When riding on the trainer, my left leg has always been jerky compared to my right leg. I got some Le Wedges when I noticed that the paint job was getting rubbed off the left side of the top tube. By adding some thickness to the inside of the cleat I quickly got a smoother pedal stroke…
Last night while sitting in a chair with feet firmly on the ground I noticed my right knee was higher than the left knee. I had my wife eyeball the difference and my lower left leg is about .5 to 1 cm , or about 1/4 inch shorter.
What are common fixes for this problem? Or is this really much of a problem at all? Bike fitters out there?
I know it affects my pedalling, but don’t see problems in running.
There was an article in Inside Triathlon on how Peter Reid had a leg length discrepency. Once the the problem was fixed he picked up something like 25 watts.
I’ve got the same problem, so I’m watching this post with interest. At the moment I’ve got the seat saddle twisted slightly and everything’s a lot more comfortable.
me too!!
You really need a professional to tell if they are longer. One thing that is very common, and happened to me, is that one of my hips has slowly rotated forward over the years, and gives me an “apparent” leg length deficiency.
I was having a ridiculous number of running injuries last year, and went to see a highly recommended sports physical therapist. She had me runa and walk, and said “It looks like you have a leg length difference, let’s measure it to be sure”. She measured each leg a number of different ways, and they were identical. She looked again, now at my hips, and found that my right hip was rotated way forward relative to the left. She put me on some hip flexibility routines, and (knock on wood) I haven’t had an injury since.
Bottom line, if you think it’s linked to a problem, have a professional check it.
I am a mess. I did get measured up. My hips are twisted and one leg is shorter than the other. Once I found this out though I evened up my gait, sort of mentally compensating for the difference. Same with the saddle, its twisted slightly to compensate. I used to have all sorts of IT Band problems before we did this. I think we decided that if I straightened up the hips then the leg thing will have a worse effect. I got through an IM with no ill effects.
No, no photos, I look normal really, its only when you measure things that the discrepancies. I blame a skiing accident.
Correct - it is very unusual to have a structural limb length discrepancy (easy to find with just measuring). More common it is functional for a multitude of reasons. Usually endurance running will certainly magnify the diff (per another poster), less so with sprinting. May try adding a spacer, 1/4 or so on the cleat and try it out. Would be great to try this on a computrainer.
my friend who is going to a PT was told by her that if you sit on your wallet it can cause hip misalignment.
just thought i would throw that out there.
Can you share your hip flexibility routine that you followed?
Two types of leg length discrepancies. On is anatomical meaning the bones one leg or shorter. This can either be congenital or happened after fracture where the broken leg bone heeled a bit shorter than before. This is quite common with broken femurs or with spiral fractures of the tibia like sometimes happens with skiers. The solution is a custom lift in your shoe to equalize.
The other type is functional and is caused by things like pelvic rotation/twisting, muscle imbalances, etc. Often this can be fixed with chiropractic/PT therapy along with the correct strengthening and stretching exercises. Custom orthotics can also be a big help.
For cycling Lemond’s LeWedge system claims to help this and seems to have done the trick for you. You can also get custom orthotics for cycling. They are similiar to running orthotics but are usually made of harder materials.
“On is anatomical meaning the bones one leg or shorter.”
I’ve got to proof read more. Should read:
One is anatomical meaning the bones of one leg are shorter.