Frustrated-Part II

[songlady]

TsPoet, I have never heard of those before. Interesting! We did put washers on the end of one pedal because I was toeing out so much my heel was banging on the crank.
Ladies, thanks so much for sharing all your experiences. I have not been back on the bike since the 3.5 hour fitting on Tuesday. My ITBS is the most inflammed it's ever been. I am doing my PT exercises, stretching/rolling religiously, icing, and taking advil. Once things settle down I am going to stick to a flat pedal for a while, but have completely sworn off SPD's. Then maybe speedplays??? Also considering going to the doctor for a referal to deal with this leg length discrepancy I discovered. Wonder if I might need orthodics instead of just superfeet?

[KnottedYet]

Just had a chat with a PT who is a super-perfectionist biker. She recommended I use Speedplay Frogs, because of my knee and hip stuff. She warned me that they are expensive, but the whole set up (shoes & pedals & cleats) is cheaper than a couple physical therapy appts! And I know I'd need more than a couple if I mess up my knees and hips again.

Songlady: Everyone has a leg length discrepancy. Any good PT will tell you the discrepancy. They should measure it a couple different ways to be accurate. Because it is so common, just about any really good shoe store will be able to put lifts on your Superfeet or Spectrum Stabilizers or whatever insoles you like. The lift should be 1/2 the discrepancy. Overcorrecting will throw off all the compensations your body has used your whole life. You just need enough lift to return you to something your body can compensate.

WARNING!!! Be very very VERY sure you have a large true discrepancy, and not just a pelvic obliquity! Women go in and out of pelvic alignment all the time. A PT can teach you how to correct it, and how to strengthen the muscles that keep you aligned. When my sacro-iliac joint is goofy (and I have wide hips, so it gets goofy easily) my apparent leg lengths are off by a good inch or 1 1/2 inches. When I fix it my true discrepancy is more like the human average, just 1/8 to 1/4 inch. Fixing it is incredibly easy. Strengthening the butt and ab muscles that stabilize the area (and automatically return it to alignment if/when it goofs up) and improving my posture have taken about a year to really get in the groove. My ITBS and knee/hip stuff got a WHOLE lot better, and have stayed better as long as I don't stress them by doing stupid stuff.

[KnottedYet]

Oh, yeah, and a pelvic obliquity can make you toe out, too. An outflare of an ilia will make the foot turn out because it changes the orientation of the hip joint. Also, if you have a slip or rotation which makes one leg appear to be a lot longer than the other, your femoral head might rotate out on the "long" appearing side (making you toe out) to force that foot to pronate and so make the leg act shorter. It's a compensation that's quick and dirty. In either case, if you try to force your feet to point forward the next joint up the chain is most likely to take the stress (knees).

Your body only cares that it keeps your eyes level. It'll sacrifice feet and knees and ITB's and hips and vertebrae (scoliosis type stuff) and shoulders to do so. Eyeballs win any argument.