Gait Analysis: An Introduction

Gait analysis contributes significantly to the management of patients with a number of medical conditions, including cerebral palsy. This book, now in its third edition, is widely used and respected throughout the world, since it makes this potentially difficult subject easy to understand. It begins with the basic sciences of anatomy, physiology and biomechanics, and goes on to explain normal and pathological gait. It covers the wide range of methods available to study gait, from the unaided eye to powerful computer-television systems. The book is accompanied by an interactive multimedia CD-ROM, with gait data from both a normal subject and a patient.

Gait analysis is the systematic study of human walking. It is used for diagnosis and planning treatment in people with medical conditions that affect the way they walk. Over the last few years, increasing numbers of patients have benefited from the use of gait analysis by their doctors and physical therapists. Most of the literature in this field is highly specialized and very technical. This book, however, aims to bring gait analysis out of the 'ivory tower' of the research laboratory and to put it where it belongs, in the 'real world' of the clinic. The author has maintained the clear and approachable style that established the first edition of GAIT ANALYSIS: AN INTRODUCTION as the premier introductory textbook on the subject. It will continue to be essential reading for students and practitioners of physical therapy, orthopaedics, neurology, rheumatology, rehabilitation, bioengineering and indeed all those involved in the study of human movement. Dr Michael Whittle holds the Walter M. Cline Chair of Excellence in Rehabilitation Technology at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, and has an honorary appointment as Professor of Orthopedic Surgery at the University of Tennessee College of Medicine. He is a qualified doctor, and has higher degrees in physiology and biomechanical engineering. He has spent the last fifteen years running the gait analysis laboratories at the University of Oxford, UK, and the Siskin Hospital for Physical Rehabilitation in Chattanooga. He previously worked as principle coordinating scientist for the musculoskeletal experiments on NASA's Skylab space station.