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Hello All:

In my appointment with a physical therapist to address my injured hamstring (see "Boy that was dumb" in the injury forum) the therapist was very keen to address my leg length difference (about a half inch) and wants me to get orthotics.

I can't see the point of orthotics for sprinting, at least to address a leg length difference, because the additional height would need to be under the spike plate. Not much room in the shoe so I can't see how that would work. If I do want to address the issue (and I'm not sure that I do) it seems to me I would need something added to the outside of the shoe on the bottom of the spike plate. Or maybe remove and reinstall the spike plate on the shoe with a lift between midsole and spike plate.

Have any of you dealt with a leg length difference for sprinting? How did you go about it? Were you happy with the way it turned out?

Thanks,

Jim

Don't most people have one leg longer than the other? I've never heard or seen a sucessful pair of orthodics in spikes. Maybe you should get orthodics for your training shoes and just run in your spikes they way they were made.

Yes, I think most people have a leg length difference and there seems to be a notion that you should only correct if it is over some threshold value or if it causes a problem. The physical therapist seemed to think that my pulled hamstring was evidence that it was causing a problem. I would say that running full speed while being untrained was the key problem but maybe I am being too simplistic.

Regarding training with orhothics and racing without; that would seem like the worst possible approach because you would make adjustments based on the orthotics and then not have them when you race.

But all of this is just speculation and I would really like to hear from someone who has dealt with a similar issue.

Cheers,

Jim

Jim,

I suffer from this imbalance. A legacy of serious back damage a number of years ago is that my SI joint on the left is pretty much locked. The result is that my left leg is functionally about half an inch shorter. I stress functionally, because my hips don't both work the same. My outseam measurements are actually pretty similar.

All my injuries started coming on the left side, a few years back, when I started getting into serious competition and training. Eventually, recurrent achilles problems got me down so much that I went to see an excellent chiro for advice on better left/right balance.

This has been (for me) and amazing adventure of discovery, which is a separate story, but having custom-made orthotics for my trainers and day to day shoes has been really beneficial. I was told that orthotics for my spikes were perfectly feasible. Apparently many top cyclists have them in their race shoes to prevent knee mis-alignment injuries etc. However, as my problem when at speed was not something like an unusual foot-strike that needed to be corrected by thin, contoured orthotics, I was advised just to try training with a gel heel pad in my left shoe.

The effect was instant. No more achilles pain from sprinting. Effectively, all the gel pad is doing is taking up the slack. It doesn't feel lop-sided when I race, because, of course, it isn't with it in place.

So yes, my understanding is that you certainly can get orthotics for spikes. The ones I have in my trainers came from The Orthotics Group (http://www.theorthoticgroup.com/) who are in the USA and Canada, and offer a consultancy. They'd have been the people my chiro would have approached if we'd decided to go for inserts for my spikes.

However, you might not need them!

I had the same issue. I hurt my hamstring becasue of that. They gave me some stretching to fix half my body and it worked well. I actually feel better now then I ever have. I did not think this would work but it did. I will be glad to share any of the stretches

Hi tphit:

Would love to hear what stretches you did that worked well. Also, am going to post the rehab program the PT has me doing over on Injury Management as I think it might be interesting to many here.

Thanks,

Jim

Let me dig some of them up. I stil do some of them because when I stop the problem comes right back.

Orthotics treat the symptom and may work . Your problem could be the result of a hip problem, your knee (starting to bow) or even tight muscles in the lower back. A certified trainer would be my first stop and even a trip to an orthopedist could be in order.
I sprinted in college, had the same problem but fortunately we had an excellent trainer and athletic dep't. doctor who prescribed physical therapy for my lower back and hip. It worked ,but I can't tell much about the treatment as it was a l o n g time ago.

Hi. I was reading some dated comments on here and I noticed tht you have some ideas for real good hamstring exercises. I would approeciate if you could share a few with me. I am Masters level 55-59 n need leg stength. BuddyJMW on here. Thanks