Why Is The Gait Cycle So Difficult To Fix?

I have published many videos before about the gait cycle and various exercises you can use for improving walking, single leg stability, the slings, and even running specific exercises. What I have not explained before is why it is so difficult to improve when there is a problem. This is really difficult to explain for there are many reasons this can be so hard to change and in some ways it goes against your instincts and rational logic that might work for other movements or other areas of the body. I highly suggest to read the article in the link below as I provide tons of examples and more information about the things I just touch on in this video. https://noregretspt.com.au/the-most-c... Improving gait is hard because it involves reprogramming deeply ingrained, automatic movement patterns (bad habits) that often stem from underlying muscle weakness, neurological issues, or injuries. For over 10 years I have worked with numerous people suffering with walking impairments from disease or neurological problems like stroke, MS, spinal cord injury, cerebral palsy and I have also seen many cases from injury such as lateral pelvic tilt, car accidents, SIJ dysfunction and piriformis syndrome. The complex coordination of the gait cycle is a highly developed motor skill, and simply practicing walking often reinforces old patterns, making targeted drills and professional guidance crucial for lasting improvement. The biggest problem with all of these cases is that you cannot make any lasting changes by using simple exercises such as machines or floor based movements. Trust me I have tried this and it doesn't get you very far. The only success I have had was using exercises within the walking pattern itself but this is extremely hard to do for the person often lacks considerable stability, especially with the single leg stance. They also develop incredible stiffness to protect the body which ruins the efficient timing needed for walking. Lastly the loss of hip extension is another very tricky thing to overcome. This is where people think all they need to do is make these specific muscles stronger. One big problem with the muscle and isolated exercise approach is that it often concentrates too heavily on muscle weakness when it may be more to do with neuromuscular weakness. Plus, it also assumes that once your strength is there that your body will automatically know how to use it in complex patterns, which is almost never the case. The body does not like to work in isolation and will attempt to distribute forces across as many joints as possible to reduce stress to any one region. It is not necessarily a lack of muscle strength that is the problem with gait for many people easily develop adequate strength needed in the muscles of the legs within simple isolated exercises. For example, someone can use their glutes perfectly well in a single leg hip extension or clamshell exercise and even in a bilateral squat or deadlift, but cannot get it to fire when they walk. How can the same muscle be extremely strong in these exercises but not work at all in another? If the muscle was truly weak then you would not be able to do any of the exercises. This is an example of where the weakness is more to do with functional stability and timing as opposed to a muscular origin and insertion weakness and is something I see a lot with lateral pelvic tilt disorders. I have found the injury based impairments are much easier to work around whereas the neurological cases extremely hard and very frustrating. Hopefully I can create a few more videos with real life examples over the coming months to show these examples more clearly and also some of the creative ways I try to help these people. To see more read the articles in the links below Preventing Falls With Older Adults https://noregretspt.com.au/prevent-fa... Why Strength Training Is Essential For Multiple Sclerosis https://noregretspt.com.au/why-streng... Core Strength Using The Slings https://noregretspt.com.au/how-to-str... Lateral Pelvic Tilt Exercises https://noregretspt.com.au/how-to-cor... Farmers Walks & Suitcase Carrys https://noregretspt.com.au/farmers-wa...