This article is one of a series covering sports injuries — causes, symptoms, and the treatments we use at Back and Body Medical in Midtown Manhattan. For the complete overview, see the full guide:
→ Sports Injury Treatment in New York City — The Complete Guide
In today’s article, we will be going over the crossover gait and how it affects our runners and our practices.
The crossover gait is a gait where the person is running left to right and the foot is coming down that midline like they’re running on a tightrope, running on a balance beam, or they can even cross midline when they land.
You may ask, what’s the big deal with this?
The problem is that your foot is actually coming down an increased inversion, your foot has to go through excess pronation and a high rate of speed, and the knee is going to dive into velocity. The hips are also going to go into internal rotation which is going to limit the amount of extension you can get out of that hip joint. Where does that extension come from now? The lower back.
So this means that any lower extremity condition can come from that crossover gait. It’s going to affect performance and it’s going to affect any kind of injury or recovery from injuries. The good news is that we can correct this in our practice by following these steps:
- Assess for hip stability: Make sure that the patient is strong enough
- Eliminate the cause: Remember that the crossover gait is the problem whether they learn how to do that or they adopted that due to weakness
- Fix the way they run: We recommend that when they run, to practice with a line between their feet, and they’re going to hit on the outside part of the line, maybe two to three inches in between there.
Doing these things is going to prevent that increased coordination, help prevent injury, and increase performance. It’s also going to require them to have stronger gluteus muscles, so don’t make them go right back into the same distance or the same speed they were doing before because it may cause another injury.
When you change the way you’re running, make sure you draw them in a little bit and have them practice at a bit of a lower speed/ lower distance.
If you have any questions on our treatment options in New York, please contact us, we would be happy to help you and see what we can do for you.
In pain? Want a tune up?
Schedule an appointment or download our mobile booking app. Enter clinic ID ORTKJR.
Ready to get out of pain? Most new patients are seen within 24 hours — walk in or book online.
Dr Shan Sivendra MD is the founder and medical director of Back and Body Medical in Midtown Manhattan. A board-certified medical doctor, certified acupuncturist, and Director of House Physicians at St. Barnabas Medical Center, Dr Sivendra has been practicing in New York since 1995.
He completed his residency in Internal Medicine at Saint Barnabas Medical Center (affiliated with Mount Sinai School of Medicine) and received the Resident Research Award for three consecutive years.
Dr Sivendra has a background spanning internal medicine, pain management, and conservative spine rehabilitation, and was licensed in both the US and the UK.
At Back and Body Medical, he leads a multidisciplinary team of chiropractors, physical therapists, and acupuncturists dedicated to helping patients recover from pain without surgery or unnecessary medication.