PSA: ladies! How big is your crank?

long story short, i tore the labrum in both my hips and had arthroscopy to fix it.  when asked how i did it I couldn't give any answer.  i had no idea.  there was no specific injury that had occured, they were just torn.

so, i'm flipping through our local tri magazine, tri-dc, and see an article on "hidden causes of lower extremity pain in endurance athletes".

here is the paragraph that caught my eye:

"we have seen a dozen female cyclists with hip pain who turned out to have labral tears of the hip.  The common thread among these injured athletes is that they are using relatively long cranks for their leg lengths.  The causes of the injury are excessive shear forces in the hip joint as the power phase of the pedal cycle begins.  After all, the common crank length formula was designed for and by men.  Why should a 5 ft 4 inch woman use the same cranks as a 6 ft tall man?  Fortunately, the alternatives for shorter cranks are increasing.  Shimano is producing a 165mm crank in their DuraAce line.  There are atleast 4 other alternatives available for cranks that are 160mm or shorter.  There is a wealth of misguided pseudo-science in the popular literature arguing for long crank lengths; the few real scientific experiments that have been performed fail to support that notion. (see also: www.nettally.com/palmk/crread.html)"--- the article is by allen delaney, md and mary delaney, pt

NEVER before have i read anything about this before.  it was not mentioned to me by my sports med doc as a possible culprit, nor did any bike sales person mention this to me in my recent quest for a new bike.  basically, i had surgery and then hopped back on my bike that could have caused the problem to begin with. 

to be honest, i didn't even know there were differences in crank length.  i also didn't know that your crank length is written on the inside of it.  oh the lessons still to be learned.

i just wanted to pass along what i have discovered in hopes of helping someone else from making the same mistake.