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Foot And Leg Pain Centre

Posture And Biomechanics

Great posture is always in style.

What Is Posture And Biomechanics?

If you say the word ‘posture’ to somebody, they probably know what you mean. But ‘biomechanics’? Bio-who? That one tends to be a little less well-known!

While posture refers to the way we hold our bodies, biomechanics is the way our bodies work during rest and in motion. It’s rooted in science— physics in particular— and analyses how a person runs, walks, and sits. Biomechanics also gives an understanding of how a person’s bones, joints, muscles, and ligaments work during these activities and recognises how nerves, arteries, and veins are physically altered during movement. 

Your Biomechanics Matter

Biomechanics help us to explain structural imperfections and how they may induce postural problems that impact everyday performance. And this isn’t limited to athletes by any stretch! We all rely on biomechanics to get around.

When we use our feet, their biomechanics change to adapt to the surface and absorb energy to give us the power to push off. Actions like these become abnormal if they occur excessively at the wrong time, such as for people with flat feet or highly arched feet. This may lead to overuse syndromes such as shin splints, tiredness, or aching legs, and may even lead to bone adaptations such as osteoarthritis or bunions.

Musculoskeletal injuries such as ankle sprains, torn ligaments, muscle tears, and fractures may also lead to altered biomechanics, known as compensations. This is because other areas of your body compensate for the injury. For example, an abnormal gait due to a sprained ankle may lead to postural problems with a limp and then spinal imbalance in the upper body culminating as a headache. Many people wouldn’t suspect a headache to be due to an ankle injury, but it can— and does!— happen. 

You may understand what it is to stand upright, however, when doing this, are you activating the sixteen muscles needed for your foot posture? We can show you how to activate the muscles and improve the quarter of your skeleton’s posture below your ankles.
Looking at a person’s biomechanics helps us to explain structural imperfections and how they may induce postural problems that impact everyday performance. For example, when our feet roll in, our legs internally rotate, and the pelvis tilts anteriorly— this is biomechanics in action.
Foot And Leg Pain Centre

Why Foot and Leg Pain Centre?

Qualified Certified Sports Podiatrist

Dr Angus Chard’s PhD was awarded in biomechanics, distinguishing him as a leading professional in the country and within his profession in this area. He leads a team of enthusiastic like-minded professionals.

Caring Team

Our team is humble and ready to work together to ensure patients gain from our cumulative experience. We are dedicated to helping patients from all walks of life to restore their physical freedom.

Wide Range Of Treatments

However your posture and biomechanics are holding you back, we’re here to help.

A Note For Referrers

Hello, practitioners! Do you have a patient who may benefit from our postural and biomechanical assessments and treatments? We’d love to work with you!

Dr Chad’s PhD is specifically in pediatric clinical biomechanics, distinguishing him as a leader in this field of assessing, diagnosing, treating and managing complex biomechanical presentations and resulting patho-mechanical compensations.

We are also happy to collaborate with you and receive your patients under the Enhanced Primary Care Plan arrangement. To discuss our approach and expertise, contact our team today! 

Foot And Leg Pain Centre

Your Posture And Biomechanics Questions Answered

During a biomechanical assessment, your podiatrist will take an in-depth look at how you move during your chosen activity, being that walking, jogging, jumping or even your golf swing. Static assessments (while you’re sitting or standing) or dynamic assessments (while you’re moving) may be conducted with video to assist your understanding of compensatory joint, muscle, ligament, and tendon compensations.
Your feet play a large role in your posture as they are the foundation of your body, representing a quarter of your skeleton (28 bones, 33 joints and over 16 muscles in each foot). Foot posture — the way you hold your feet— helps to align the rest of the body, so any slight change in your feet has the ability to alter your overall posture.
Yes, we do! Dr Angus Chard, PhD, is a fellow of the Australasian Academy of Podiatric Sports Medicine (FAAPSM), the recently rebranded Sport Exercise Podiatry Association (SERPA) and a second-generation sports podiatrist who works with all types of people, including athletes.
Common signs of poor posture may include extremes and foot postures such as excessively flat or highly arched feet, knees that knock or are bowed, or a stooped posture with rounded shoulders and a forward lean while standing or walking.
Yes. Specific footwear recommendations can be made to improve your biomechanics. In some cases, customised shoe insoles (foot orthotics) can be prescribed to accurately improve muscle firing patterns within your feet and legs to improve your biomechanics and retrain muscle — see us for an assessment to find out more.

Yes, we use an evidence-based approach in all of our work. Here are several studies that relate to posture and biomechanics.

  • Barwick A, Smith J, Chuter V. The relationship between foot motion and lumbopelvic–hip function: A review of the literature. The foot. 2012;22(3):224-31.
  • Becker J, James S, Wayner R, Osternig L, Chou L-S. Biomechanical Factors Associated With Achilles Tendinopathy and Medial Tibial Stress Syndrome in Runners. The American Journal of Sports Medicine. 2017;45(11):2614-21.
  • Goldmann J-P, Brüggemann G-P. The potential of human toe flexor muscles to produce force. J Anat. 2012;221(2):187-94.
  • Dananberg HJ. Gait style as an etiology to chronic postural pain. Part I. Functional hallux limitus. J Am Podiatr Med Assoc. 1993;83(8):433-41.
  • Dananberg HJ. Gait style as an etiology to chronic postural pain. Part II. Postural compensatory process. J Am Podiatr Med Assoc. 1993;83(11):615-24.
Foot And Leg Pain Centre

Is Something Afoot?

Poor posture and biomechanics play a larger role in our overall health and well-being than many people think. At Foot and Leg Pain Centre, we understand the importance of addressing these issues as early as possible and working towards long-term symptom resolution. To get started, book an appointment with us today.