On 9 October the whole Pyramid Health squad went to the Gait and Motion Clinics National Conference. We came home with a lot of new ideas about Footscan gait analysis and Phits insoles, and a few changes you'll notice at your next appointment.
Every so often it's worth shutting the clinic for a day, getting the whole team in one room and learning something new. On 9 October that's exactly what we did. Mike, Yasmin, Hannah and Lisa travelled to the Gait and Motion Clinics National Conference, the yearly get-together for clinics across the UK that use Footscan gait analysis and custom 3D-printed Phits insoles.
Here's a short video from the day from Yasmin’s Instagram:
We heard from podiatrists, an orthotist and clinic owners who spend their working lives looking at how people walk, run, cycle and swing a golf club. Instead of going through every talk one by one, here are the ideas that stuck with us and what they mean for you.
It Starts With Listening
The best talk of the morning had nothing to do with technology. One speaker asked the room what the most important part of an assessment is. Was it the physical exam, the pressure scan or the video? Her answer was none of them. It was listening.
A diagnosis like "plantar fasciitis" is rarely the thing a patient actually wants fixed. What they want is to walk the dog for more than 40 minutes again, or get round 18 holes without limping off the course. That's the problem we should be solving. It's a good reminder for all of us, whatever we treat, to ask about the life you want back as well as where it hurts.
Where It Hurts Isn't Always Where The Problem Is
A theme that kept coming up was that a foot can look perfectly normal while you're standing still and behave very differently once you start moving. This is exactly why we scan you walking.
One clinic shared the story of a woman with stubborn pain under the ball of her foot. Everyone assumed she needed padding under the sore spot. The scan showed the real issue was further back, in how her arch was handling load. Once the insole was designed around that, she said it felt "as though the whole foot is working differently."
Another case was a cyclist with knee pain. Part of the fix turned out to be his bike, not his feet. An old fracture had left one leg shorter than the other, and shortening one pedal crank made a big difference. As one speaker put it, bikes are symmetrical but people almost never are.
That's the bit we love. A good assessment looks at the whole person, including your shoes, your sport and your history.
An Insole Is A Starting Point, Not The Finish Line
We spent a good chunk of the day on how the small details of an insole design actually change things: the depth of a heel cup, the shape of an arch, a small pad behind the toes. The message from every speaker was the same. The computer gives a sensible starting point, but the final design comes from clinical judgement and from checking it while you're standing on it.
Just as important, insoles rarely work alone. In nearly every case study the insole sat alongside strengthening exercises, footwear advice or changes to training. That matches how we already work at Pyramid Health, and it was good to hear it backed up by clinics across the country.
Seeing The Change For Yourself
One of the most useful things Footscan can do is show you progress. Repeating a scan after your insoles have bedded in lets you see on screen how your loading has changed. Speakers talked about how much confidence that gives patients, and it helps us fine-tune the design instead of relying on guesswork.
What's Coming In December
We also got a preview of updates arriving this winter that we're looking forward to:
Clearer reports. Your Phits report will show which corrections we've built into your insoles and why, so you can see the reasoning behind your design.
Marking sore spots on your 3D scan. We'll be able to mark painful areas, callus or bony points on your foot before scanning, so they show up on the 3D model while we design your insoles.
Easier before-and-after comparisons. Review appointments will make it simpler to compare your walking pattern from one visit to the next.
What This Means For You
The short answer is better, more personal care. We came back with sharper insole designs, better ways to explain what your scan shows, and a few new questions we'll be asking at your assessment. Days like this are how a small clinic in Exmouth stays on top of what the best clinics in the country are doing.
If heel pain is bothering you right now, last month's condition guide on plantar fasciitis is a good place to start, and it pulls together a lot of what we talked about on the day. And look out for our “best foot forward” screening event in January, when we’ll be doing free gait analysis scans.