Hi! My name is Dino and my right leg is 10mm shorter than my left
Some how I made it almost 40 years without realizing my right leg is 10mm shorter than my left!
I started seeing a really well respected Chiropractor in the running community last week. I was having some new foot pain and have had nagging lower back issues for over a decade. He is also the author is of "Run Healthy, Run Strong". He is also the founder of a really big running club here in Passdena called the "Pacers". In short, he is really knowledgeable and I respect him. He took several x-rays and the pictures were shocking... to me, not him.
My low back is bent like a banana. I know that because of a disc issue I had in my 20's. But actually seeing how bent I am was crazy. He used a ruler and protractor to show I am bent 18* out of whack! No surprise here, but still stunning.
The real news was my hips. He was able to measure the tops of my femurs and show that my right is 10mm shorter than the left. According to him, for a guy my height, 5'9", that is significant. Because of this, my longer leg takes a pounding while the shorter one struggles to keep up. If I am running on a track with the left leg inside on the turns or on a "crowned" road surface with the left leg on the high side, it gets even worse.
His Rx was for a 3/8" heel wedge in my right shoe. He claims that after easing into it, over time, like moving into new running shoes, I could see big gains due to greater efficiency.
What's interesting is that my Retul bike fitter wanted me to use a wedge under my cycling cleat last year because he thought I had a leg length discrepancy based on my knee angle comparing right to left while pedaling. I ignored him, and only used the cleat wedge for a couple weeks. Chiropractor laughed at me and told me to put it back.
Its probably just in my head now, but I actually think I can feel it when I walk! A little bit.... 
Thoughts? Any one else in the crooked club? Am I now a challenged athlete?
Curious about your thoughts and experiences....
Comments
I've never had low back pain but they were shocked that I don't, but I've got some other fun stuff going on too, my left shoulder is higher than my right shoulder and there appears to be some functional scoliosis as a result of the leg length discrepancy.
The difference is I was advised against wedges or any sort of orthotics, which I think was a somewhat controversial decision. The belief is that my leg length thing is mostly functional rather than anatomical and that it could be corrected through PT rather than with orthotics.
Similar story about the potential for efficiency increases since my right leg takes significantly more impact than left, but I was warned about the potential risk of making too big of changes while trying to correct this in-season in case there was an unintended consequences of altering my gait mid training block. Who knows what exactly tipped it off, but about immediately after the first PT session I got a nasty bout of ITBS in the long leg that I am now only barely recovering from, despite 3 months of targeted work on it.
So that's basically been my story, 'hey did you ever notice your legs aren't the same length?' fast forwarded to 3 months of lost running immediately prior to an IM. Again, correlation does not prove causation but hopefully your experience is much more positive than mine!
Dino I'm a radiologist and I see tons of people's back, hip, and leg length x-rays every day, and there are a lot of people who are in the crooked club to some degree. Some people it affects more than others, obviously. Welcome to the human race!
I have been running since high school. My body seems to have adjusted fine to running without shoe additions.
x2 what Rachel wrote!
X2 on what Rachel said.
I have a leg length discrepancy as well. It has worked itself out over time and I think getting to a higher cadence (90-92) run and core strength/pilates has helped. One thing to pay attention to is the camber of the surface you are running on. Most roads will be pitched away from the center for drainage. Assuming you are running on the left side of the road into traffic, the road should be slightly higher for that right foot which helps compensate for you. In races and training, try to avoid running on surfaces where the right side is lower.
The core, hip, and glute strength worked at fixing the ITBS. I am unsure if my pelvis is aligned or not but I have been pain free since about April.