What does it mean if I have one leg longer than the other?

A recent visit to my local seamstress got me thinking about leg length difference. She seemed (no pun intended) surprised when I objected to her measuring each leg individually, and cutting the pant lengths according to those measurements. I think there is a large misunderstanding about leg length difference. What does it really mean?

"Oh, and I have one leg longer than the other." is something I have been told many times by new patients. They are all eager to relay to me what previous chiropractors have told them, and most of this information IS helpful. Yet I sense that many of them don't really grasp what it means, because they appear surprised when I explain it.

"Unequal leg length is usually an indicator that the pelvis is tilted or twisted, and an adjustment is needed to make them equal" is my usual explanation. I have seen some chiropractors and physical therapists try to account for the leg length discrepancy by giving the patient a heel lift. This is usually a bad idea, as it is only perpetuating the misalignment.

However, there is occasionally a patient who actually has one leg longer than the other. I have seen this only twice in my 20 year career. Both times the person had a fracture of one of the long bones in the leg. One patient had fractured the femur during childhood, effectively halting the growth in that leg. The other one had shattered both the tibia and the fibula (lower leg bones) in an auto accident, and the surgeon was unsuccessful in recreating the pre-accident leg length.

There are conflicting opinions on how to measure leg length. Some involve a tape measure. Some involve a full lower body x-ray. My method is a bit more simple. If I can't get the legs to even out by spinal, pelvic, and limb adjustment, then there is a good chance they are just different lengths. But like I said, I have seen this only twice in twenty years.

Before adjustment:

After adjustment:

Misalignment of the pelvis truly is common, and is often due to:
-Sleeping on your stomach (This torques the torso considerably, because you need to do so in order to breathe.)
-Sitting with one foot tucked under your pelvis (see photo)

-Always crossing one leg over the other when sitting.
-A previous injury to a leg or foot. This will often result in the person hiking up the pelvis on the side of pain, so as to not to put weight on that limb.

So the next time you are getting fitted for pants, and the seamstress says that they want to sew one pant leg longer, because they measured one leg longer than the other, tell the seamstress to split the difference. You are going to see your chiropractor.