Leg Length Inequality, Low Back Pain and Heel Lifts
A classic but well-referenced article by Dr. O. Friberg in Spine (Phila PA 1976) Sep;8(6):643–51. It has been referenced by other articles over 211 times.
Dr. Friberg studied 798 patients with unilateral hip and or chronic and therapy-resistant low back symptoms vs 359 patients that were pain-free. He observed that 79% (a highly significant percentage) of patients with pain also had a limb length discrepancy. Dr. Friberg also found that 89% of the patients with had the chronic/recurrent sciatic pain and/or unilateral hip pain on the longer leg side of the body. When he corrected the leg length inequality with a simple shoe heel lift, a permanent and mostly complete alleviation of the patients’ symptoms was achieved in the majority of the cases.
This is an old but still very relevant article even for today’s practitioners. How many patients come in with unilateral hip and or lower back pain who are not examined for limb length discrepancy? Are these patients given a simple inexpensive shoe heel lift? How about the tens of thousands of patients who every year receive a total hip or total knee replacement surgeries with leg length inequality?
Measuring for limb length inequality on our patients with unilateral hip and low back pain should be performed routinely. Dispensing an inexpensive and simple shoe heel lift can alleviate many of our patients’ long-term and resistant symptoms.
Atlas Biomechanics produces medical quality shoe heel lifts in cork, PPT/Poron, and EVA/rubber in multiple heights. Our heel lifts are produced here in the USA.
Teri Green
Atlas Biomechanics
