Anyone use these with successful results? Are they one in the same? After breaking my lower tibia/fibula my right leg is just slightly shorter. My left is doing most of the “work”. Would these help? Thanks for your help!
A shim is a flat piece of a certain thickness that you put between your shoe and cleat that will effectively “lengthen” your leg. A wedge goes in the same place but is wedge-shaped and cants your shoe. If you take two identical wedges and stack them opposite of one another, you can make a shim. I would check with your doctor or physical therapist and find out exactly what your leg length difference is. Then you’ll know how much you need to shim your shoe/cleat. I have used the Lemond Lewedge (http://www.jensonusa.com/store/product/PE406Z06-Lemond+Lewedge.aspx). If you have a significant leg length difference, you could stack a bunch of the wedges, or find plastic material to make your own at whatever thickness you like. I made a shim for my wife using guitar pickguard material (http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Pickguards/Pickguard_materials/Black_Pickguard_Material.html). You can get it in various thicknesses (from 0.9 mm to 2.1 mm), cut it to whatever shape you need for you cleat, drill appropriate holes, and stack to your desired shim - I used adhesive to glue them together so they didn’t slip. Hope this helps!
I have used shims successfully for the last year or so. It definitely helped sort out some knee/IT problems I was having. One word of warning that took me a few months (and a new doctor) to sort out: x-rays taken from standard distances magnify the differences in size. Although my x-rays showed a 7mm difference in leg length, the shim that I’m using is only 4.5mm and I’m pretty much “even” now. Ask your doctor about the effects of scattering before anyone uses the measured distance on the x-ray as the gospel truth.
I have a similar problem in that my left tib/fib is 6mm shorter than my right following a fracture 17yrs ago when I was a teenager. I tried shimming 3 yrs ago after developing severe sciatica while training for my first ironman that forced me to stop for 12 months. They have definately straightened me up as I had a tendency to tilt my pelvis to the left which I was remedying with twisting my bike seat to the left. Not the best solution
My advice is as follows.
- Make sure you have significant difference. if it is only a couple of mm then your ankle will naturally adjust. I have only shimmed 4mm on the advice of a biomechanist
- Rehab is what will get your right leg back to shape. Shimming won’t increase the amount of work it does, it will just ensure your knee tracks straight and help to even out your pelvis.
- After an injury like you have had, make sure your core strength is A+. Leg strength discrepencies can easily lead to back pain, and shimming won’t fix it once it has started
- If you do decide to shim, get some objective advice. Don’t shim the whole difference to begin with. Are you sure your legs were exactly the same length before you broke it? If they weren’t you don’t want to overcorrect
Hope this helps - I have spent years trying to get this right
if you go to the manufacturer’s website you will see that there are even leg length shims available. I believe the max number of Wedges you can stack is 6, the leg length shim is 5mm.
I have 3 wedges under my right shoe and 2 under my left and cycling has never been as comfortable!
One of the few sources of good information on the topic.
I’ve got a 15mm difference, evenly distributed between femur and tibia bones which is the only lucky thing I guess.
I’ve not used shims but am looking into which ones to as for years of back and knee pain I’ve finally worked out this is the problem.
I got mine diagnosed with a CT Scan.
My question is - how big a shim to get. I’ve heard (and my therapist recommends, although they have little experience in this area) that half of the leg length difference can be made up with shims but not more then that.
So for me that’d be around 6 to 8mm.?? Anyone else got such a big difference and what did you do???
THanks in advance.
I’ve been using the Lemond Lewedge for the last 6 years. Not because of a leg length issue but because of an alignment issue.
2 shims in my left and 1 in my right.
jaretj
I use wedges on one foot. There have been several threads on here over the years about them and this article http://www.slowtwitch.com/mainheadings/prodreview/newproduct/lewedge.html If you need them, they are a godsend. They correct a situation some folks have where the bottom of their foot naturally wants to be at an angle (its got a medical name I can’t remember) but the pedal/cleat/cycling shoe system forces the foot to be flat. By using wedges under the cleat, the sole of the shoe is canted to match the natural angle of your foot.
A typical symptom is intense burning and pain on one side of your foot after riding for a while. A good bikeshop that does cleat fittings will have a tool to measure you foot to see if you need them.
Same here, I had some IT band issues and knee tracking problems while riding. After consulting with rroof and a couple other knowledgable folks on this forum I have ended up with three shims on my right leg and two on my left. Definitely noticed a decrease in pain and increase in comfort.
I am considering looking into some of the Specialized shoes as I know they have a degree of this “shimming” built in to the sole of the shoe.
I have heard that the Specialized shoes do a good job of helping but they offer a 1.5mm of varus tilt vs a specific degree of tilt.
On CyclingNews.com Steve Hogg wrote something about this! You might want to search it! If you are comfortable with your current shoes, why would you change shoes?
I like my shoes but don’t love them, plus, I am going to need new shoes anyway as mine have a good amount of mileage in them and are showing signs of wear.
Each wedge offers about 1.5 degrees of varus tilt as well, so for me, if I like the Specialized shoes, I could get away with having to use fewer wedges, as I said, right now I am at 3 on the right foot and 2 on the left. With having to have different length cleat screws, the possibility of the wedges moving, etc, I just thought if I like the Specialized shoes they would be worth considering if they could also elminate a wedge or two. It seems like if I know I need at least the 1.5mm of varus tilt, then there is no down side to shoes. However, someone playing with using only a single wedge could have an issue if the 1.5 degrees was too much for them.
Not knowing what pedal system you are using. Speedplay makes an excellent spacing shim for leg length discrepancy. You will want to use half the difference with the shims. I have a left leg tibia shorter than right and use 1 of Speedplay’s shims under my cleat. If you go on Speedplay’s website they have an excellent section on fit and pedals. We just received into our studio one of Speedplay’s Ultimate fit kit. I must say as a fitter its great having companies with devotion to fit.
Interesting to read about the Specialized shoes – One post says 1.5mm and the other 1.5 degrees.
So which one is it? I am still trying to get the legitimate scoop on this one.
The original In The Shoe wedge – used to be called Sole Power has a true 1.5 degrees of wedge regardless of the size. Just an FYI
If you read Steve Hogg he claims he is not seeing any benefit from the Specialized shoes. Just the other day I fit a cyclist with 3 pairs of shoes. One pair was specialized. The gal required 3 cleat wedges on two sets of shoes – so I was thinking I would only need/use two cleat wedges with the Specialized shoe but the mechanics (at least visually) did not match the other shoes until I added the 3rd wedge. Also she did not feel like we did that same to the shoe until we added the third wedge. Interesting in that she could not feel the wedge that is part of the shoe. I am curious as to why this is??
So just like Hogg, in the case, I found no advantage with the specialized shoe regarding varus wedging
I’d be interested in hearing some clarification on this too. I am currently using 3 wedges on 1 foot and 2 on the other.
Depending on the amount of varus canting, I thought the Specialized shoes could help eliminate at least 1 wedge from each shoe. Some clarification would be nice.
I used to think the BG shoes were about equal to one cleat wedge. I quickly went to observing the BG shoe being about 1/2 as affective as a cleat wedge, at best. Still a good shoe but I think we all over estimated what it really does. Definitely on the right track with the idea/concept
However I have been reading a few more comments that perhaps the “half” wedge might even be too much.
Not often we get to fit two shoes and one pair being a BG shoe but if you do it would be interesting to have a closer look and really see if there is a difference with the cyclist. no·men·cla·ture **
– noun 1. a set or system of names or terms, as those used in a particular science or art, by an individual or community, etc. 2. the names or terms comprising a set or system. Nomenclature Cleat Wedges (2-hole SPD, 3-hole Look, 4-hole Speedplay) 1**- Cleat Wedge = 1 degree of tilt** 2**- Cleat Wedges = 2 degrees of tilt** 3**- Cleat Wedges = 3 degrees of tilt** Hogg’s Leg Length Shims**** 1**-LL Shim = 3mm flat platform (riser) **“Stacking” Cleat Wedges (2-Cleat Wedges - placed thick side to thin side = “1 Stack”) **
1- ITS Wedge (In The Shoe Wedge)= 1.5 degrees of varus tilt thick side to thin side
I was born with a 25 mm discrepancy. I have my shoes adjusted which is easier so I can walk when not on bike & then my time clets attach normally. I’ve also when using Spd had an alum one made like the spd by a machine shop. When I tried one similiar with the Time cleat it didn’t flex enough to get in& out properly.
Barb
ps generally one starts with a lift/shim at 50% of one’s discrepancy & goes from there.
So if I ride a pair of sidi road shoes, and my fitter gave me two yellow wedges for each shoe, i might want to revisit this if getting a pair of trivents?
The Leg Length Shims by Hogg seem to work well with Time, Crank bro and SPD
Regarding the Cleat wedges and switching to a BG shoe - I would try and see what you find. The trend of late is that you will still need 2 cleat wedges with the BG shoes.
Let us know what you find.