Diagnosing Leg Length Discrepancy

[[email protected]]

hi, anyone had a leg length discrepancy diagnosed? i've heard of a few
people having to put spacers in one shoe's cleat to even out a leg
discrepancy. i'm pretty sure one of mine is a few millimeters
off......no matter what i do i can never get my cleats adjusted so that
each leg stroke looks identical from above (one knee will move straight
up and down, while the other floats in and out a bit). let me know if
you have any idea how to get this diagnosed and get the specific length
difference (x-rays ?). thanks much!

 

[JeffWills]

[email protected] wrote:
> hi, anyone had a leg length discrepancy diagnosed? i've heard of a few
> people having to put spacers in one shoe's cleat to even out a leg
> discrepancy. i'm pretty sure one of mine is a few millimeters
> off......no matter what i do i can never get my cleats adjusted so that
> each leg stroke looks identical from above (one knee will move straight
> up and down, while the other floats in and out a bit). let me know if
> you have any idea how to get this diagnosed and get the specific length
> difference (x-rays ?). thanks much!

X-rays are the definitive method. Otherwise, differences in joint
flexibility and geometry can affect the external appearance. AFAIK, "a
few millimeters" is not particularly significant. If the stroke "looks"
different side-to-side, I'd guess that you might have a muscle
imbalance or something equally soft-tissue related.

FWIW: my right leg is about 1/2" shorter than my left, and my right
foot points outward at about a ten-degree angle. Aside from getting my
cleats' rotational adjustment set correctly, I haven't done anything to
compensate for this. I'd like to, but my riding partner (wife) isn't
pushing me fast enough to make it matter.

Jeff

 

[Jeff Starr]

On 19 Feb 2006 15:40:49 -0800, [email protected] wrote:

>hi, anyone had a leg length discrepancy diagnosed? i've heard of a few
>people having to put spacers in one shoe's cleat to even out a leg
>discrepancy. i'm pretty sure one of mine is a few millimeters
>off......no matter what i do i can never get my cleats adjusted so that
>each leg stroke looks identical from above (one knee will move straight
>up and down, while the other floats in and out a bit). let me know if
>you have any idea how to get this diagnosed and get the specific length
>difference (x-rays ?). thanks much!

How does it feel? I think that is what is important.


Life is Good!
Jeff

 

[Pat in TX]

> hi, anyone had a leg length discrepancy diagnosed?

yes, I have for years had doctors say, "Has anyone ever told you one leg is
shorter than the other?" This was always after the basic test. You lie on
your back with your legs out straight. Then, you bend your knees and lift
your buttocks off of the table/floor/whatever. You straighten your legs out
again and they look at your feet to see if your legs are the same length.
But, they never did anything about it other than say, "I thought so!"

Finally, one doctor said, "Let's take an x-ray." and, sure enough a
standing x-ray showed that my pelvis was tilted! One leg is 3/8" shorter
than the other and when a pad of that length was added to my foot, my pelvis
tips were horizontal again.

Now, he didn't do this all at once. First, he put in a 1/16th" pad in and I
walked around on it for 2 weeks. Then, he took that out and put in a 1/8th"
pad for two weeks and so on. At the end of the time, he x-rayed me sitting
and standing. And, voila!

The result? I no longer have a lower back pain on the left side that I have
had for years and years. One of my vertebrae was tilted and cramping the
space between two of the vertebras.

However, I haven't used the pads in my cycling shoes. I haven't messed
around with shims, either. What he did was put a pad on my saddle to keep
the pelvis in proper position. Until you asked, I wasn't aware that I wasn't
using the pads in my cycling shoes. Hmmm. I'll have to ask about that. Maybe
it is because the heel position isn't as crucial when wearing cleats?

But, I do know that one foot tracks with my toes straight ahead and the
other, the shorter leg, likes for the toes to point outward a bit. Maybe you
don't have a leg length discrepancy at all--maybe you just have a foot that
goes differently from the other foot. I suspect my right foot toes out
because of the knee operation....

 

[Bruce Graham]

In article <[email protected]>,
[email protected] says...
>
> [email protected] wrote:
> > hi, anyone had a leg length discrepancy diagnosed? i've heard of a few
> > people having to put spacers in one shoe's cleat to even out a leg
> > discrepancy. i'm pretty sure one of mine is a few millimeters
> > off......no matter what i do i can never get my cleats adjusted so that
> > each leg stroke looks identical from above (one knee will move straight
> > up and down, while the other floats in and out a bit). let me know if
> > you have any idea how to get this diagnosed and get the specific length
> > difference (x-rays ?). thanks much!
>
> X-rays are the definitive method. Otherwise, differences in joint
> flexibility and geometry can affect the external appearance. AFAIK, "a
> few millimeters" is not particularly significant. If the stroke "looks"
> different side-to-side, I'd guess that you might have a muscle
> imbalance or something equally soft-tissue related.
>
> FWIW: my right leg is about 1/2" shorter than my left, and my right
> foot points outward at about a ten-degree angle. Aside from getting my
> cleats' rotational adjustment set correctly, I haven't done anything to
> compensate for this. I'd like to, but my riding partner (wife) isn't
> pushing me fast enough to make it matter.
>
> Jeff
>
Same here, but my right leg is about 3/4 inch shorter. Almost nobody is
perfectly symmetrical right to left. A classic illustration if you can
use a photoeditor is to take a full face photo then split it down the
middle and flip just one side to the other to make a symmetrical face.
Now do the same using the other half face. Two different people!

I point toes down more with my short leg. I tried setting that short leg
cleat about 4mm forward but didn't notice much difference. Might be
worth a try, but not for such a tiny leg length difference.

Bruce

 

[Mark Hickey]

[email protected] wrote:

>hi, anyone had a leg length discrepancy diagnosed? i've heard of a few
>people having to put spacers in one shoe's cleat to even out a leg
>discrepancy. i'm pretty sure one of mine is a few millimeters
>off......no matter what i do i can never get my cleats adjusted so that
>each leg stroke looks identical from above (one knee will move straight
>up and down, while the other floats in and out a bit). let me know if
>you have any idea how to get this diagnosed and get the specific length
>difference (x-rays ?). thanks much!

I don't think the assymetry in your pedaling stroke has anything to do
with leg length (since raising or lowering your saddle shouldn't cause
your knee to move to the side). Rather, I'll wager the issue is with
alignment in your knee itself. My right knee has always done the same
thing. I believe that you can correct for this with alignment of the
shoe (in my case, tilting the outside edge of the shoe up seems to
help).

Mark Hickey
Habanero Cycles
http://www.habcycles.com
Home of the $795 ti frame

 

[[email protected]]

yeah, i have tried doing all kinds of angles with the cleat wedges, but
nothing seems to help. my left leg looks perfect, while my right leg
floats in and out a bit regardless of how i angle or move the cleats.
i've never really had any injuries that would cause this, and i'm
pretty young so no joint problems yet. it did seem to get a bit better
when i added about 2mm of spacers to the total right side height. just
didn't know how to figure out exactly what would make my legs perfectly
equal length.

seems like x-ray would be the only way. i do know that the
chiropractor has told me i have a pelvic tilt, which is probably most
of the problem that makes one leg 'seem' shorter. likewise, when
running i always seem to be more comfortable on the left side of the
road than the right due to the road angle tilt. guess i'll have to
look at getting some x-rays.........thanks much

 

[RonSonic]

On 20 Feb 2006 08:53:52 -0800, [email protected] wrote:

>yeah, i have tried doing all kinds of angles with the cleat wedges, but
>nothing seems to help. my left leg looks perfect, while my right leg
>floats in and out a bit regardless of how i angle or move the cleats.
>i've never really had any injuries that would cause this, and i'm
>pretty young so no joint problems yet. it did seem to get a bit better
>when i added about 2mm of spacers to the total right side height. just
>didn't know how to figure out exactly what would make my legs perfectly
>equal length.
>
>seems like x-ray would be the only way. i do know that the
>chiropractor has told me i have a pelvic tilt, which is probably most
>of the problem that makes one leg 'seem' shorter. likewise, when
>running i always seem to be more comfortable on the left side of the
>road than the right due to the road angle tilt. guess i'll have to
>look at getting some x-rays.........thanks much

There are bike fit guys with laser pointers for each leg and LeMond's shoe wedge
alignment gadgets and all other sorts of stuff. I've never had benefit, or felt
such need, but both my legs track straight. The pelvic tilt sounds like it could
explain all of this. I'd see about a pro fitting, at least for the pedals, if I
were having an issue like this.

Ron