Do You Have a Short Leg?

Short Leg is a thing that chiropractors look for in all their patients.

There are actually two types of Short Leg. Each is handled differently.

True Short Leg

One type is called the “True Short Leg.” This is the type you have been born with or which you may have developed from due to a motor vehicle accident or sports injury. The problem for your chiropractor is to determine if this is causing an imbalance or whether your body has compensated nicely for this condition.

There is something called a heel lift, which is a piece of leather or rubber placed under the heel in your shoe to help reduce the strain on your hips and body. This can really help stabilise your pelvis and improve your general health.

Functional Short Leg

However, while this might sound like the “usual” type of short leg, it isn’t.

The more common type of short leg is the “functional short leg.”

Functional Short Leg occurs due to your pelvis rolling back on one side. This pulls up on the leg, making it appear shorter. This can come from an injury to your spine, neck or hip which then makes it compensate for the weakened area. It can happen quite slowly over years, and most people are unaware of it until they get into pain. By this point it has already gone on for a long time!

Is Your Neck the Cause?

You may be surprised to realise that your neck is often the cause of a Functional Short Leg.

How could this possibly be? Your neck seems like a long way removed from your pelvis and feet!

Well, look at it this way. Your neck gets an injury, which twists it slightly out of place. To compensate, your shoulders move out of place so as to try to take the burden. This then pushes your back out of place. And finally, your pelvis rolls to try to take the strain.

Just like lifting a box which is too heavy can make your whole body twist and strain, so can an injury to your neck end up misaligning your whole body, and giving you a Short Leg.

What Does This Have To Do With You?

If you are not visiting a chiropractor, you may be wondering “what does this have to do with me?” Well, in my practice over 30 years, I have never seen a person with even leg balance! You might say, “Yes, well, this is the population of people who are visiting you as a chiropractor.”

Well, there have been many times at spinal screenings, sport events and other meetings where I have checked leg length.

My conclusion? 80% of people have a pelvic-based short leg. 15% are made up of the upper neck variety leaving about 2% with the true short leg type. There are some, also, who are combination types – which make up the other 3%.

Pelvic imbalance, upper neck problems, are things you may never know about. Seeing a chiropractor makes a lot of sense. It isn’t just about headaches and back pain. Chiropractic adjustments have a profound effect on your state of wellbeing for now and in the future.

If you would like to see a chiropractor about this, why not come in and see me at Haberfield Chiropractic today!

John Kyneur

BSc, DC