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Thread: Is a 0.25" leg shim called for in my situation?

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jan 2020
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    5

    Default Is a 0.25" leg shim called for in my situation?

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    Good evening -- I'm grateful to even be posting here, so I'll try to keep this as short and relevant as possible. I'm not looking for a diagnosis, but I want to make sure that I'm not missing something obvious. I appreciate any and all advice that you might have to offer me.

    Where: right side of my left knee, right side of my SI joint, left lumbar "region", my left shoulder, and the left side of my neck.
    How long: 1-3 months, as the weight on my lifts has gone up (I suspect). It culminated in a back tweak last Thursday when my lower back rounded on the left side during a set of deadlifts, but it's mostly recovered. The back tweak was what got me thinking that maybe I need to try something new.

    Years and years ago a PT had told me that one of my legs was shorter than the other, but didn't tell me how much. It's been mostly asymptomatic until I've started training. I read the stuff we've got about LLD's on the website and forums and it reminded me of that diagnosis. I doubted my ability to accurately measure my own legs, so I called a chiropractor's office to do it for me. One chiropractor eye-balled my legs while laying in his special moving table, saying that it was about 0.25" inches off. The other chiropractor diagnosed it as a "functional" LLD and told me that they needed $500 and 6 weeks of my time to adjust it back into place.

    I don't know if I believe them, and I don't understand why a functional LLD wouldn't respond the same way to a shim that an anatomical LLD would. I'm worried that I've got some odd form of scoliosis brought on by the LLD, but money is too tight to go to another expert who might give me another non-solution. I feel like I'd rather try to fix this on my own, if I can. My question is this: Would I be correct in assuming that a 0.25" shim on the left leg would be good to experiment with in this situation? Should I simply train as normal and focus more of my energies on symmetrical technique? Because at this point I have some pretty noticeable left-right imbalances in strength/mobility/pain/etc.

    Age 26, 6'8, 285 lbs. I started LP in March, and I've been experimenting with TM for a few weeks.
    I never thought to film my lifts from behind to check for asymmetries before now. There have been some squat sessions where I've shifted over my right leg by a couple of inches on the way up, but it's been awhile since I've noticed it happening during my sets. I usually queue "centered hips" since then-- until now, I thought I had corrected the problem. Perhaps not.

    SQ: 365x2x3
    B: 293x3x2
    P: 165x5x3
    DL: 405x1x5

    Twisty_boi.jpg

    Thank you for your time.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Aug 2010
    Location
    Wichita Falls, Texas
    Posts
    2,414

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    It’s hard to tell from the text or the radiograph. From here, this radiograph appears like you have some scoliosis which will cause you to have a LLD. But, one view doesn’t prove anything since this COULD just be positioning when they took the radiograph.

    For the sake of cost-effectiveness, I’d suggest posting a video of your squat and I will view it several times to see if I see any of the hallmarks of a LLD.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jan 2020
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    Here's what I have from the workout I did today:
    SQ 295x1x5
    YouTube

    The more I look at it, the less I like it. It didn't feel like my best work when I was doing it, but it's not far off from how my squats look like when I get fatigued.

    Immediately after finishing this set, I started getting some aches and pains in:
    the right side of my tailbone.
    the left side of my lumbars and left glute.
    the top of my left trap and the left side of my neck. It's developing into a mild headache.

    Nothing hurts too bad enough to matter -- just bad enough that I'll need to take some painkillers before I get to bed. If I had done more sets, however, I'm pretty sure I'd have trouble moving around tomorrow. I had been planning on testing my deadlift today as well, but I couldn't set my back with 95 lbs and it didn't seem worth pushing the envelope at this point.

    Here's what I had deadlifted the week before I got injured -- there's some slight side-to-side shifting that I couldn't feel at the time, so it might be relevant. I hadn't really been paying attention to form aside from setting my back, to be honest, but I don't remember getting any pain from the workout at all.
    405x1x6 (405 was an easy PR and I was feeling pretty cheeky)
    YouTube

    Thank you again for your time.

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Mar 2019
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    809

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    Need to see side/rear 45degree angle on squats, but it looks like you may be overextending. If this os the case, you may need to deload and practice squatting with leas anterior pelvic tilt. Read rip’s article on the dangers of overextending the lumbar.

    For the deadlift you need to drag that bar up your shins with better lat engagement. You can tell by the shrugged/internally rotated position of your shoulders at the top that you aren’t locking it in with your lats before the pull. You can move your heels in a bit with the toes to get the unknurled part of the bar against your shins and your knees can touch out against the elbows. Also need a better camera angle to fully assess your position.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Jan 2020
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    5

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    Quote Originally Posted by Soule View Post
    Need to see side/rear 45degree angle on squats, but it looks like you may be overextending. If this os the case, you may need to deload and practice squatting with leas anterior pelvic tilt. Read rip’s article on the dangers of overextending the lumbar.

    For the deadlift you need to drag that bar up your shins with better lat engagement. You can tell by the shrugged/internally rotated position of your shoulders at the top that you aren’t locking it in with your lats before the pull. You can move your heels in a bit with the toes to get the unknurled part of the bar against your shins and your knees can touch out against the elbows. Also need a better camera angle to fully assess your position.
    Hmm. It's an interesting idea -- I'd been led to believe that most of us guys aren't flexible enough for overextension to be a problem, but I'm fine being wrong about that. I'll re-read em.

    The angle on this one isn't terribly good either, but it's a side view, if you think it would help. It was part of a 300x5x5 set some time before I got injured. To my eyes, my back is pretty flat, but again, I'm fine being wrong. I'd been trying to fix my tendency to squat below depth, knee slide, and my inconsistent eye gaze (all the gyms around here have mirrors on all the racks)
    YouTube

    I'll try to pull the bar in more with my lats on the deadlift -- it's a persistent form error of mine.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Mar 2019
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    809

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    Guys can be hypermobile as well, although it’s less common than females. I have a long-ass flexible back and so do you. In my opinion, you are overextending and as a result there is some unnecessary movement going on in your low back as you approach depth. I’ve experienced chronic back pain and tightness from squatting in a similar fashion. Do you feel your back as you unrack?

    Practice setting up with your chest drawn a bit. It was helpful for me to think about pulling my sternum down by engaging my abs like a properly executed plank — start with a slight adjustment and don’t overdo it. I would recommend backing off on the weight a bit until you’ve adjusted to squatting this way.

    Definitely more lats on the deadlift - think about drawing your scaps down as you squeeze your chest up. Make sure you aren’t on your toes and drag the bar up your shins. Also, Creating tension in the hammies and glutes before you pull can prevent the hips from shooting up too fast and creating distance between your shins and the bar. Additionally, Don’t pull 6 reps.

    You may find it helpful to stretch your low back before sleep. Again, don’t overdo it or you’re likely cause more irritation.

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