Gait Analysis Lab Refuses to Release Man's Results, Citing 'Humanitarian Concerns'

The Meridian Gait Analysis Laboratory has declined to release the results of a routine walking assessment to patient Douglas Pronation, citing what lab director Dr. Ingrid Footstrike described as 'the most biomechanically alarming data set this facility has ever recorded.' 'We've analyzed thousands of gait cycles,' Dr. Footstrike said, reviewing Pronation's force plate data behind a closed door. 'Military personnel, professional athletes, post-surgical patients. Nothing prepared us for what we saw on Tuesday. I've consulted with our ethics board and we've agreed that sharing this information could cause the patient significant distress.' Pronation, 47, a middle school teacher, had been referred for gait analysis by his podiatrist after complaining of mild knee pain during his morning walks. 'They put sensors on my legs, had me walk on a treadmill for ten minutes, and then everyone in the room went very quiet,' Pronation reported. 'One of the technicians said "huh" in a way that I found concerning. Then Dr. Footstrike asked if I had always walked "like that," which is a question no one has ever asked me before.' Pronation's attempts to obtain his results have been met with what he describes as 'therapeutic deflection.' Dr. Footstrike has instead recommended a 'comprehensive movement re-education program' that she says will 'address the situation from the ground up, literally.' The lab's internal memo, obtained by this publication, contains the phrases 'bilateral compensatory patterning of unknown origin,' 'center of pressure trajectory unlike any in our database,' and, highlighted in yellow, 'how is this man still ambulatory?' Pronation has filed a formal records request. Dr. Footstrike has counter-filed a request for 'more time to develop a therapeutically appropriate way to present the findings.'