Look closely at this picture and you will see next to and between the hurdles and you will see yellow strips connected by wires. These strips are timing strips that measure the relationship between the ground and the foot, allowing real time analysis of the performance of the athlete as he clears each hurdle. This is amazing technology. We use it in our clinic to assess gait in increments of 1/1000 of a second.

If you have ever wondered about your shoes, or your orthotics, or your gait, we can now examine you with one of the most sophisticated gait analysis tools in the world.

You can read more about this amazing OPTOJUMP tool on their website, or you can call us to get scheduled for an analysis of your gait mechanics.

In addition to gait mechanics, we can assess your acceleration mechanics, your power (ability to jump), your reaction time, your and ability to decelerate normally as well. This astonishing technology was developed in Italy and is currently used by numerous professional sports teams to aide in their training. You can see the list of those teams here.

Optojump Makes it possible to:

• to assess an athlete’s performance and physical condition
• to rapidly identify any muscular deficiencies and measure tolerance to various work loads
• to develop customized and diversified training based on the test results
• to periodically check the results of training
• to create a database of athletes in order to compare them with each other or to compare the results of a particular athlete in different periods of time in order to objectively determine the results of training
• to examine the physical condition of an athlete after an injury, to develop specific actions for rehabilitation and check its progress
• to motivate athletes by giving them tangible proof of the progress made, thus stimulating fruitful competition inside the group
• to significantly reduce the trainer’s workload, at the same time allowing him/her to retrieve at any time the results of tests performed even months before
• to make use of an objective “judgment” when talent-scouting or choosing athletes

A recent patient learned that she is better off in bare feet, that the running sheos she “finds comfortable” are in fact detrimental to her well being. That her orthotics actually make her gait mechanics WORSE…this is pretty heady stuff.

I was so impressed with the technology, that I decided to become a distributor! If you are a clinician and you want to improve your understanding of  gait mechanics so that you can help your patients with greater proficiency, then contact me at 425/643-9778 to learn how you can come to use this amazing state of the art technology.