks down.
Watching is only half of it. If your knee caves in on a squat, the cause could be the hip, the ankle, the foot, or simple fatigue. So after I watch the movement, I test the strength and mobility behind it. The test results tell me which cause is yours.
The point is not a list of faults. Everybody moves a little differently, and a lot of differences are fine. The point is finding the one or two things that connect to your pain or your goal, and then training those.
An analysis is useful any time pain keeps coming back, or a lift or a run will not improve. These are the most common reasons people come in.
Knee pain, shin splints, Achilles pain, and heel pain in runners usually come from how load is handled over thousands of steps. Cadence, step width, and how the foot lands all matter.
I watch you run, then test calf, hip, and single leg strength. Small changes to cadence or training load, plus the right strength work, often do more than new shoes.
A squat that pinches, a deadlift that bothers the back, or a bench that irritates a shoulder usually has a position problem underneath it.
I watch the lift at a real load, find where it breaks down, and test the joints and muscles behind it. Then the plan fixes that position, often without taking the lift away.
Shoulder pain in pressing, pull-ups, and overhead lifts often traces back to the upper back, the shoulder blade, or the rotator cuff.
I look at the press and the overhead position, test the motion and strength behind them, and build the plan around what holds the shoulder back.
After a knee or ankle injury, how you land and change direction says a lot about whether you are ready to go back.
Jump and landing analysis, combined with strength testing, shows where the gaps are. It is part of how a return to sport decision gets made.
After a hip, knee, or ankle injury, many people walk with a limp long after the pain is gone. That limp moves load to other joints.
A walking gait analysis finds what is holding the limp in place, often strength or ankle range, so we can train it out.
Every visit is one on one with me for the full session, in a gym with the equipment to watch the movement you actually do.
I ask what hurts, what you train for, and what you want to get back to. That decides which movements we look at.
You run, squat, hinge, press, or jump, depending on your goal. I watch from the front, the side, and behind, at the speed and load you actually train at.
Strength, mobility, and balance tests show why the movement breaks down where it does. You see the results, and I explain what each one means.
You get the two or three changes that matter most, and the exercises to make them. Hands-on treatment and loading start in the same session if they fit.
Waukee, Iowa. Athletes and active adults who want to know why something hurts, not only where.
How to build the mileage without building an injury.
Read MoreWhat barbell athletes need that a general clinic often misses.
Read MoreWhen the analysis finds one stiff joint that is limiting the movement.
Read MoreA gait analysis is an assessment of how you walk or run. A physical therapist watches your gait, looks at things like cadence, step width, and how your foot lands, and then tests the strength and mobility behind what they see. The results point to the cause of pain or the risk of injury.
A movement analysis looks at the movements your training demands, such as the squat, the hinge, the press, and jumping and landing. It finds where a movement breaks down and why, so the treatment targets the cause instead of only the sore spot.
It can still help. A runner starting a marathon build, or a lifter starting a new block, can use an analysis to find a weak link before it turns into an injury. It is most useful when something has started to feel off, or when a past injury keeps coming back.
It can help with that conversation, but shoes are rarely the main fix. Most running pain responds better to changes in training load, cadence, and strength. I will tell you if your current shoes look like part of the problem.
Wear clothes you can run and lift in, and bring the shoes you train in. If you have a training plan or a race date, bring that too, because it shapes the plan we build.
No. Iowa has had unrestricted direct access to physical therapy since 1988, so you can book without seeing a physician first. Call or use the contact page and our team will get you set up.
Fortitude & Freedom Performance Therapy is in Waukee, Iowa, and serves Waukee, West Des Moines, Clive, Urbandale, Ankeny, and the wider Des Moines metro. Sessions are one on one, in a fully equipped gym, and you do not need a referral.
This content is for general education and is not medical advice. It does not replace an evaluation by a licensed clinician, and reading it does not create a patient relationship. Talk to a qualified health professional about your own symptoms before you act on anything here. If you have severe, sudden, or worsening symptoms, seek medical care right away.
Book a one-on-one movement analysis in Waukee and get a plan built from how you actually move.
Free Consultation