The Nature of SRLS

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I have encountered a few individuals determined to overcome the dysfunctional effects of Short Right Leg Syndrome by “natural” means. That is, they do not want to use artificial adjusting devices in their shoes and, in lieu, use physical training regimes to manage the condition.

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This is admirable yet usually not completely successful. It overlooks the fact SRLS is not a gift to make life better in our older years. It is an evolutionary adaptation to make it easier to carry babies on our left hip and bag over the right shoulder while freeing the dominant right arm for defence and work. This increased the chance of survival of the species during child rearing years in prehistoric times. This is the "natural" purpose of a short right leg.

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It is a design feature with a small window of usefulness in our existence. Once aging beyond the life span of our prehistoric ancestors, becoming sedentary, gaining weight and losing the flexibility of youth, we begin to feel the negative effects this postural asymmetry has on our mobility, health and vitality. This condition has no positive attributes except to make it easier to carry a baby on the left hip. To object to the insertion of a 3mm or 5mm adjusting wedge under the heel of the short leg to optimise musculo-skeletal and metabolic function on the grounds it is not "natural" is illogical.