Does back pain have anything to do with leg length? It is actually a common question I get asked by my patients. Why?

They have been told by other practitioners that due to their “leg length” differences they will always have back pain. What the practitioner is doing is making life easier each time, but due to the leg length, the pain will return.

My opinion is…

Cow dung, actually you are not allowed to swear on the internet, hence the name change.

Leg length does not cause back pain, unless you have fractured your leg and then as it has healed it has become shortened. So unless you have fractured your leg, your short leg is not going to cause back pain. This should hopefully put you at ease knowing this. As you get older there are likely to be lots of things on your mind such as retirement, Aviva annuities or from elsewhere and of course your health. You don’t want to worry unnecessarily about issues, in particular about myths such as back pain is related to leg length.

This type of short leg is called a “functional” leg length difference.

back pain and leg length 1I will demonstrate, if you put your fingertips together with your arms outstretched in front of you. Make sure your fingers are flat, and placed together as in the prayer position.

Now while keeping your shoulders square, turn your shoulders so that your right arm moves to your right and the left arm follows, keeping the hands flat together.

You will notice that now your finger tips are separated, one arm is now “shorter” than the other. Or not!!back pain relief and leg lengthleg length and back pain

By your shoulders turning and twisting, you get an apparent shortened arm length, a “functional” arm length change.

As I said, with your legs the same applies. When you pelvis twists, a common back pain distortion, then your leg length will change. So leg length is the result of having back pain, as with any back pain, your pelvis will twist and your leg length will change.

In my practice we use leg length to indicate that you have back issues, whether you have pain or not. We use a technique to correct the leg length which also helps to remove back pain. Doing this along with the other techniques I teach my patients to do at home, leg length disappears … as does your back pain.

Leg length is nothing to worry about, it is easy to correct, and just indicates that there is some distortion pattern occurring in your spine. Nothing to be concerned about, it will not last your life time and it is a sign of having back pain or back distortion patterns.

In your life of back pain you have signs and symptoms. Symptoms are the things you notice, such as pain, inflexibility, loss of strength and stiffness. Signs are things I notice as a practitioner, such as a twisted pelvis, muscle imbalances, joint tightness and leg length changes.

Don’t be fooled into thinking that your leg length causes your pain. It is a compensation mechanism your body has used to move away from the pain. Your body is clever, some practitioners are not. It is one of the many terms they use to give them a “fail safe” position. If your back pain doesn’t respond … well how can it, you have a short leg after all, and it isn’t there fault is it.

I’m being a little harsh, but I do get tired of people like you not being told the whole truth. Leg length does not cause back pain, it is a sign you have back pain issues that your body is trying to tell you to correct. Something I teach you, without the jargon and confusion.

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