Bad back and neck caused by short leg

[Joann]

Good Morning,

I am after some advice please. My boyfriend has suffered with back and neck issues for several years and he recently found that the cause is due to his left leg being shorter than his right.

He is currently seeing a chiropractor but I would like to know if anyone could recommend any alternative therapies that may help him.

Many thanks

 

[ladycoltsfan]

Short leg is something that crops up a lot in these forums and I wonder if that's really the problem. The reason why I ask is because I've suffered shortening of one of my legs through an accident 30 years ago.

Perhaps one of the posters can describe the method of leg measuring?

I don't suffer from any back problems at all and neck pain that I get is from sitting in front of a computer monitor most of my working life.

I have had a bad back in the past, but that was over 10 years ago. So why don't I have back problems now? As soon as I realised that I was getting back problems I started to look after my back and I no longer had any problems.

I think we all should learn to love our backs and look after them. Therefore I see 3 things corner stones that are essential to loving our backs:

- Posture, we need to learn to maintain good posture, especially at work or relaxing.
- Lifting, learn how to lift corectly.
- Exercise, good back strengthening and stretching will give the support and flexibility our backs need.

You only get one back and it's best to look after it, but saddly it's at the bottom of a lot of peoples priority list. Bad backs are common, look at the threads on here, but it doesn't need to be that way.

Love your back and it will love you.

Myarka.

 

[Cool B]

Short leg = normal.

Almost everyone has one leg longer (or shorter) than the other. Its absolutely normal, but of course it conveniently provides Health Professionals with an instant (if questionable) diagnosis in backache, neckache, knee problems etc.

Good advice from Myarka. I would add that heel lifts may be necessary but are usually not, unless the leg-length difference is significant.

David

 

[Paikea]

My understanding is that one leg shorter than the other can be an indication of a spasm (not the sharp intense pain kind of spasm but the gradual kind that can build up in a muscle protecting a joint) in the piriformis muscle that can be linked to incorrect pelvis function and back problems etc. There is a test for this that maybe be of interest.

 

[antonia.]

Thank you all for the information and advice which I will pass on.

 

[simi_krishna2003]

I knew someone with one leg shorter than the other and she'd had physio for over a year but it hadn't helped (which isn't to say that it never helps!). I recommended she did some of the exercises out of a book by Pete Egoscue and it made a huge difference to her.

The book I recommended was one of his oldest and he's written lots more since, so it's probably best to check out his later books.

Jane