Short leg syndrome

Standing straight when one leg is shorter is the equivalent of standing sideways on a hill. The person cannot help but lean to the shorter side. The spine may compensate by tilting the upper body in the opposite direction. This produces a "scoliosis" or sideways deviation of the spine. It also concentrates gravitational and kinetic stress on the area where the spine transitions to the sacrum and pelvis... the lumbo-sacral junction....  NOT GOOD.

Often a person will try to compensate for a short leg by perching on short leg, usually with the longer leg bent at the knee and turned out...effectively shortening the long leg. NOT GOOD. Rather than balancing the pelvis, fatigue and strain usually causes the pelvis to over compensate. In either case, the distortion of the spine unevenly loads the joints and muscles, and promotes faster wear and tear, and injury.

If you, or someone you care about, is persistently perching on one leg, or complaining of back pain, this needs to be evaluated.

The sooner the better.

If you have any questions, feel free to email me at drwaynecoghlan@gmail.com

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Body Mass Index

Image
Source: http://beta.images.theglobeandmail.com/archive/01320/aaaabmi-chart-for-_1320321a.jpg  The body mass index is an advance from the older and less meaningful height and weight charts. And is the current tool used by health and insurance agencies to assess body weight and degree of obesity. However, it does not allow for individual variation of muscle mass and bone structure.    Click on image for better view http://beta.images.theglobeandmail.com/archive/01323/lf-jockology-obesi_1323094a.jpg Although body mass index (BMI) has been adopted by WHO as an international measure of obesity, it lacks a theoretical basis, and empirical evidence suggests it is not valid for all populations.1 The body mass index (BMI) does not accurately represent the amount of [body] fat,"2 The BMI has been around since the 1840s, but it has a number of weaknesses. Firstly, it doesn't give a real estimate of percentage body fat. Secondly, the BMI can be quite differen
Read more

Beat Gluttony with Gullibility

Beat Gluttony with Gullibility Eating-behavior expert Brian Wansink ​ offers tips on fooling yourself into eating less. Katherine Harmon reports Our eyes are bigger than our stomachs. And visual perception plays a big fat role in eating—often without our realizing it. So says Brian Wansink , a professor of consumer behavior and nutritional science at Cornell. His research has shown that people eat more when their food is served on larger dishes. Because lots of folks use an empty plate—rather than a full stomach—as a cue to put down their fork. Wansink reviewed his findings last week at the American Psychological Association meeting in Washington. In one experiment, he had unsuspecting subjects eat soup from bowls that continually refilled from the bottom. And volunteers who unknowingly ate from these bowls consumed on average 73 percent more soup than those who had had a finite supply. But both groups thought they had eaten about the same amount. Wansink’s advice i
Read more

What Science Says You Should Eat

Image
   What Does Science Say You Should Eat? By Brad Lemley, Photography by Dan Winters   From Discover Magazine, February 2004 issue , http://discovermagazine.com/2004/feb/science-diet/article_view?b_start:int=0&-C= Most diets aren't realistic or advisable, including the U.S. agriculture department's famous food pyramid. Instead, a Harvard scientist recommends a new way of eating based on the world's largest and longest food study. America clearly needs dietary guidance.   More than 44 million people are clinically obese compared with 30 million a decade ago, putting them at increased risk for heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, and breast, prostate, and colon cancers. In the meantime, the noun diet seems to attract a different adjective every week, including Atkins, Ornish, Cooper, grapefruit, rice, protein, Scarsdale, South Beach, Beverly Hills, Best Chance, Eat Smart, and Miracle, not to mention Help, I’m Southern and I Can’t Stop Eating.
Read more