Shorter cranks'll limit some of the hip motion and may relieve some of the hip pain that lo123 has. Sheldon Brown says that cranks should be taken into account for gain ratios:
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/gain.html
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/cranks.html

This is on rehabbing labral tears in cyclists, suggesting that excessive hip angulation on too long of cranks contributes to it:
http://www.rehabtoracing.com/resourc...C-winter09.pdf

Couple guys that have relieved some of their hip arthritis pain by switching to shorter cranks:
http://www.serotta.com/forum/archive...p?t-51194.html
(there's more threads on that on a google - so at least anecdotally shorter cranks should help with hip pain)


I know I get knee pain if my cranks are too long.