Functional short legs is a term used to describe the appearance of a short leg in the absence of a true measurement difference between limbs. In that instance, a patient will stand with a low pelvis, or one leg will look shorter when laying prone, but imaging does not confirm a true short leg.Functional short legs are caused by a variety of things, including:- misalignment of the pelvis- muscular imbalances in the spine, not just in the lumbar but sometime in the cervical spine as well- pronation of one ankle The main difference between functional and true short leg is that a functional short leg is not an anatomical constant and can be corrected by addressing the underlying cause above, and a heel lift would not be indicated in most instances. Correcting the spinal/pelvic/muscular dysfunctions will normalize the leg differential over time
