Any leg length discrepancy success stories?

chiropractor wrote:

Jalapeno wrote:

A lot of leg length discrepancies are misdiagnosed and not really discrepancies

Every runner has asymmetries

How were you measured?

I'm a chiro, and I diagnose everyone with a leg length discrepancy to show that they have a structural problem that needs to be fixed. It's not really "misdiagnosing." Literally everyone has a leg length discrepancy (and I'm using the word "literally" literally, here).

Anyway, OP, go to your local chiropractor to get fixed up.

I came on here to say the opposite. Unless your discrepancy is egregious to the point you're walking around like tiny Tim, mobility work, form fixing (get a gait analysis) and strengthening to ensure one leg isn't overloading is the best fix.

I had a minor leg length discrepancy in high school and all both chiros did for me was 'release' and stretch. Admittedly, this helped for about 48 hours so it was a nice patch to get me into a race 'healthy' but chiros are not doctors and chiros, at the end of the day, want to see you back as soon as possible.

Malehide wrote:

"Just the facts" both mentioned heel insert rather than full-length insert. Shouldn't the whole foot (right foot for me) be raised for leveling effect rather than just the heel portion.

In theory I agree with you that it makes sense to raise the entire foot. I had a gait similar to Joaquin Cruz and was a middle distance (800/1500 ) runner. Mine was self-diagnosis to try to smooth out some and went with the heel cup because it added no noticeable weight. It worked great, but as a layman it seems full length seems more appropriate.

A sports oriented doctor that I had a lot of faith in said most are only functionally shorter due to the way the ball sits in the socket and the way the individual bears weight to compensate .

As I said before, be careful about trying too much too quickly or you will potentially be dealing with other issues until you adapt.

was there wrote:

Joe Savage (at the time NJ high school 880 yd. record holder 1:51.1) ---1/4"---surgery summer '74, missed the priceless opportunity to train w/Matt Sr. (still at Manhattan College) and him 1x week because of him being sidelined

I am curious. What type of surgery did he have? Was it to address a leg length difference? It seems surgery would only make things much worse with it being a crap-shoot of being successful.

What was the surgery and how did Savage make out afterward? Thanks.

Again. Thanks to all for the helpful. The entire foot insert just made more sense to me. Mine also a self-diagnosis. Felt I was listing to the side (the right) and not feeling smooth. Confirmed by video. When I subconsciously compensated I would have one arm coming across body and one arm more straight through = that didn't exactly engender smoothness. I have time trials and a race coming up. Isn't that the ultimate gauge? Will let you all know.

I know Joe Savage was coached by Joe "Gags" Gagliano in both high school AND at Manhattan College. I am sure Gags lurks here since he still coaching elites in NY/NJ. Perhaps he could fill us in on the details of Joe Savage surgery and results after.

Joe Savage was part of an accomplished core of Centro Sr., Tony Colon, Mike Keogh, and others.

Malehide wrote:

1. Is one leg shorter than the other?

2. Did you put extra insert in one shoe to "balance out"?

3. Did it work? Did you get faster? Did you feel smoother in your running?

Insightful and well reasoned replies appreciated.

1) 1.8 cm length difference, and the foot on the short side is 0.5 cm bigger

2) After diagnosing with x-ray I was referred to an orthopedic clinic that makes custom soles. I got a sole that accounted for half the discrepancy.

3) The sole felt weird. Never got comfortable with it. Heel chipped out a lot and finding compatible shoes was hard. Each sole can only be used for a limited amount of time before it's flattened anyway, so I stopped using them after a couple of years, and that was more than 10 years ago.

The leg length discrepancy makes me more predisposed for injuries, and so far I've had ITBS twice (2012-13 long side, and 2018 short side), and a decent amount of lingering glute and hip pain on the short side.

John Scott wrote:

The leg length discrepancy makes me more predisposed for injuries, and so far I've had ITBS twice (2012-13 long side, and 2018 short side), and a decent amount of lingering glute and hip pain on the short side.

John, were diagnosed to have been born with the discrepancy or did it develop due to the fit of the hip socket?

As a younger man I had many injuries and 100% on the short side, including 3-4 major surgeries, but none directly related to the leg length issue. I also did a lot of track work as a competitive middle distance runner. I always wondered if the short side was aggravated due to being the inside leg on the track.

What do you think occurs to have most of your problems on the short side?

The obsession with perfect symmetry doesn’t make sense to me. We are all constantly running on uneven surfaces. Roads are cambered and even tracks aren’t perfectly level to accommodate proper drainage. I suppose if all you do is run on a treadmill, symmetry may or may not make sense. So in light of that, can someone explain why there is such a push with this. Sure, I can understand gross differences, but I’ve spoken to runners who have PT’s making them paranoid over differences in millimeters and it makes no sense to me when we are constantly running on surfaces that will put one leg a centimeter or more higher or lower than the other.

MasterofNone wrote:

I had a minor leg length discrepancy in high school and all both chiros did for me was 'release' and stretch. Admittedly, this helped for about 48 hours so it was a nice patch to get me into a race 'healthy' but chiros are not doctors and chiros, at the end of the day, want to see you back as soon as possible.

That's a surprise to me given that my diploma says Doctor of Chiropractic on it. FYI chiropractors have more hours of classroom education than MDs.

Chiros think they are doctors which makes them dangerous. I go to payday loan and pawn shop and next door is a chiro shop for $20 for a back cracker.

Can chiros make music with the cracks? They can start a TikTok and be an influencer to supplement income

My sister had/has it, she's 40 now. Growing up, she always had huge lifts added to her shoes, like 2" or so.

She had surgery to scrape off the growth plates on her bones, worked ok.

She doesn't use lifts now but still has wonky hips and can't run too much. She has a good attitude about it through.

just the facts wrote:

John Scott wrote:

The leg length discrepancy makes me more predisposed for injuries, and so far I've had ITBS twice (2012-13 long side, and 2018 short side), and a decent amount of lingering glute and hip pain on the short side.

John, were diagnosed to have been born with the discrepancy or did it develop due to the fit of the hip socket?

As a younger man I had many injuries and 100% on the short side, including 3-4 major surgeries, but none directly related to the leg length issue. I also did a lot of track work as a competitive middle distance runner. I always wondered if the short side was aggravated due to being the inside leg on the track.

What do you think occurs to have most of your problems on the short side?

I'm not sure how the discrepancy developed. In a high school gym class a friend of mine with more severe LLD talked about it and showed us by pointing at his hip bones with both feet planted on the ground. It was easy to see the tilted angle of his pelvis. Then a few others did the same just to check and I discovered somewhat of a difference in myself. It had never bothered me so I never knew. The only issues I've had until high school age was a mild case of plantar fasciitis and Osgood-Schlatter disease (on the short & dominant side).

After joining the military I started doing a lot of strength training and added over 20kg of body mass in only 1 year. The split was about 50 / 50 between running and strength training, with most of the running being intervals. I didn't have any issues with LLD during this time, but I went ahead and got a custom sole anyway.

After quitting the military I started studying (and sitting completely still for extended periods of time). It was after 3 years of studying that the ITBS issues arose, and I attribute that to 3 things:

1) Sitting still for most of the day with limited movement. Major contributor.

2) Leg length discrepancy which lowers the threshold of picking up injuries. Minor contributor.

3) The absence of mobility and stretching. Minor contributor.

I started going to ashtanga yoga classes which were unironically hard for a stiff and inflexible body like mine, so actually doing the exercises correctly was a struggle. Then when ITBS was at its most painful I did zero running, a little cycling, and mostly conventional strength training. After 6-9 months I felt confident enough to start running again.

I was more aware of taking breaks while sitting and that helped a lot. The second (and milder) instance of ITBS was 5 years later and came after doing high mileage off a slow winter.

Since I've had ITBS once on each side I can't really say too much about the connection to LLD other than that it's more likely to happen. The hip and glute pain on the short side is probably the result of years of strength training which has slowly contributed to an imbalance. It is definitely connected to my back (and core) because the problem is exacerbated whenever I do physical work with my arms extended forward. I'm not sure how to fix it other than remaining physically active, but I doubt the future will be pain free.

Good question. The heel lifts I use are made of leather and cork. If you try to use Spenco heel inserts or anything that is designed to cushion vs. compensate for height I could see having a problem. I make them myself buying leather and cork sheet on Amazon. I wouldn't make them myself except cobblers don't seem to exist anymore and the ones you buy from medical supply stores are heavy as hell with sheets that you pull off to size. When I first started adjusting for the height difference I did use Spenco inserts and had problems with my heel moving up and down too much

Yes, it would be "better" to adjust the full length of my foot. However, many shoes simply don't have the volume in the toe box area to accomodate a 3/8" insert without getting blisters and other problems. I am a heel striker (big time) and provided the length discrepancy is accomodated for when my feet hit the ground, my body seems to be able to compensate. One thing that is interesting is the surgical procedure used after the accident was only used in Europe at the time. "External fixation" is where a huge bar with a damping mechanisim was attached outside my lower right leg connected at 3 different points with huge screws into the bone. What is interesting is that I naturally pronated before the accident and when they fixed the right leg they fixed the pronation so now I pronate on my left foot but not on the right. Since I only had a 1% chance of surviving the accident and initially they wanted to amputate, I guess I won't complain about the surgeon not replicating my pronation. I have always been curious how many people survive an accident like that and return to running

The only time I probably need a full length insert is when I am running 6 minute/mile pace or faster because my foot then impacts midfoot where I don't have any height accomodation. I was using one of those Garmin fancy dongle things which measure stride length and impact time on the ground and when I run faster it noted things changed.

Post-accident PR's are: 31:30 10K (suspect course distance), 1:15 half marathon and a total of 21 marathons and a half dozen ultras up to 50 miles. The only real impairment or limitation I probably have is that I have to be more careful than other runners about knowing when to back off and my biomechanics at high speed must be pretty wonky. I also have scoliosis but not badly enough to keep me out of the military just one shoulder a bit lower