r/LegLengthDiscrepancy

I am 58 years old. My left femur was ~1.5"(4cm) shorter than my right since my early teens, due to a motorcycle accident. Last year, the stars aligned and I was able to have surgery done to lengthen my leg using the Precice Nail 2.2. This was one of the best decisions I have made. It's been so long since I've been able to wear a normal shoe on my left foot and it's truly amazing how much of a difference it makes. My activity level is about 95% what it was before the surgery and continues to improve. Insurance paid the majority of the costs due to it being medically necessary. If you are on the fence about having it done and have any questions, fire away.

If you ever need to save money on shoes that can help your LLD, get some plain crocs with the higher platform style and a normal pair of crocs to help balance it out.

Alright, writing this for the second time because the garbage Reddit app decided to just delete my post and send me back to the front page when I dared to switch apps to add a picture to the draft. Even if it only helps the 3 people that commented on the first post, the effort will be worth it though.

Disclaimer: you should really only be using an orthotic like this if you have been diagnosed with an actual structural leg length discrepancy. Usually via an X-ray with rulers and read by a professional. I'm not a medical professional and this is not medical advice.

If you already have a corrective orthotic on hand, you should be able to skip step 1 and just seek to match the thickness of

Was diagnosed with a 1.5 CM LLD this year and was prescribed and fitted for a whole foot in-shoe orthotic.

It's been a game changer for my hip and back pain but I've gotten so annoyed with having to constantly switch it between shoes. I wanted extras without having to pay the orthotic clinic $60 a pop/have my insurance billed that much and get into the arguments about necessity.

Realized the one they gave me is, at it's core, insole shaped layered EVA foam of the right thickness and figured out a way to cut ~10 of my own at home in less than 30 minutes.

Would be happy to do a slightly more detailed writeup on how to do it if there's interest.

None of this is medical advice and I'm not

I wanted to write one final post on my 11 year old son’s leg lengthening journey to correct an LLD from birth. He is now 5-1/2 months post-lengthening surgery with the Precise nail. His flexibility is looking good and he can straighten his leg fully while standing, but the PT says he still needs to work on his calf and hamstring some,, as well as his other ‘good’ leg that has been neglected as it’s less flexible than the one that had surgery. Oops. The PT has said to start working on balance and continue with strengthening exercises. His standing x-ray shows that his leg length is equal, his hips are level, and he got a full release from Dr. Makarewich for running, jumping and sports this la

I've known I had LLD for the past few years and now I'm 20 in college. I've been doing so much walking every day but I've had a lot of pain and soreness recently and haven't been able to walk to class.

I went to the doctor on campus and he confirmed my LLD, and estimated it to be 5cm. He referred me to ortho and I should be getting an appointment soon to get a proper diagnose regarding the difference and what treatment options.

4 years ago, while I was still a minor and going to a pediatrician, I brought up a concern regarding the awkward difference in legs. However, because I had no pain at the time, my doctor disregarded it since I seemed to walk normal.

I always put my

Hi everyone! I haven't been officially diagnosed with LLD however I do notice that my left leg is shorter than the right and I get back pain, hip and knee pain quite a lot. I find that when I do exercises like treadmill walking or squats, I tend to lose balance and find that I'm overcompensating for the shorter leg so I end up with knee and hip pain afterwards. Today my partner just noticed that I wasn't walking with my legs straight on the treadmill and once I straightened my legs, my left knee end up hurting real bad. Just wondering, does anyone else with LLD struggle with doing simple exercises? Also does anyone find that walking in a straight line is difficult to do?

Over the last few years I've been collecting a list of brands I can shop that have (easily) removable insoles to fit my full-foot orthotics with a heel lift. Everyday "fashion" shoes are particularly difficult to find. When I'm not completely sure, I always email customer service to confirm that shoe model has a removable insole. I hope this helps someone who's just starting. Feel free to add more in the comments.

Brands:

Orthofeet

Teva

ABEO

Vionic

Dr. Scholl's

Propet

Clarks (often only lightly glued down)

Kizik

Vessi

Most dedicated running & hiking shoe brands

Marketplaces where you can search by "removable insoles":

The Walking Company

Zappos

Healthy Feet Store

Are there any adults here who’ve had leg lengthening surgery? I’m late 50’s and wondering if it’s even an option for somebody my age.

I grew up in the ‘70’s/‘80’s. Hit a growth spurt as a kid and my left leg didn’t grow as much as my right. My parents saw me limping and took me to the doctor. He told them there wasn’t anything wrong with me—I just had a short leg. Small, hick town doctor. If he knew about any kind of surgery, I don’t think he told us. His “fix” was a built up shoe—just what a 12 year old wants to hear. LOL So that meant one pair of school shoes every year. And then teen years I’d get a pair of work boots for summer. When I stopped growing the difference ended up being 2 1/

Hello everyone,
I found out yesterday from an EOS scan that I have a 9 mm difference in length between my left and right legs. For more than a year, I’ve had hip pain due to what was diagnosed as a tensor fasciae latae/IT band tendinitis on my right side (and possibly on the left as well, since I’m having pain there too).
I would like to know whether a 9 mm difference is considered a lot, as I’m quite worried about it. I would also appreciate hearing your experiences with wearing insoles, as I wear heels every day. I’m only 19 and I don’t want to have to rely on insoles for the rest of my life.
Thank you very much for your feedback.

A bit of context : When I was 12, i got diagnosed with a 1cm discrepancy with the right leg being shorter. As I grew up, this discrepancy became 1,5cm.
My parents brought me to a back/spine specialist at the time, that said that the deviation was too small to do anything about it.

Well this "small" deviation generated a lot of problems (cervical scoliosis, shoulder mobility problems and injury, deviated jaw that will probably need surgery). My spine remained mostly straight tho, because my main physical activity was swimming. As I grew older tho, I started weightlifting without knowing about LLD.
I am now 23, and got diagnosed with adult scoliosis 2 years ago. I have treated the issue

Hi all, I've got a ~1 inch difference (my left femur is essentially about 2.1cm longer) due to an injury I had as a kid. Now, I've been wearing inserts in my shoes but I will have issues with my knees during squatting or other exercises. I've been researching surgery options but there is obviously a lot of mixed opinions on it online. I'm also concerned how this will only become worse as I grow older. Also, it limits what kind of shoes I can wear signficantly as well. Any thoughts from you guys will be helpful! Thanks!

Hello Folks,

I am 42M and reading here passively.

I was diagnosed with LLD 22 years ago during the medical army entry check. They let me pass into military service - so I didn’t consider this relevant in my life.

Since I occasionally have some back pain, is it worth to get it diagnosed and treated?

So I’ve had lower back pain my whole adult life. When I first had a very bad episode at 23 (I’m 37 now), I did physical therapy. The therapist looked at my legs and said “you have a leg length discrepancy. You should have leg lengthening surgery. There’s a doctor in the city that does it.” And that was it. No information or referral. I looked it up, and the recovery was very long, and I didn’t want to miss a season of soccer, so I never pursued it. I also learned that there are 2 different kinds - functional and structural of course.

So I wore a small lift in my right shoe (the short side) and was mostly ok if I was careful. Had a few episodes of back pain here and there.

Maybe 5 years a