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Diagnosed with Scoliosis, kyphosis, and arthritis with one leg 2cm shorter than the other.

Posted , 3 users are following.

chris00938
chris00938

I understand my scoliosis is due to one leg being 2cm shorter than the other (which has probably happened due to the arthritis in knees) and have been told to get shoe raised by 2cm.  I've only been able to get the heel raised at the shoe menders, but understand it's best to get a sole raise as well.  Having enquired with the NHS am told that it will take months to do, so is there anywhere privately where I can get the sole raised as well, in the UK?  Is there any particular sort of shoe or slipper that is more of a problem to raise than another or can anything be raised?  Many thanks for any advice! Chris

0 likes, 8 replies

8 Replies

  • chris00938
    chris00938

    Posted

    I perhaps should have mentioned that the physio gave me exercises which I started doing but was then told to hold back because they could be doing more damage as I have hypermobility and stretching the wrong bits could make it all worse, and that I should see a physio who specialises in hypermobility.  Not found one yet!  I feel I've been diagnosed and then left to get on with it, but do have an appointment with a rhuematologist in a couple of weeks who I hope might be able to guide me or refer me somewhere.
  • chris00938
    chris00938

    Posted

    Ah - sorry - I see that I couldn't mention a link to places I'd found where they WILL raise heels and sole, but just wanted to say that there are places that can be found online.  My local cobbler is doing some shoes for me and very successfully, but some shoes are more difficult and I have to wait to see if they can be done on the NHS or end up paying £85 a shoe.  More than the shoe costs, but since I'm very fond of them, at least an option.  But please, does anyone know of a physio who is well up on hypermobility?
  • goodolboy
    goodolboy chris00938

    Posted

    I would caution you to take your time and to make the height adjustment to your shoes in several stages-beginning with the heel only lifts at first to keep the cost reasonable.

    This is to to give your body, especially the back, foot, and leg muscles and ligaments, plenty of time to GRADUALLY adjust to the required changes in their respective range of movements-to minimize the chances of injury, and also to give YOU a chance to become acclimated to the difference a bit at a time (and to significantly minimize your odds of tripping/falling).

    Having back problems go unsatisfactorily addressed by doctors most of my life, (and a 2cm leg length completely IGNORED by them) I can empathize with you.

    On my own initiative, about 2 years ago I started by using an approx. .5 cm heel lift in every pair of my shoes, boots, and even slippers 2 years ago and increased the lift height by only 2.5--3mm at a time, taking most of a year to reach the final height. (I stopped at 1.75cm.)

    It took about a week to get conditioned to there being something that thick in my left shoe with the first lifts but the subsequent ones were easier as the height change was much less.

    Before I started I'd thought that I would certainly NEED to have my shoes all remade too, but that has not turned out to be necessary yet-with the looser fitting, taller sports type shoes and lace up boots. Living in the country (on a hobby farm) I wear boots all day most days. I may splurge and get a pair of better shoes or dress boots altered though. (No need for PT here, I get my quota of exercise free form-by doing the necessary farm and woodlot chores.)

    The main problem that I had with the commercially available stiff foam lifts that I choose to use is that they were less than half the length of the insole to begin with and were tapered over a very short length, so I mixed and matched lifts, layered them and then made the taper longer by using a belt sander. They fit under the innersole or inner footbed in most of my footwear-and I use aggresive adhesive double sided tape to keep them in place if they don't fit there.

    My back doesn't bother me as much or as often these days as it did in past years, but I must say that it does feel peculiar now when I'm walking without shoes.

    For whatever it's worth:

    One tip from a chiropractor friend (which I now pass on to all men I come across with back issues) is to not carry a wallet in a back pocket-ever. When sat upon habitually it wreaks havoc on your spine's alignment.

    • chris00938
      chris00938 goodolboy

      Posted

      Thank you so much for your reply Goodolboy:-)  By the time I'd got this I'd worked my way through lifting a heel gradually over a couple of  weeks by gradually adding cork furniture pads to the underneath of an orthotic, so by the time I got any shoes altered it was only a slight height change.  I actually found that my local cobbler would do them, much cheaper than the online places!  He's been brilliant.  I've just had the heels done on boots that lace up to support the front of the foot at the ankle area but one pair that only had a velcro bar where I found the foot tended to slide forward  slightly, he's done the sole as well.  I have found that 2cm heel lifts work well stuck in 'trekking' sandals.  I was always a 'barefoot indoors' person and hated having my feet confined in something indoors, especially in our current heatwave, but  my sandals that could be adjusted to fit work so well with the heel lift stuck in them (I bought a leather topped one).  I MIGHT be able to get away with using the heel lift in some lace ups, but my heel is tending to slip a fair bit, so I suspect it will cause blisters if worn much, but with getting the sturdier boot type shoes done, I can now wear those if walking a lot, and have enough choice to get by for the moment.

      It's been a nightmare with my GP - they'd told me I'd got osteoporosis and crushed discs in my spine and had me on Alendronic Acid for 6 weeks until the side effects got so bad that I couldn't tolerate it and I went back and then found out that I haven't got osteoporosis or crushed discs, so didn't need the dreadful medication they put me on!  It's good, but so frustrating that they are so useless!

      I NEVER walk around without the height raised that 2cm now, even going from the bed to the bathroom, the sandal goes on, and when I get out of the shower to clean my teeth I fold the bathmat to make up the difference, to try to get continuity with it all.  After the initial pain which went with the TENS machine I'm not getting much pain at all now - just a slight feeling of sort of bruising in the spine or sort of pulling when it's stretched one way or another, but nothing to complain about, but one thing I am finding that is bothering me and I don't know if it's spine related - my balance doesn't feel good.  I don't know if it's the scoliosis (bends out towards the right at the back) or because it's twisted (left side ribs stick out more at back than right side) of if it's something to do with the arthritis in knees,but does anyone else have this problem?

    • goodolboy
      goodolboy chris00938

      Posted

      I'm glad that you were able to get the shoe adjustments done that you needed.

      About the balance issue.

      If this is something which you had never experienced before, (i.e. prior to when began raising your heel height) there's a very good chance that it is simply due to you still being in the period of adjustment necessary during which your brain is relearning where to to "place" your head and body relative to one another (from input coming from both your inner ears and from your eyes) given the positional changes which are taking place-from where your head HAD BEEN and where it is now.

      If you have only been using the lifts a few weeks now, there is a fairly good chance that the positional changes have not yet reached a new stable point, one where the spine has become settled among all the balanced forces acting upon it and your head is not yet settled into the final new position. A new "neutral point" so to speak.

      Until that happens your brain is trying to cope with and adjust to everchanging inputs from your inner ears and eyes-what is essentially still a moving target.

      To test the validity of an unbalanced heel height change affecting one's balance, here's a test that the chiropractor friend told me about-he said that it works for everyone, not just those with a shorter leg.

      Start with no lift under either heel (your previous condition) first put the lift under either heel and stand up straight, then take it out and put it under the opposite heel and repeat.

      If you have one leg shorter-OR if your back has become misaligned due to sitting on a wallet, when you place the lift under one side your balance will feel normal, but when its under the other heel you will not.

      If both legs are equal AND if your back is NOT misaligned (left to right), no matter which heel you put it under your balance will be affected.

      If this is what is happening in your case, I'd wager if you gradually reduce the height of the 2cm lift that you're using you'll reach a level where your balance feels "right" again. If so, you would probably be well advised to use that height for a bit and then move up from there. (Or live with the balance issue until it goes away.)

      Until you mentioned it, I had completely forgotten about this aspect. It took me a while to get my "normal" balance back. You may very well not take as long-my leg length difference was probably already over 1cm BEFORE I'd broken my leg (the longer one) the second time in my 20's, 40 years ago, so the length difference was very well established by the time I did something about it.

    • chris00938
      chris00938 goodolboy

      Posted

      Thanks Goodolboy:-)  After being told I needed my shoe raised 2cm we did test it out with a piece of wood at that thickness until I 'felt straight'.  Funnily enough we looked at a picture my husband had taken of me last summer and you could clearly see a strong lean to one side!  We just hadn't noticed it before.  I did actually feel 'off balance' before raising the shoe but having googled it I realise it's anxiety.  If I'm walking next to my husband I'm OK but if I"m walking alone then I feel vulnerable and off balance!  So I think I ought to walk alone a bit more but start with a stick and that might help!
    • goodolboy
      goodolboy chris00938

      Posted

      My wife has had many years of back issues-with multiple surgeries and she swears by her several tall walking staffs-both for their length, which encourages her to stand straighter than she would if using a cane or "rollator", and also in that using something taller is better on the slopes and cross grades here in "never-level-land", (Smoky Mountains, East Tennessee, USA) plus they can be gripped with both hands for extra support if/when necessary.

      Good for extra support protection against our helpful but rambunctious dogs too.

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