Do you have one leg...
 

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[Closed] Do you have one leg longer than the other?

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A strange request I know - but does anyone have a leg length discrepancy with their left leg longer than the right?
I have a right leg longer than the left after breaking my femur many years ago. On my road shoes I have 4mm spacers on my left shoe to help balance it out. It’s much harder to do the same on mtb cleats as it makes the interface between cleat and pedal very sloppy. What helps me is to use an XTR right pedal and an XT left pedal as there are 2-3mm difference in stack height.
If I could find someone with the same issue but opposite legs then I would hopefully get the use out of two pairs of pedals when I buy two pairs. Currently I have two brand new left xtr pedals and right XT pedals 😂
If you know anyone please fwd this on to them 👍
Thanks
Steve


 
Posted : 14/04/2020 1:54 pm
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Mines about 15mm..


 
Posted : 14/04/2020 1:55 pm
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We all have a leg shorter than the other...which is why we walk in circles (very big ones) if we have no points of reference to aim at.

Mate owns a bike shop and he was telling me about differing leg lengths and saying he has insoles to provide spacing to get leg length equaled out.


 
Posted : 14/04/2020 2:00 pm
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Unless you've had an accident, it might not be the leg that's longer but your hips that are wonky.

Mrs Dubs thought for years she had on short leg, but it turns out here hips were wrong. Fix the hips, fix the legs, and also the back pain.

To be fair, she's had that much knee surgery it wasn't an unreasonable assumption, but turned out that was one of the few things not wrong with her legs.


 
Posted : 14/04/2020 2:05 pm
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Apparently it’s very commonplace for the population according to my physio but luckily I don’t have that issue.

Now balls hanging equally or not according to my taylor...


 
Posted : 14/04/2020 2:10 pm
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I thought the walking in circles was due to favoured stronger leg, hence to escape something you run at 5 o’clock to it’s 12 o’clock? Going anticlockwise eventually.

I agree on thinking about insoles inside the shoe and not fixing outside the shoe.


 
Posted : 14/04/2020 2:19 pm
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Unfortunately insoles aren’t a solution for me. Hopefully I can find someone who wants to buy a pair of xtr and a pair of XT pedals that we can share 🤞🤞


 
Posted : 14/04/2020 2:56 pm
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hence to escape something you run at 5 o’clock to it’s 12 o’clock?

Giving it a 5 hour head start is not going to improve your chances.


 
Posted : 14/04/2020 3:03 pm
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Only the third one.


 
Posted : 14/04/2020 3:17 pm
 Drac
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Everyone essentially does naturally but it varies. My right is shorter due to surgery when I was young.


 
Posted : 14/04/2020 3:19 pm
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As a question it always makes me think of Terry Pratchett talking about characters for whom both legs were shorter than the other...


 
Posted : 14/04/2020 3:43 pm
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Mrs Dubs thought for years she had on short leg, but it turns out here hips were wrong. Fix the hips, fix the legs, and also the back pain.

I'm sure I have this problem, left knee always sore, all back problems originate from left side, right hip clunks in a weird way when doing certain stretches, when I did a bike fit the saddle pressure map even showed my right hip 15mm further back than my left.

But then some physios tell you it's normal and everyone has it, others say you need valgus correction, others say varus correction, others just recommend endless piriformis stretches, some say shims, others say no shims.

Would be so much easier and cheaper if there was a consensus within the profession...


 
Posted : 14/04/2020 3:49 pm
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Its never been enough for me to notice until I smashed up my ankle last september. I think the resultant plates and pins have changed something as now my foot sits a bit funny on the pedal and I get pain in my opposite kneed. I'm on flats, so may give insoles a go once I work out where the problem actually is.


 
Posted : 14/04/2020 4:05 pm
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I did, following a heavy braking incident in a car leading to a rotated right hip. About 1.5" I remember. A chiropracter spotted the problem, crunched my hip, sorted the problem.


 
Posted : 14/04/2020 4:08 pm
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I did have about a 1.2cm difference, though this was down to one tibia being externally rotated compared to the other, then when I would rotate back to a normal alignment with my ankle/knee it would cause an effective leg length issue.

For mtb shoes, I used a spacer insole on the shorter leg to get about 3mm, assuming you have space in your shoe. INOV8 did them I believe. Crankbrothers and new Shimano trail pedals also ship with a few small spacers you can slip under the cleat. They're only about a mm so it doesn't effect clipping in.

Keep flexible as well, especially in the calves and hamstrings.

Ultimately due to the rotation causing a bunch of joint issues I had surgery to fix it. However the above minimised my issues.


 
Posted : 14/04/2020 4:34 pm
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I thought I had but the physio said that unless they hung me upside down by my ankles and x-rayed my legs, there's no way to be certain and most of it was likely due to misalignment elsewhere


 
Posted : 14/04/2020 4:44 pm
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Right leg slightly shorter, but probably due to being in traction for over 5 weeks in hospital following an operation for osteomyilitis when I was 11.


 
Posted : 14/04/2020 4:58 pm

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