{"id":1309,"date":"2019-08-21T10:51:15","date_gmt":"2019-08-21T10:51:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/londonmskcentre.co.uk\/?p=1309"},"modified":"2021-03-08T10:03:11","modified_gmt":"2021-03-08T10:03:11","slug":"the-impact-of-leg-length-discrepancies-on-health","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/londonmskcentre.co.uk\/?p=1309","title":{"rendered":"The Impact of Leg Length Discrepancies on Health"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>When there is a\ndifference in the length of the legs, it is called a leg length discrepancy. If\nthe difference is large enough it will effect the way a person uses these\nlimbs. When a discrepancy is present from birth, the parents may notice an\neffect on the way a child walks and at times there is a noticeable limp. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Common Causes of Leg Length Discrepancies<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A limb length\ndifference is normal and present in all of us. This is because of the\ndifference between the two sides of the body. The tibia and femur are the bones\ninvolved in this difference. Growth plates are located between the widened\nparts of the shaft and end of the bone. When the growth plate gets damaged the\nbone will have an increased (or decreased) growth rate compared to the one at\nthe other end. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The most usual cause is\nan injury that heals with the bone in a shortened position. This will lead to\nthe shortening of the bone. For children, the broken bone might grow faster for\nmany years. This will make the bone longer than the one on the other leg. Most\nchildren with thighbone fractures have this condition. The bone may be broken\nin many places leading to a shortening of the leg. Another cause may be a bone\ninfection in growing children. Bone diseases can cause leg length discrepancies\nincluding neurofibromatosis, Ollier disease, and multiple hereditary exostoses.\nNeurological conditions could also contribute to this ailment. Conditions that\ncause inflammation in the joints, such as juvenile arthritis, could also be a\nreason. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Symptoms of the condition<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The difference in the\nlengths of the leg is not too much for most of us. Those who have A 3-4%\ndifference will limp noticeably. Since they can only walk with an effort, they\ntire easily. They are likely to have lower back pain. They are also susceptible\nto injury. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Physical Examination and Diagnosis of a Leg Length Discrepancy<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A physical check will\nreveal the difference. The complete examination by the doctor will involve many\ntests, including:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em><strong>Gait analysis<\/strong><\/em><strong>:<\/strong> The way the person walks and sits will show any <a href=\"https:\/\/londonmskcentre.co.uk\/treatments\/gait-analysis\/\">leg length discrepancy<\/a>. Children will walk on their toes or flex their knees to compensate for the difference in lengths. The doctor will usually measure the discrepancy. He will place a block under one leg. If the person can stand straight then he measures the size of this block.\u00a0\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em><strong>Imaging studies<\/strong><\/em><strong>:<\/strong> Another way to know and measure this discrepancy is to do imaging tests. X-ray studies show the images of the bones. The actual measurement of the lengths on this will show the discrepancy.\u00a0 Scanograms use a special type of X-ray with three images along with a ruler to measure the length of the bones. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em><strong>Computerised tomography tests<\/strong><\/em><strong>:<\/strong> This gives a detailed image of the bone and soft tissues of the leg.  The doctor will recommend a variety of treatments depending on the size of the discrepancy. Some of them are nonsurgical while others might involve surgery. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When there is a difference in the length of the legs, it is called a leg length discrepancy. If the difference is large enough it will effect the way a person uses these limbs. When a discrepancy is present from birth, the parents may notice an effect on the way a child walks and at<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":114,"featured_media":1310,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1309","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-musculoskeletal-clinic"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The Impact of Leg Length Discrepancies on Health: LondonMSKCentre.co.uk<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/londonmskcentre.co.uk\/?p=1309\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Impact of Leg Length Discrepancies on Health: LondonMSKCentre.co.uk\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"When there is a difference in the length of the legs, it is called a leg length discrepancy. 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