4 Ways To Help A Leg Length Discrepancy After Knee Replacement Surgery

Here are four ways to help a leg length discrepancy after knee replacement surgery. Before we get into that I need to take you through this thinking about your leg length discrepancy realize that there are many causes to leg length discrepancy. And it may not just be the actual surgical procedure for the knee replacements, it’s very possible that you had a leg length discrepancy before surgery.

But because of the side effects of going through surgery, having your joint cut open, going through weakness not being able to move the same as you were before you had those symptoms magnified, the leg length discrepancy was magnified as a result of the side effects of the surgery and other factors to consider if you have a suspicion of a leg length discrepancy or you know that you have a true leg length discrepancy.

And in order to know that you have a true length discrepancy, you need to go get an x ray where they measure your leg length, they measure the actual bones and compare side to side. And you can also see a specialist who knows how to how to measure leg length discrepancies. And if you have one of those tell you that you have a leg length discrepancy then you can confirm it that way too.

Understanding your leg length discrepancy. This will help you to treat it better, because getting this surgery for this is just not realistic, especially if it’s not that bad because even if you do have a true leg length discrepancy, there are ways to make it tolerable and manageable for you so that it’s not causing you worse problems as time goes on.

Now, that being said, let me get into the first way to help you out with a leg length discrepancy. The first thing to do is to try insoles. Now you can go look for certain insoles, but I like to just get the cushiony ones. And there’s two ways to use insoles.

The first is to just put them in both shoes in the hopes that it makes walking and being on your feet more tolerable. Now these are generic ones that I got at the store. There’s a link some in the description here below. But you just want something that’s going to add a little bit of thickness to both sides. And these are especially cushiony.

Now one way is to use them both and see how you feel. And another way is to use them in the suspected or known shorter leg, only use one and not put one in the other shoe in hopes that it’s going to make your legs slightly longer on the shorter side.

Now I can tell you from my experience as a therapist, this is hit and miss both using both insoles and using just one insole. Some people find that it helps them out some people find that it doesn’t. And some people find that it helps them out for a time and they use them off and on depending on how they feel.

The second way to get relief is by using a cane like this. If you don’t already use a cane and you’re having problems, especially with being on your feet, and walking, holding a cane in the same side of the leg that shorter whether it’s your operating leg or not, tends to offload that shorter side because chances are that when you’re walking and you’re on your feet, there’s a slight increased distance or height for that foot on the shorter leg to reach the ground and you can lessen the impact on that side.

If you simply lean on a cane a bit and take some pressure off. Now cane like this is not expensive all links in the description below that I like. But this can make a huge difference especially if you know you’re going to be on your feet for a longer period of time. Or if you’re going to be walking around like on a trip traveling or running errands for the day.

Now the third way to help a leg length discrepancy after knee replacement surgery is to simply adapt to your leg length discrepancy. Now, what I mean by this is if it’s been less than 12 months since your surgery, chances are that your body is still getting used to everything you still have strength to gain probably you might still need to make walking corrections, you might need to still rehab a little bit more in order to get to the point where you feel more comfortable.

And if you focus on the leg length discrepancy, then it may be chasing the wrong problem. You may be focusing on the wrong thing. It may be better for you to focus on other things like getting stronger, or offloading liquids using the cane or maybe even using the insole like I said at first.

It’s common for people to say that it’s not until after a year or more that they feel like they’ve normalized after the knee replacement surgery. And what I mean by normalize is not that it feels like your other knee or like before you had any knee problems, it just feels more normal to your current situation, you’ve set a new standard for normal of living life with a knee replacement now, and it usually feels off it usually feels different people are obviously limited in certain ways after have any replacement.

They just know that their knee is not the same as it was before. But the hope is that the knee replacement took away a lot of the pain and the ability that you may have had while suffering with knee arthritis. The fourth way to help eliminate discrepancy after knee replacement is to work on muscle imbalances.

Now, I like this one the most, because you have the most control over this, you can work on weak muscles by getting them stronger, and getting them to be used the right time while you’re standing, moving and walking. So that it can depressurize joints and put you in a situation where you keep your joints muscles, tendons, ligaments, nerves, everything as healthy as possible for the long term.

What I tell people that have leg length discrepancies when they’re coming into my office and we begin to work on muscle imbalances. So I tell them this: get so strong and get so balanced in strength in your muscles, that you make the leg length discrepancy irrelevant. You’re so strong and controlling your body that you can move around.

And if you have a half inch difference on one leg compared to the other, it doesn’t matter because your body’s so well adapted, so strong at doing all the things you have to do that you don’t even feel it. I talk extensively about how to help chronic pain and how to resolve muscle imbalances when it comes to knee replacements here on this channel, I’ve got a playlist that talks all about it.

It’s called the knee replacement help playlist, it’s linked down in the description below. I’ve also got a comprehensive online program called the failed knee replacement recovery program that you can learn more about in the description below too.

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