Am I Suited to Running, Especially Uphills?

by Maria
(Halesowen)

I have one leg longer than the other and high arches on my feet making prolonged walking and a short period of running painful.

I am fine running on flat ground, steady and slow, but struggle uphills and sometimes due to the camber of the path feel lopsided.

In doing a half marathon I had to walk as it was quicker and I had a good walking pace.



How much does one leg longer than the other affect hill running?

Am I suited to running and just need to keep training to be able to run a long distance, not walk, or should I stick to walking?


Answer by Dominique:

Hi there,
That's an interesting situation you have got there.

I have to stress that I am not a doctor.

In just thinking about it, when you have an uneven pronation I would expect that any strenuous activity would put extra stress on your legs, spine and lower back.

The example you gave is pretty indicative as well. In a half marathon you had to walk instead of run.

I would expect you'd have problems with faster running and hill running as well. Issues you could face would be iliotibial band syndrome, hip pain and lower back pain.

Have you considered remediation via a heel lift and/or sole lift? There may be something you can do to basically "remove" the shortage.

The best thing you can do is go to a specialist and let him/her work out what the best type of exercise is that you can do and what can be done to solve/remediate your problems.

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Kind regards,
Dominique