

If your ankles aren’t even, you could have uneven legs, or you could be dealing with muscle imbalances.

According to Ryan Enke, M.D., a board-certified physical medicine and rehabilitation physician with OrthoIllinois, factors like spinal curvature can cause legs to seem uneven, even when they’re structurally the same. This is because sometimes the appearance of uneven legs isn’t due to an actual difference in leg length.

The only real way to assess a permanent, structural difference in leg length is through the use of an X-Ray or CT scan. Since most running injuries are repetitive use and are not immediately debilitating, like a trauma injury, the potential to continue the exercise increases the likelihood of a long-term injury.” How to Determine Differences in Leg Length “Since these muscles are not accustomed to this change, it can lead to many problems including knee, hip, sciatica, and other lower back problems. For instance, running consistently on one side of a naturally-sloped road creates a type of temporary, or false difference in leg length, where one leg is always making contact, and taking on more stress, than the opposite leg. “The obvious problems that come from temporary leg length differences are the stress to the muscles and joints that work to counteract the imbalance,” Plunk says. This, likely, explains why Rodgers’s structurally uneven legs didn’t hamper his running performance-he was able to make changes to his arm swing and gait to compensate for the natural difference in leg length. Amazingly, many people with this type of condition who exercise have managed to make it work without any major problems.” “In some instances, leg length differences are due to a structural problem like scoliosis. “Most people have leg length discrepancies that are permanent, and a lot of people have temporary leg length discrepancies either due to tight hamstrings, quads, lower back, or a weak core,” explains Jamey Plunk, Ph.D., professor of exercise science at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor.
