In the FWIW department RE Leg length differences

[Ralph]

I broke my left leg just above the ankle while playing baseball as a teenager. It healed up fine, no issues, not even with cycling.

About 3 years ago, broke it again while mountain biking on a 50 mile ride thru a National forest, single track, etc. Caught my foot on a root, went down, probably tired, etc. Couldn't helocopter me out, woods too thick, so had to ride it out 8 miles with left leg flopping around, etc. Interesting ride!! This time broke 3 foot bones in addition to leg.

This healed up OK also. Got my strength back, seemingly no issues.

Except....After this break....I could never seem to get my sadle height just right. I measured leg length about every way you can, and couldn't measure a difference, but my right butt cheek always wore a spot, my bike shorts wore more on the right side....like my seat was too high on the right side (and I have two of these seats on two different bikes....both do same thing). No matter how I adjusted saddle up/down/ fore/aft. angle/ side to side. etc. From this, I knew something wasn't right, but could never pin point it exactly. I also have some Coccyx issues, so could no longer ride the rounded saddles I used to like so much, like Regal, etc. Now ride a Specialized Alias, with cutouts. It's a hard saddle, which I can't sink into. I can't do soft anymore. It works, and I need the cut outs, but it does concentrate more weight on a smaller area on the sit bones. Flat seats tend to have shaper edges than rounded seats, so seat height is critical for me. It is not comfortable (for me) like saddles from my past, but can't ride those anymore.

Recently bought a leg length shim kit designed by Steve Hogg. Got it on E Bay, but they are sold in bike shops. The kit included one 3 MM shim plus two wedges to help with pronation on your pedal stroke, or you can put them together to act as a shim. Also included two sets of longer screws. My kit is for Look keo's, they make this for other cleats also.

This shim has made a huge difference in my riding comfort. I'm now pedaling evenly on both sides with no uneven wear spots. Still working out some adjustments. And so far, I have only installed the 3MM shim on my right shoe. I use Specialized shoes, which come with high arches to offset natural pronation while riding, so may not use the wedges. Doctors tell me a broken leg "may" grow back longer, and I have broken mine twice, so any of you with strange butt issues you don't seem to be able to work out with seat height adjustment, cleat placement, etc, might want to look into this.

[rice rocket]

That's interesting. Other than wearing unevenly, what other symptoms did you feel in your body?

I have uneven leg/pedal stroke symptoms as well; I'm experiencing excessing pressure and numbness on the outside of my right foot.

[rice rocket]

Specialized has a few products that address this issue as well:

Shims for the cleat, and shims for the footbed:
http://www.specialized.com/media/equip/6110-9191_-9194_d.gif http://www.specialized.com/media/equip/6110-9050_-9056_d.jpg

[Ralph]

That's interesting. Other than wearing unevenly, what other symptoms did you feel in your body?

I have uneven leg/pedal stroke symptoms as well; I'm experiencing excessing pressure and numbness on the outside of my right foot.

I ride with my adult sons a lot, and sometimes they would say It looked like I was riding sideways or that my body was leaning to the right. I was probably compensating for this without noticing.

A fit specialist might pick this up, or might not. I had to get well into a ride before I noticed it.

I have learned you don't have to have leg length differences to have "functional" leg lengrh differences.

[Peter P.]

This is good information. Thanks for sharing your experience.

Experiment with shims and wedges. I think the Specialized Body Geometry wedges are the easiest to work with. The insoles also come in different profiles depending on your arch. Speedplay pedals have an excellent shim kit as well.

Sounds like you're not afraid to try different things. I recommend you get a copy of Andy Pruitt's book, Complete Medical Guide for Cyclists, which has in-depth fit information.

[jghall]

While probably not much help, as I kid I had several surgeries on my left lhip and my left leg is definately shorter than the right. My fitter noticed this and installed shims. Made a difference in my rides.

[oldguy00]

I have learned you don't have to have leg length differences to have "functional" leg lengrh differences.

Exactly....and that is the case with me, and it is extremely frustrating, because shims don't always fix a functional difference.
In my case, I have some pretty wacky SI/hip/muscle imbalances.
I too sort of favor my right side, it wants to push forward on the saddle during part of the pedal stroke. And my right heel swings around (in/out) during the pedal stroke, sometimes enough to cause me to unclip.
When I go to the chiro, we line my legs up, and I look at my ankle bones, and one is about 1cm higher (the right) than the other. We then adjust/crack the SI area (the one where I lay on my side, cross the top leg over, chiro puts his knee on it and twists my lower body...), and line the legs up again, almost even.
An hour later, it'll be out again.
I've had an MRI, Xrays, seen Osteo, physio, chiro, massage. Nothing has helped, and none were able to measure an actual physical difference in bone lengths.

I've tried different shoes, custom orthotics (4 pair), wedges, shims.
Nothing has helped. What I am trying lately, is working with a massage therapist who is helping me target my hamstrings, glutes, etc., and rather than massage, we spend most of the hour doing pretty intense active release stretching of all those muscles.
Hasn't helped the imbalance problem yet though......but there are certain stretches I do, like SI release stretches where you cross one leg perpendicular over the other and push it away, and I notice tha the right side is actually much more flexible than the left, so we think that maybe for years the left side has been pulling the right back, etc.... :crap:

Sorry to be long winded. This is an issue I've been struggling with for several years. Hope you have more luck than me! :crap: :crap:

[Ralph]

Oldguy...You do seem to have it figured out. That's a big step forward.

[skijoring]

Exactly....and that is the case with me, and it is extremely frustrating, because shims don't always fix a functional difference.
In my case, I have some pretty wacky SI/hip/muscle imbalances.
I too sort of favor my right side, it wants to push forward on the saddle during part of the pedal stroke. And my right heel swings around (in/out) during the pedal stroke, sometimes enough to cause me to unclip.
When I go to the chiro, we line my legs up, and I look at my ankle bones, and one is about 1cm higher (the right) than the other. We then adjust/crack the SI area (the one where I lay on my side, cross the top leg over, chiro puts his knee on it and twists my lower body...), and line the legs up again, almost even.
An hour later, it'll be out again.
I've had an MRI, Xrays, seen Osteo, physio, chiro, massage. Nothing has helped, and none were able to measure an actual physical difference in bone lengths.

I've tried different shoes, custom orthotics (4 pair), wedges, shims.
Nothing has helped. What I am trying lately, is working with a massage therapist who is helping me target my hamstrings, glutes, etc., and rather than massage, we spend most of the hour doing pretty intense active release stretching of all those muscles.
Hasn't helped the imbalance problem yet though......but there are certain stretches I do, like SI release stretches where you cross one leg perpendicular over the other and push it away, and I notice tha the right side is actually much more flexible than the left, so we think that maybe for years the left side has been pulling the right back, etc.... :crap:

Sorry to be long winded. This is an issue I've been struggling with for several years. Hope you have more luck than me! :crap: :crap:

I am right where old guy is myself, and I have been doing a PT inspired stretch routine that has been helping. I do want to try the Specialized shoes at some point, maybe the cant in the footbed will help some, in addition to my daily stretches.

[Straz]

I am also an uneven leg length sufferer. I broke my left femur when I was 5 years old and after all the growth spurts ended up with the left leg being a half inch longer than the right. When riding I suffered from pulled hamstrings and lower back troubles. In high school/college was riding Look pedals and stacked two sets of cleats to make up the leg length difference. Worked wonders. Now I make my own 3/8" shim to put between my Time cleats and shoe and I am quite happy.

Glad you found a way to ride comfortably. I have toyed with different length crank arms. Has anyone gone that way?

Tim

[Ralph]

The idea of using a shorter crank arm on the shorter side (or the opposite if it's cheaper) seems interesting to me. I can see why you would start off trying to fix with shims, etc, because you don't know how much extra length you need. But once you know you need 2-3 MM, or 5 MM, or more, why not start off with a shorter crank on that side, and fine tune from that? In my case, adding a longer arm to the left side might be simpler and cheaper than working with the shorter right side.

[Straz]

I have entertained the idea of running different crank arm lengths, but have never pulled the trigger as I would have to buy two cranksets! One of these days I'll have to do it and see if it makes a big difference.

[Ralph]

I see reasonable priced single crank arms on E Bay all the time....for square taper cranks from the mid 2000's. Such as Veloce and Centaur, etc. The non drive side would be cheaper.

[Ralph]

Sheldon Brown thought you are better off building the short leg up to the length of the longer leg, not use different crank arm lengths, and here he tells you why,

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/cranks.html