When one leg feels shorter than the other
Sunday May 09, 2010 Filed in:
Rolfing | Conditions
A
lot of people come to me saying that one of their legs is shorter
than the other. This condition makes them feel misaligned and off
balance. Movement feels strained and “not right” to them. Often,
their pelvis feels “twisted.”
Many opinions exist about why the legs have different lengths. There are also many ways to measure a leg and the bones in it. And there are yet more ways how healers, allopathic or alternative, treat this condition. Some practitioners recommend an orthodic (insert) in the shoe on the shorter side, others focus on adjusting the pelvis and spine to help the person be and feel more aligned.
My approach from the Rolfing world is focused on looking for tightnesses in the hip on the shorter side. Often, I find tightness that might have been a result of trauma or compensation for an injury on the same or even on the other side. Sometimes, things tighten diagonally.
With these clients, I test the hips first by comparing the hips’ ability to lengthen by gently pulling on them in various angles. The client can usually feel where the sides differ and what is trying to stretch and lengthen but can’t. I follow their perceptions and open the hip by lengthening the muscles and fascia where they feel it. Very often, they remark afterwards: “It feels like my shorter leg is longer than the other!”
Beside the hip, I have also discovered that the femur plays a large role in how much movement there is in the leg. If the soft tissue is tight around the femur, the femur cannot glide and rotate properly as we walk, run, stand or sit. The femur becomes entrapped by the soft tissue in the thigh and the range of movement of the shorter leg is diminished. That tends to reinforce the tightnesses that are already there and also the pattern of the legs and feet either to point out (externally rotate) or point in (pigeon-toed).
Sometimes, the longer leg can be the problem. Especially with people with osteoarthritis in one of the hips, the movement is altered by the pain in the hip and the person has a limp. It is often the longer leg that doesn’t glide in the hip joint itself that can be the culprit.
In the conclusion, the difference in the leg lengths is a serious issue. Alignment of the body cannot be established properly unless the legs bear weight similarly . I am not obsessed with symmetry; I look for functionality. Do the legs provide the support necessary for the spine to point up? Is weight distributed similarly on the left and right sides? Is there a glide in the body movement as the person walks? These are the things I look for.
Many opinions exist about why the legs have different lengths. There are also many ways to measure a leg and the bones in it. And there are yet more ways how healers, allopathic or alternative, treat this condition. Some practitioners recommend an orthodic (insert) in the shoe on the shorter side, others focus on adjusting the pelvis and spine to help the person be and feel more aligned.
My approach from the Rolfing world is focused on looking for tightnesses in the hip on the shorter side. Often, I find tightness that might have been a result of trauma or compensation for an injury on the same or even on the other side. Sometimes, things tighten diagonally.
With these clients, I test the hips first by comparing the hips’ ability to lengthen by gently pulling on them in various angles. The client can usually feel where the sides differ and what is trying to stretch and lengthen but can’t. I follow their perceptions and open the hip by lengthening the muscles and fascia where they feel it. Very often, they remark afterwards: “It feels like my shorter leg is longer than the other!”
Beside the hip, I have also discovered that the femur plays a large role in how much movement there is in the leg. If the soft tissue is tight around the femur, the femur cannot glide and rotate properly as we walk, run, stand or sit. The femur becomes entrapped by the soft tissue in the thigh and the range of movement of the shorter leg is diminished. That tends to reinforce the tightnesses that are already there and also the pattern of the legs and feet either to point out (externally rotate) or point in (pigeon-toed).
Sometimes, the longer leg can be the problem. Especially with people with osteoarthritis in one of the hips, the movement is altered by the pain in the hip and the person has a limp. It is often the longer leg that doesn’t glide in the hip joint itself that can be the culprit.
In the conclusion, the difference in the leg lengths is a serious issue. Alignment of the body cannot be established properly unless the legs bear weight similarly . I am not obsessed with symmetry; I look for functionality. Do the legs provide the support necessary for the spine to point up? Is weight distributed similarly on the left and right sides? Is there a glide in the body movement as the person walks? These are the things I look for.