Do you have a leg length difference?

Have you been told that one leg is longer than the other? Maybe you’ve had a heel lift or orthotic recommended? 

Before trying to correct a leg length difference, it’s important to check with an X-ray or CT scan that it is a true difference in the length of your tibia or femur.  

It is fairly common to have legs of slightly different lengths, but sometimes it can appear this way when it’s not the case. For example, if your lower back is tight on one side, those muscles can pull that side of your pelvis up, making your hips feel different heights, and giving an appearance of different length legs.  

So, if you’ve had it confirmed on a scan, the next question is whether you need to do anything about it? 

Your body can adapt pretty well for a small difference. The usual recommendation is anything over 2cm should trial a corrective heel lift.  

For some people a leg length difference can cause all sorts of problems, and a heel lift is a life saver!  

The symptoms of a leg length difference are usually multiple areas of pain around your spine.  

For example, right sided low back pain, left sided mid back pain, right sided neck pain. And no treatment gives sustained relief. If this is you, we can assess whether you would benefit from a heel lift in the clinic. We have different heights in stock, and will have you stand on one, and then perform the activities that would usually hurt. If the heel lift is going to be beneficial, we can see immediately! 

So, if you’ve had years of muscle pain around your spine, it could be worth having an assessment and then an X-ray to check if you have a leg length difference. And if so, you may benefit from a heel lift to reduce the difference, and allow your spine to stop compensating.  

If this sounds like you, give us a call, we’d love to help 🙂