Leg Length Discrepancy Sandals: How I Got Them
/I have a 2 cm structural leg length discrepancy (LLD), so finding shoes that keep me comfortable has been difficult. I predominantly wear sneakers and boots in order to have enough space to include a lift under my right (shorter) leg.
The most difficult type of footwear to find are sandals and flip flops. There is no place to insert a lift. I have seen clear lifts that you can stick to the top of open-type shoes but I always felt they never looked that stable nor high enough to provide the at least 1 cm lift that I am looking for.
Much to my delight I found some flip flops that were easily customizable in 4 mm increments to manage any LLD. These Jacked Up sandals were my first “openly” special footwear that I have tried. As they have different-sized wedges it could be obvious to onlookers that they are different heights and therefore that I am imbalanced. It has taken some practice to wear them in public and show my physical imperfections to the world, but I acclimated or have just given up caring that people know.
These were sandals that gave me a taste of what wearing flip flops again could be like but they were too big. Though they are customizable for LLD their smallest size was a 7.5 (US) for women (6 US for men). As a petite person, the small was still too big. There was space at the front and back of my feet and the larger issue was the gap between the strap and my foot. Every step required me to clinch my toes to hold the sandals in place. Also, over time the height difference has changed. My weight bears down on the thinner sandal more than the higher one—as in, my weight has created a bigger indent in the smaller flip flop than the other. So, the leg that needs less height even has less height over time. This could mean the appropriate height of your sandals is lost after some wear.
Out of curiosity, I bought several pairs of shoes to take to a nearby shoe repair shop. This post reviews the two pairs of sandals that I took in.
I bought Birkenstocks from Amazon and had a pair of Flojos that I never really wore because of my LLD. When I went to the shoe repair shop and explained the situation, they were very helpful and understood what I needed.
They said many people with LLD were older and their condition was the result of surgery or joint damage. Though that isn’t my case, it was clear that I am not alone in needing this service and shoe repair is a viable option for LLD sufferers.
They mentioned that one of the issues with building a shoe with a lift is that shoe will be heavier, so finding lighter materials is helpful so the shorter leg doesn’t take on significantly more weight than the other.
The Birkenstocks that I brought in were very lightweight and made of a plastic material and the Flojos were heavier with less arch support and made out of a thick foam. The shop added half an inch to each right sandal for a total of $95, or approximately $48 each. The Birkenstocks were $30 and the Flojos were $20. So, the total costs of these pairs of sandals range from $78 and $68, respectively.
With the alterations these are not cheap. However, once I got them I was happy with the results and they are still lightweight and easy to wear. The shop was able to use Birkenstock sole material and a similar foam base to add to the bottoms of the shoes. I purchased black sandals in hopes that the lift materials would be more likely to match and I am happy that in both of these cases they were matches.
After wearing one of the pairs around the pool one evening I pointed them out to my sister and she hadn’t noticed the different height shoes. Hooray! I think they were less noticeable because the black color helped distort some of the size and also the sandals themselves look normal.
One issue that I have noticed with both adjusted flip flops is that I have gotten blisters down below the big toe where the strap cuts across my foot. Because it is only on the lifted sandals, I assume the adjustments change how the straps sit on my foot. Solutions to this include just wearing them for short periods of time, for specific purposes, or trying sandals that have different materials and crossing patterns over the foot. For example, Birkenstocks offers other sandals with straps over the top of the foot instead of between the toes.
Though this can be an expensive option and you will need to trust the skills of the shop, I am happy with the results and think this is a viable option for creating footwear that is tailored to your needs.
If you are in the search of LLD footwear, check out my experience getting a lift made for my tennis shoes and my review of Jacked Up sandals.