What is Leg Length Discrepancy?

Anatomically and anthropometrically defined leg length. The scientific name is total leg length (M54) ^[1] , which is the narrow leg length, the true leg length, including the length of the femur and tibia ^[2] . The length of the lower extremity removed enough ^[3] . Lower extremity length (M53 ^[1] ) is the narrow lower limb length, the true lower limb length, including the total leg length and total foot height ^[4] .

Leg length

In practice, some more measurable data is often used to represent leg length ^[2]

At present, there are many methods for measuring the mutual ratio of the upper and lower parts of the body (that is, the ratio of the trunk to the legs) and the ratio of the legs to the whole body. Here are some comparisons:

When it comes to height, I have to mention a related concept-leg length. In evolutionary psychology, the leg-to-body ratio (LBR) is used to study the relationship between leg length and human attractiveness ^[54] .

Swami Study of leg length Swami

Swami, Einon, and Furnham (2006) used the leg-to-body ratio as an aesthetic criterion to explore the attractiveness of the five different leg-to-body ratios of 1.0, 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, and 1.4 to both sexes. In this document, the leg-to-body ratio refers to the ratio of the lower body to the upper body; the lower body is roughly expressed by the distance from the bottom of the foot to the top of the pelvis (under the waist to the top of the hip), and the upper body is from the top of the head to the top of the pelvis the distance. The results show that women prefer men with a lower leg ratio of 1.0 (shorter legs) and men prefer women with a leg ratio of 1.4 (longer legs) ^[65] .

Sorokowski Research after leg length Sorokowski

If only women's legs look good, should we evolve into women's long legs and men's short legs based on the principle of sexual selection? Just like female peacocks like male peacocks, only male peacocks have gorgeous feathers. But human legs are about the same as men and women, and men are a bit longer on average.

(1) Sorokowski and Pawlowski (2008a) considered that the experiments of Swami, Einon, and Furnham (2006) were not precise enough and did not exclude interference factors. Based on the previous research, they conducted a modified version (silhouette) of the leg-body ratio study. Different from the results of the study by Swami, Einon, and Furnham (2006), the results show that both men and women are attracted by the opposite sex with a high leg-to-body ratio of 1.3. And, for both women and men, a leg-to-body ratio of 1.0 (the shortest leg) is the least attractive, while a leg-to-body ratio of 1.4 (the leg is too long) is less attractive.

At the same time, Sorokowski and Pawlowski (2008b) also created a benchmark map based on the average of the Polish leg length to torso ratio (centered, and then slightly stretched the leg length by 5%, 10%, and 15%, and shortened 5%, 10%, and 15% designed a total of seven silhouette maps to explore the attractiveness of different leg lengths to the sexes. Research results show that leg length affects the physical attractiveness of men and women. Relatively short legs, long Legs are more attractive, but only limited to a slight (5%) increase in leg length. Excessively long legs can reduce the attractiveness of the body ^[12] .

(2) Zhang Rongfu, Li Huimin, and Shen Minsheng (2010) repeated Swami's design experiment. The samples were selected from Taipei University of Education and Tunghai University, 413 females and 202 males. The results were the same as Sorokowski's ^[66] .

(3) Frederick, Hadji-Michael, Furnham and Swami et al. (2010) expanded the sample and performed three experiments. The first group of samples were UCLA students, 705 women and 235 men, with an average age of 18.93 years; the second group were samples randomly found in the school cafe, 64 women and 50 men, with an average age of 22.7 years ; The third group of samples came from the society, 101 females and 106 males, with an average age of 27.1 years. The stimulus was produced by the three-dimensional animation software POSER. It is vivid and realistic. There are eight leg-to-body ratios. The study shows that the three groups of testers have almost the same attractive leg-to-body ratio as Sorokowski (2008). The results support the findings of Sorokowski and Pawlowski: men and women prefer heterosexuality with high leg-to-body ratios ^[67] .

Both Sorokowski and Pawlowski's studies discussed above that attractiveness may be related to the corresponding leg length, as this feature may be a clue to health status.