Bike Fit Question - Leg Length Discrepancy

[KnottedYet]

But then I got to thinking -- is it a good idea to address this issue by tilting your saddle laterally towards your short leg's side? While this may address the leg length discrepancy, wouldn't it cause issues in your low back? Or your neck & shoulders if you're riding off to the side?

I wouldn't suggest it to any of my patients. We spend beaucoup insurance $$ correcting the effects of LLD on someone's pelvis and low back.

I'm pretty amazed by this critter. I might have to write a *special* letter to these folks.

[melissam]

Thanks, Knot.

If you want a link to the product in question, here it is:
http://www.amclassic.com/seatposts.html

Maybe it's an OK solution if you only correct slight LLDs with this method? Like a mm or two? I dunno.

At first glance, I really liked the idea of correcting the LLD without having to shim my cleat, especially since I've switched to recessed cleats on my road bike. Without any correct, my low back can get heck-a-sore after a couple of hours in the saddle. And now that my training rides are getting into the 3-5 hour range, well, let's just say that my legs aren't necessarily the sorest part of my body after a ride.

Oh well, my next approach will be to use full foot orthotics in my cycling shoes. In effect I'm going to put the shim inside my cycling shoe and enjoy the convenience of recessed cleats and have a happy back to boot! At least that's my theory...

-- Melissa

[KnottedYet]

Specialized makes some very nice non-compressible forefoot lifts/shims that go inside the shoe. Unless you already have orthotics that you want made into full-foot, I'd be looking at the Specialized goodies.

(If you already have orthotics, your Orthotist will know the lift at your heel and should have no problem just *giving* you a slab of cork the same thickness for your forefoot in the bike shoe.)

[melissam]

Thanks again, Knot!

I have a pair of orthotics on order from the Orthotic Group. Their rep was in the office and we did a scan of my feet/gait while walking -- fascinating stuff! Turns out that my bad leg has a pretty normal pattern but my good leg does some pretty funky gymnastics to compensate for the bad leg.

Anyway, the orthotics should be here by the end of the month, and I'll give 'em a go. If that doesn't help enough, I can always compensate by tilting my saddle to the side with that seatpost. (Just kidding.)

-- Melissa

[Triskeliongirl]

A 1" LLD is huge, and unlikely to be fixable by cleat shimming or orthotics. I only got resolution with a custom crank set with a dropped pedal (mine is 3 cm) from Tom Slocum at High Sierra Cycles. I highly recommend his approach. All other approaches gave me terrible hip and back pain, that tooks months for a PT to fix.

[KnottedYet]

Oh, yeah! I'd much rather see an effective crank length/dropped pedal adjustment than a side-tilting saddle.

A lot of times what we start with is correcting 1/2 the LLD. So for a 1 inch LLD we put in a 1/2 inch lift or lift-and-shim combo (cuz your bod has been compensating for that 1 inch your whole life and we don't want to push it all the way to the other side and cause a new problem!)

If your orthotics and cleat shims don't make the world a better place, I'd suggest seeing either Michael Sylvester, Chris Robinson, or someone they recommend. Someone like me, with more PT training than bike-stuff training, might not know about the nifty stuff you can do at the crank/pedal.

(interesting aside: did you know that Bill Nye the Science Guy designed a bike pedal lift for LLD?)

Edit: has anyone talked to you about putting lifts in the outsole of your shoes, as opposed to inside the shoe? This kind of trick works peachy-keen with regular shoes, is a lot cheaper, and you never have that "OMG, my orthotics are in my other shoes!" moment. You usually want to have experimented with lift sizes before you go make structural changes to the shoes.

[Mr. SR500]

John Howard briefly touches on LLD at the 6 minute mark of this You Tube video. Good Stuff.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWOn3...eature=related

[Bananas]

I wouldn't suggest it to any of my patients. We spend beaucoup insurance $$ correcting the effects of LLD on someone's pelvis and low back.

I'm pretty amazed by this critter. I might have to write a *special* letter to these folks.

Hi, it's a long time ago that this was posted but I have to say that this seatpost is just what I've been looking for. I not only have LLD, almost everything on the left side of my body, including os coxa of the pelvis, is bigger than on the right side. Therefore, I need both pedal shims (or that wonderful crank if I can find it now) and the tilted saddle to put my pelvis in a level position on the center line and give my scoliotic back a rest. What is death to one person can be salvation to another! Thanks for this fabulous thread which has also given me the full-foot lift info! Cheers!

[melissam]

Bananas,

Welcome to TE! I'm glad this thread was helpful for you -- it's been a wealth of information for me.

You're right -- one man's meat can be another man's poison. Hope the seatpost helps with your issues. I'm sure a lot of folks would be very interested to see what you think of it after you buy it; I'm still curious to see how far it would tilt to each side.

-- Melissa