03/21/2023 - Beachwood, OH: One can be born with a condition that causes one leg to grow at a slower rate than the other, or an incident could occur that either affects the length of the bone (fracture) or affects the growth center of the bone (trauma, infection, etc.). These are just two examples of the many potential causes of a leg length discrepancy. Doctors can help you diagnose leg length inequality.
What's an acceptable Leg Length Difference?
It's hard to answer. Leg length differences are common, but most people don't notice them or need treatment. Most doctors recommend evaluating a difference greater than 1.5 to 2.0 cm (5/8 of an inch). Depending on your height, this leg length discrepancy may need treatment.
What Effect Does Leg Length Have on Other Body Parts?
Walking with a misaligned pelvis can lead to low back, hip, or knee pain. Even though a person with a leg length inequality may have a swayback, this is not a sign of a more serious condition called scoliosis. The pelvis tilts when standing due to the leg length discrepancy. The spine will bend in the opposite direction to try to correct this abnormality.
Treatments for Leg Length Disparity:
The most permanent solution for leg length discrepancies is probably surgical correction. You and your doctor may decide that one of two things is best for you: either shortening the long leg or lengthening the short one.
How is a leg made shorter?
It's possible that one or two of the growth centers in your leg could be surgically closed off if you're still in the growing stages of your life. Because of this, the leg that is shorter can use the growth it still has to catch up to the other leg. In most cases, the patient does not need to stay in the hospital for this procedure.
Patients who have reached their full adult height are the typical candidates for a different option. In this method, a small piece of bone is taken out of the longer leg to fix the problem. After surgery, the patient must rest in the hospital for at least one night, and the bone will heal over the course of three months.
How do you make a bone longer?
Because it is a living tissue, bone has the ability to repair and regenerate itself. To better understand this point, consider a bone that has become fractured. When a patient arrives at the doctor's office with a broken bone, a cast is sometimes placed on the fractured arm or leg, and the bone recovers and heals within a couple of weeks. Once the patient has healed and can do normal things again, the cast is taken off.
To lengthen a bone, one simply takes advantage of the body's natural healing process. With surgically-induced fractures, the surgeon can break the bone with pinpoint accuracy and then let it heal. Instead of leaving the bone where it was to heal, it is slowly pulled apart (by about one millimeter per day). When the two bones end, a new bone grows in the empty space. As the new bone matures over the course of a few months, it lengthens the shorter bone.
Can Leg Length Disparity be treated without surgery?
Quite possible, and this is where American Heelers, one of the oldest orthopedic shoe repair centers in the United States, can help. Putting a lift on the shorter leg is a non-invasive way to fix the difference in leg length instead of having surgery. When used appropriately, a sole lift can often reduce the gap to an acceptable level. The appropriate lift size can be determined with the help of your doctor or by a self-test at home.
A shoe lift that is less than one centimeter (half an inch) in height can be worn inside the shoe. This type of lift is not noticeable and can be switched from one shoe to the next without any hassle. Lifts that make a difference in height of more than one centimeter are fixed to the bottom of the shoe. Leg length inequality is easily managed with the help of shoe lifts. Although this is not a permanent solution, it is the most effective. You don't have to go through difficult surgeries to get the balance you want when walking, running, or doing other things. Contact American Heelers at 216-378-2686 or info@americanheeler.com right away to get your shoes adjusted to the right height.
About American Heelers: American Heelers is an internationally recognized provider of shoe lift modification and elevation, with its state-of-the-art shoe modification lab at Beachwood, OH. Their history goes back 100 years, and they have modified hundreds of thousands of shoes with precision. They have customers in Asia, Europe, Africa, and South America.
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