Most doctors and therapists explain this away with, "everyone has a short leg and it doesn't make any difference" but it does for a large percentage of people, especially when the discrepancy is quite noticeable, the person's body is weak or they have hyper mobile joints. A short leg also adds to the muscle imbalances because it makes your weight distribute unevenly throughout your body with every moment whether you are sitting or standing. Ask any therapist who can fix chronic back pain or sciatica quickly and effectively and they will agree without hesitation, because correcting the short leg it is the only approach that works every time for a long time.
Being a ball and socket joint it allows for a variety of movements of the leg from the hip, so it relies heavily on the muscles in the lower back, the leg and around the hip and buttocks for support.
The condition of each of these supporting muscles, relative to their ability to contract and lengthen with movement, or their resting length, will determine the angle at which the neck of the femur sits in its socket.
If problems with any of the relevant muscles on one side of the body cause this neck to draw up or downwards slightly, it will effect the length of that leg in relation to the other side. This causes the pelvis to tilt and other muscles in the body to start compensating.
Unfortunately because of our lifestyle these days, changes to the muscles supporting one of the hip joints can come about very easily, either through an injury or accident from overuse or through something as simple as bad posture over a period of time.
Whether any problem with these muscles becomes permanent or not depends largely on things like posture, stress levels and whether the original problem is given the correct treatment at the time. When the correct treatment is not received, the supporting muscles don't do their job properly and so excessive wearing of the hip or knee joint can happen, resulting in the need for joint replacement surgery later in life, something I am sure everyone would want to avoid if at all possible.
Once a person has a short leg their pelvis is drawn down on that side and up on the other. This causes tension to build up in the lower back and in the erector spinae muscles along side the spine into the neck. When this happens it's possible for the spine to curve and some of the vertebrae in the back to become twisted or tilted especially in people with weak muscles. This is often the underlying cause of back pain or worse, sciatica.
Keeping your muscles healthy and supple into your old age and having a balanced pelvis are very achievable goals and something we all should strive for. It is an ongoing effort that is required though and something that needs to be incorporated into your lifestyle with the right diet and exercise treatment, along with vital self treatment techniques that will work to take away any problems that already exist. All the information you need to help you achieve this is contained in my self treatment program which covers information, lifestyle changes, exercises and self treatment techniques that will help you to diagnose and treat your chronic back pain or sciatica.
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