YSK that up to 83 percent of knee replacement patients end…
0 reactions
YSK that up to 83 percent of knee replacement patients end up with one leg measurably shorter than the other afterward, and almost none of them get screened for it
If you had a knee or hip replacement and still feel subtly off months later (one sided back or hip pain, a gait that feels uneven, recurring plantar fasciitis or IT band pain always on the same side), there is a real chance the surgery left you with a leg length difference nobody ever measured. Research puts the incidence of leg length inequality at up to 83 percent after knee replacement and around 3 percent after hip replacement (Tripathy 2021; Wylde 2009). Surgeons accept a 5 to 15mm residual difference as a normal surgical tolerance, but that same gap in a non surgical patient would be considered clinically significant. Standard post op followups check the implant, not a full leg scanogram, so the issue goes undiagnosed for years. Ask your doctor for a standing scanogram x ray. If a discrepancy is confirmed, discrepancies under about 10mm can usually be corrected with an in shoe heel insert. Anything larger needs an external shoe sole modification, because an in shoe lift over 3/8 inch crowds the heel, pitches the forefoot down, and creates new problems. A 2022 study of 80 chronic back pain patients with LLD who received full correction saw pain scores drop from baseline to near zero at two year follow up (D'Amico 2022).
**Why YSK:** Post surgical leg length inequality is one of the most common sources of ongoing pain after joint replacement and it is almost never volunteered by the surgeon, because it is not a surgical complication, it is an expected tolerance. The patient has to ask. A single x ray and a simple shoe modification resolves it for most people who have spent years being told their residual pain is just how it is now.
**Sources:** Campbell TM et al. Shoe and heel lifts for leg length inequality in adults with musculoskeletal conditions. Cochrane Database Syst Rev 2021. Wylde V et al. Int Orthop 2009;33(4):905. D'Amico M et al. Front Bioeng Biotechnol 2022;9:743132. Friberg O. Spine 1983;8:643.
#education
If you had a knee or hip replacement and still feel subtly off months later (one sided back or hip pain, a gait that feels uneven, recurring plantar fasciitis or IT band pain always on the same side), there is a real chance the surgery left you with a leg length difference nobody ever measured. Research puts the incidence of leg length inequality at up to 83 percent after knee replacement and around 3 percent after hip replacement (Tripathy 2021; Wylde 2009). Surgeons accept a 5 to 15mm residual difference as a normal surgical tolerance, but that same gap in a non surgical patient would be considered clinically significant. Standard post op followups check the implant, not a full leg scanogram, so the issue goes undiagnosed for years. Ask your doctor for a standing scanogram x ray. If a discrepancy is confirmed, discrepancies under about 10mm can usually be corrected with an in shoe heel insert. Anything larger needs an external shoe sole modification, because an in shoe lift over 3/8 inch crowds the heel, pitches the forefoot down, and creates new problems. A 2022 study of 80 chronic back pain patients with LLD who received full correction saw pain scores drop from baseline to near zero at two year follow up (D'Amico 2022).
**Why YSK:** Post surgical leg length inequality is one of the most common sources of ongoing pain after joint replacement and it is almost never volunteered by the surgeon, because it is not a surgical complication, it is an expected tolerance. The patient has to ask. A single x ray and a simple shoe modification resolves it for most people who have spent years being told their residual pain is just how it is now.
**Sources:** Campbell TM et al. Shoe and heel lifts for leg length inequality in adults with musculoskeletal conditions. Cochrane Database Syst Rev 2021. Wylde V et al. Int Orthop 2009;33(4):905. D'Amico M et al. Front Bioeng Biotechnol 2022;9:743132. Friberg O. Spine 1983;8:643.
#education
| 3,000 mlx | |
| 4 | |
| 0 |