Short leg (Leg Length Discrepancy)

[paininmybutt]

I struggled through my teens to have my family allow me to be seen for a short leg. The Dr. I saw said: well let's see here ( he threw one of his medical school textbooks under my left leg),...does that help? Does that feel better? I fought that attitude my whole life from the medical community. Being from a rural setting I was familiar with animal stock, conformity in bone structure, and my larger opinion has not improved. Idiot's,...I should have gone to the vet!!! I wish to do a study, as I have noted comment's on this site and elsewhere, but can I have a word from anyone willing to read this, and establish if they have been diagnosed, or not, and your application of the structural implications. Thank you.

[HerMajesty]

Hi,
A true leg length discrepancy is very rare. In true leg length discrepancy, an Orthopedist can x-ray your femurs, and one will measure shorter than the other. If you have pelvic pain and "leg length discrepancy", more often than not your pelvis is misaligned (sacroiliac joint dysfunction, SIJD), and this causes uneven leg length if observed by lying down and checking to see if the heels are even. The "longer" leg will strike the ground first when you stand, you will make postural compensations, and there will be consequences throughout your body. this happened to me at age 14, and by the time my pelvic alignment was corrected almost 25 years later I had a strong, stiff right leg, a weak, flexible left leg, and muscular trigger points throughout my body, including 16 of the 18 "tender points of fibromyalgia". plus of course pelvic pain: IC and PN. Has an orthopedist in fact ever measured your femurs and told you whether you have a true leg length discrepancy? If not, be suspicious of that diagnosis. see a Physical Therapist to find out if your pelvis is in proper alignment.

[paininmybutt]

Do not be misled; when they say it is not common, physicians are referancing anything above and beyond 1/2", and unless you insist they look at the possibility they generally omit their responsibility through the "hip misalignment". It is generally not in a chiropractors interests to conduct a study as they can produce, with accupuncture, a fixation for up to 2 weeks before the body moves back to it's learned behaviour. Considering the full leg exposure the test requires, the x-ray overexposure liability does not go un-noticed by the physician either. They have asked me more than one time: ",...you are done having kids right!?"

Yes, I was measured for a leg length discrepancy, and it was told to me that it was about 1/2". After some "poking around of my own" though a simple level placed across my knee caps I found almost an inch differance. In addition I can place an inch under, and I feel "even", and stable. Although I have had many, many, many physicians tell me that the discrepancy is rare, I have found that in fact it is not, and physicians are either told wrongly, or generally they consider smaller discrepancies of no consequence. Now that I have a couple of individuals that are beyond a general practice, I am told that the problem is actually wide spread, and that 1/2" is indicative of arthritic conditions as one ages. Further more I have enjoyed a rather hard working life, opting to choose physical jobs over my professional career. Having been actively involved with weight under load I have no problem whatsoever acknowledging the likelyhood that physicians underestimate the effects physically demanding professions may exact on ones person. Furthermore physicians IMO consider abdominal disturbance so negligable in the management of one's physical condition that they barely pay attention to it. It is not until you tell them "blockage" that they pay attention. The problem with this is that when they test for this "blockage" they fail to identify the root cause. Many gastro's are so oblivious of the pudendal nerve and it's role that if you ask them about it they will smile quietly and say something like: ",...yeah, I remember something about that in medical school". No doubt when all they have to do is show up and punch the timeclock under the new legislation their knowledge will diminish further.

With the relatively small investment a patient would need to facilitate correction at an early age, or for that fact even at a seasoned age, it is not in the interests of a physician who acts in a healthcare role to inform a patient of these possibilities without first paying for their investment in their respective career field, (after all; if it ain't broke, don't fix it right!). I am sure many on this site are physicians, or have interests in an entity of the same, but if we are to have a discussion about our realistic expectations we must start by sorting out the motives of all parties. I say this as this has been my number one mistake; believing, and not weighing in on physician motive.

[nyt]

I have a small leg length discrepancy which was diagnosed by PT almost 5 years ago. My chiropractor also determined by physical exam that I have a small leg length discrepancy and then calculated the difference based on X-rays. My chiropractor was quite surprised that PT didn't give me a heal lift to correct the problem. I've been wearing a heal lift for about 2 years and over time as I slowly increased the size of the lift I have found my hip alignment stays in place now. From what I've read 1/2" seems to be the difference that physicians consider substantial enough to treat. My chiro treats everyone with leg length descrepancy, no matter how small. My chiro feels that unless the discrepancy is treated that one cannot effectively treat misalignments of the hip, shoulder, neck and jaw.

[paininmybutt]

Apologies to my former victim HerMajesty, I have been unable to post regularly, and I had hoped to post my explanation for such aggressive comments. I have been told so many times how rare the issue is that the topic of “STRUCTURAL CONFORMITY” has become a sensitive subject. When I found so many individuals had looked at my topic but had perhaps ignored the discussion based on its rarity I became defensive. Thank you for participating.

NYT -In relationship to the overall body effects I too have had spinal torsion issues related to the (LLD) Leg Length Discrepancy. I spoke with an ENT physician not 2 weeks ago trying to track down the effects of sinus problems. I had taken up the theory that my Eustachian tube between my right ear, and sinus was not being affected by infection, and otherwise usual causes, but: mis-alignment of some muscle, tissue, or bone. On initial questioning he dismissed any structural obstruction, but; after careful inquisition he noted that there are alignment issues between specific muscles in the region that can be affected by the spine. This was conformation I already understood in part through personal experiment. I have noted persistent, and severe sinus infection, increased inability to lift my right arm throughout my life, pain in my back and immediate right shoulder, burning from the sinus following the pathway of the lymphatic to the shoulder, pain in the lower back opposite, and corresponding effects indicative of a short left leg that: would place torsion on the entire spine. ALL of these symptoms and a long list of digestive, reproductive, nervous and even circulatory issues are affected significantly when I stand on a specific kind of lift that I built myself. I COMPLETELY AGREE WITH YOUR CHIRO!

There is a real need now that PNE/PN has definitive diagnostic criteria for a framework patients can utilize. We need to establish a listing wherein prospective patients have access to a checklist that they can take in hand, and mitigate the effects of time on their condition. The longer a nerve is trapped, the worse the damage. The longer an individual has PN the greater the risk of further damage without seeking attention.

With the primary understanding the pelvis is a cat’s cradle of nerves, muscles, bone, etc. structure cannot be overlooked in relationship to CONFORMITY. Nobody would build a house without a solid and structurally sound foundation. Nobody would build a car without an equally sound frame. When we begin to understand we had a pain free existence, (in the absence of damage beyond repair; muscles, nerves, tendons, cartilage, bone, etc.), we should be able to return the pelvic structure to the relative previous existence. I am not only talking about a short leg. The whole pelvic skeletal structure must be ruled out first, and by a second opinion!

NYT I am happy you found help in a simple lift. I tried the simple,…for me it did not work. Unfortunately the “few” of us that find our way to these conclusions have very limited resources. I had to actually self-educate to identify what is just now beginning to show up. Different body types, and postures require more than the standard lift! Do you have a flat butt? I hope you like high heels?! Do you have a deeply dished lower back? You are going to need the opposite: a pair of shoes akin to Kalso’s. Me personally: I have built a pair of knee high logger style boots, 7/8” lift in my left leg, rocked back ½” like a Kaso, but also shaved off ½” on the outside to force my pelvis to develop the muscles I have personally found that affords me relief from bowel pain. I will be doing a gait analysis before and after with my Chiropodist,… when I find one I like. Extreme,…yes,…but I am one tough #*&;aghoihjadsf, and I refuse to accept a body bag. I have three small children, and a wife that has stood by me even when everyone literally turned us out into the street defaming me as an addict, and a liar. Alone; but with God, we have found real answers to my physical pain after I had paid all my physicians to practice on me.

[nyt]

paininmybutt, my leg lift discrepancy is not bad. I too have alot right shoulder blade problems but that is from injury I got in my early 30's and a whiplash injury as a teenager. I have a ways to go with the shoulder blade problem and I know that still affects that rest of my alignment issues.

There is a standard criteria to diagnose PN/PNE called the Nantes criteria. You can go through the list and check off what you have. I think on the main webpage there is a link to the diagnosis criteria. If you can't find it, PM, me and I will send all the inclusion and exclusion criteria. This is a difficult nerve entrapment issue to diagnose because of the complexity of the pelvis.

[HerMajesty]

No offense taken paininmybutt, I am not a sensitive person.
Regardless of the fact that you have a true leg length discrepancy and I had a functional leg length discrepancy, the result is much the same: mine went uncorrected for 25 years, and the result was misalignment of the entire body (mine really went as far as the cervical spine where it articulates with the skull, not into the jaw; but problems with the jaw in that situation are common). On the side with the longer leg, I was strong and inflexible, and on the other side I was weak and flexible. Although I don't consider myself a fibromyalgia patient because I do not have musculoskeletal pain or chronic fatigue, I do have muscular trigger points throughout my body including 16 of the 18 "tender points of fibromyalgia". The only real difference between us, is that I was realigned by correction of the pelvis whereas you have to be realigned by use of the lift you developed.
When you say a lot of the damage is permanent: That might be so; there is certainly enough of it that I personally have never bothered to even try to reverse it all - one would have to dedicate so much time to PT stretching, excercise, massage, that it would become the focus of life. This defeats the purpose of being there for our families. That said, I did do enough PT to make a significant difference in my quality of life. A lot of your pelvic pain might be myofascial in origin, and mine responded well to external "belly button to knees" deep tissue massage, PT stretches, and core excercises. Typical areas of possible entrapment from severe misalignment include entrapment between the sacrotuberous and sacrospinous ligaments, which would probably have increased tension on one side; and entrapment in the piriformis muscle which can become tight and spastic but can also be stretched very nicely through PT, or injected with steroid and / or botox to release it. The good news is, if you continue to use the lift to align yourself, the source of ongoing damage should be gone, and you can begin to work on reversing damage in those areas where it is most problematic to you.