How to shim a shoe?

[Kyle Stevens]

Meat and potatoes. Right leg is shorter than left, need a shim, no cobbler or shoe specialist in my area.

Question: Does anyone know a good resource on doing this yourself? Used the google button on the interwebz and not much turned up. Also used the search function on the forums and didn't see any posts that talked about doing this yourself.

I would like to know how to do this on my own, I think my normal shoes may need to be shimmed as well. I regularly wear a heel lift on the short leg, but I feel like I am putting a lot more stress on my left knee due to how I walk with the heel lift.


....anyways. If anyone has experience or can hit me up with info or a link it would be greatly appreciated!

[Steve Hill]

It depends on your shoe. Mine has a glued-on sole, so it was relatively easy for the cobbler to peel off the sole, put a shim under it, and re-apply a new sole to the bottom.

Beyond that, short of going to cobbling (cobbler's?) school, I do not know, so we'll ask the viewing audience.

[Polishdude20]

Is it a functional or structural problem? A rubber band might help.
I'm sorry I couldn't resist...

Disclaimer: ^ joke

[Satch12879]

I was curious; so I looked. Assuming your profile is correct, a Google search of "shoe maker Sioux City Iowa" returns several hits.

[Dave Hahn]

I have a small LLD that I've been addressing with an insert from gwheellift.com.

They offer a full foot life that's adjustable up to 8mm in 1mm increments. Make sure you get a full foot lift, not a heel lift. If you're dealing with a small difference, you can probably use an insert without the inserts preventing good fit of the shoe. Otherwise, you'd need to find a cobbler.

I'll probably get my shoes modified at some point to get rid of the inserts. I may buy new ones and have them modified so I don't have to be without my shoes while they're modified.

[PrimalFish]

I have a small LLD that I've been addressing with an insert from gwheellift.com.

They offer a full foot life that's adjustable up to 8mm in 1mm increments. Make sure you get a full foot lift, not a heel lift. If you're dealing with a small difference, you can probably use an insert without the inserts preventing good fit of the shoe. Otherwise, you'd need to find a cobbler.

I'll probably get my shoes modified at some point to get rid of the inserts. I may buy new ones and have them modified so I don't have to be without my shoes while they're modified.

This looks like a pretty cool product. I'm not sure I'm understanding it correctly though. Does it have 8 layers you can peel off one-by-one to make adjustments? Is it hard and non compressible?

Just to be clear you're talking about this one right: Clearly Adjustable Full-Foot In-Shoe Lifts

[Kyle Stevens]

hmmm I've searched around my area before and only found a boot repair place. Looks like now we have an actual cobbler that rolled in. I'll have to check them out.

The issue I have with inserts is since my foot is raised inside my shoe I tend to wear a hole in the back heel area pretty fast. That's why I'm looking for an actual shim to put on.

I believe that my leg length problem is structural?....I have scoliosis which tilts my pelvis and makes my right leg about 1/2 shorter.

[Gwyn Brookes]

I have a friend with a considerable leg length difference, who sends all of his shoes to this company:

http://www.americanheeler.com/

He has tried several local cobblers (San Francisco Bay Area, so we have a few) and says these folks are much better. He is not a lifter, so his experience with them is limited to casual or dress shoes.