CUSTOM ORTHOTICS CAN REDUCE OR ELIMINATE PAIN CAUSED BY LLD

Humans are not perfectly symmetrical. Almost everyone has one ear that’s higher or one foot that’s larger than the other. Similarly, leg lengths are often not quite the same. There is disagreement as to what constitutes a clinically significant difference, but some studies suggest that leg length discrepancy (LLD) can lead to osteoarthritis (OA) of the hip or knee. Foot height discrepancy can be a significant contributor to LLD, says George Lane, DPM, a podiatrist at Achilles Foot & Ankle Center, Richmond, VA who developed a novel technique for evaluating foot contribution to LLD. 

 

Dr. George Lane

 

“A mild to moderate foot height discrepancy, which is often just a few millimeters, means there are typically significant misalignments within the joints of at least one of the feet,” Dr. Lane explains. “This can not only have a profound damaging effect on the joints of the feet, but also on ligaments, tendons and joints of the lower extremities, and back. Properly made custom orthotics can play a pivotal role to dramatically reduce or eliminate pain, progression of deformity, and joint damage in this situation.”

 

Source: Abdollah Shams-Pirzadeh, MD, PA, FACR, & Kimberly Retzlaff, The Rheumatologist [1/20/21]

Courtesy of Barry Block, editor of PM News