I've been in PT getting treatment for recurring back problems. On a whim, I ask the therapist to check measure me up and see if my legs are the same length. Over the past few years I've battled pain/discomfort in my right foot. Turns out that the right femur is 1cm longer than the left femur.

I recently had a fitting with the local guru to work on the foot pain problems. My right foot likes to turn out 15-20 degrees. My knee tracking was all over the place. The fitter ended up changing my saddle height and adding a pedal washer to the right crankarm -- we spent time dealing with the right foot/leg only to now discover that the problem is that the left leg is shorter. He also recommended getting a longer pedal spindle (on order) to help with the problem. I've got a follow-up visit coming and I wanted to get some input from those who have been down this road before.

As I see it, the real problem is that the left leg needs a shim of +/- 1 cm. I know that we can get there fairly easily but I don't know what is the implication of making this change if I don't address my non-cycling footwear. Will I create more trouble by not fixing the problem on and off the bike?

Hi... a friend broke her HIP in an accident and ended up with a leg shorter like almost 2 cms, lucky for him is at the hip area not in the legs as you. Solution for him was put the seat in between the longer set up and the shorter set up, one legs hurts a bit for while (shorter) but late stopped hurting. Now going with you this is only an idea ok? what i would do to compensate is to use a 5 mms shorter crank in the shorter leg. As long u keep the same brand an model u can use 2 cranks with a different size w/o any problem, hope you can buy 2 sets of cranks or buy cranks individually, Campagnolo squared tapper can be found as individual cranks. Then shim 4 mms easily using the "lewedge" shims. THat takes you 1 mm shorter that is basically nothing because that can be fix just putting 1 mm of card board under the insole or an insole a little bit thicker than the one u have right now.

Those are some of the ideas that I had as well. One other thing that I am trying to understand is how close does the correction need to be. From reading, it appears that nobody has two legs that are the same length. The body compensates for the difference. So in my case, what if I simply went with the shim the cleat (speedplays) with a pair of speedplay 1/8" shims? This gets me to .63cm. If I go with the third shim, I get to .95cm.

The other 'problem' that I am mulling over is what to do with other shoes. More precisely, if I fix the leg length problem on the bike and don't make the non-bike adjustments what problems will I create/make worse?

Have you looked at Lemond LeWedges?

Here is an old Pez article about them.
https://www.pezcyclingnews.com/?pg=fullstory&id=2648

Actually I think someone bought them from Lemond Fitness so they may have a different name now.

https://www.bikefit.com/products.php

You should read Andy Pruitt's Complete Medical Guide for Cyclists. He would not use a full thickness shim, particularly for a short femur. He might put in .5cm at most. He would also move the cleat further back on the side with the longer leg. The saddle might be set 2-3mm lower to accomodate the shorter leg.

I have this problem. my right leg is just under 1cm shorter and it points out about 15 degrees more than my left

wedges to correct foot not being straight (if your foot points outwards, then you want to make the inside taller) and maybe 5mm more in height too. get the wedges first then get the 5mm shim later.

i would not get different length cranks

This may be a good quick read.

https://www.bikeradar.com/fitness/art...gth-legs-25018

INteresting...

Interesting in that my longer leg is the one that is turned 15 degrees. I was fitted two years ago and the initial fit had 2 wedges under the left cleat and three under the right. The fitter I am now working with is not a fan of speedplay nor of the bike fit wedges. He is a BG fit, shim in the shoe kind of guy.

Last time my legs were measured (several years ago, 35 now) my legs had a difference of 18mm, mostly in femur length. Been cycling since high school and I tried shims when I was in my early 20's and working at a shop that was very proud of their fit process. Caused problems for me that didn't exist before, back and hip pain. Dumped them and haven't had problems on the bike since after several different road and MTBs over the years. To each his own I guess.

I'd second what a previous poster said about starting gradually and not shimming the full difference right away.