Leg length discrepancy

Does anyone else here have a leg length discrepancy? I had a study done over the summer and my left leg is over a 1/2" longer than the right. Most of it's in the femur and the rest is from mild scoliosis.

I have a heel wedge for running but nothing for riding as of yet. At first I ignored it on the bike but the more I ride the more prominent it is. Now I'm starting to have some ankle and hip issues and my left leg is way stronger than the right.

I'm wondering how a cleat shim would work. It seems like adding a 1/2" would result in a hot spot under the ball of my foot. Maybe a shorter crank arm would work? I don't know if I can afford new cranks for all 3 bikes though (I don't think you can replace drivetrain-side crank arms).

Does anyone have experience with this?

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Originally Posted by Drtgirl

I'm wondering how a cleat shim would work. It seems like adding a 1/2" would result in a hot spot under the ball of my foot. Maybe a shorter crank arm would work? I don't know if I can afford new cranks for all 3 bikes though (I don't think you can replace drivetrain-side crank arms).

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No personal experience whatsoever, but I am not sure why a shim would result in a hot spot under your foot. Perhaps getting more rigid soles for your shoes would make a difference? When the sole is extremely stiff, then the size of the pedal platform is not really an issue anymore.

I'm curious to see what others think.

Hi Drtgirl,

I have a leg length discrepancy (LLD), as does Triskelion girl. There's a thread going where we talk about various approaches to LLDs on the bike:

http://forums.teamestrogen.com/showthread.php?t=21780

I've had success in the past with cleat shimming, but that was with a Look cleat. I haven't tried with an SPD cleat.

Triskelion girl has had a custom crankset made by Tom Slocum of High Sierra Cycles. He also has a drop pedal solution that I'm considering.

-- Melissa

After I broke my right hip in 1985 it healed about 1/2 inch longer than the left. I know what you mean about feeling it. Its amazing how much you can feel it on a bike. I looked into shims but was told it might be too much. I found a guy the basically moved my cleats. The shorter leg, the cleat on the shoe is all the way forward and the longer leg has the cleat pushed to the bottom. I feel a difference and its not too extreme to where I get my knees messed up. Conservative is the way to go before the shims, I think. Just my 2 cents.