[3] In the United States, standard workup in children also includes X-rays to quantify actual length of the bones of the legs.

[6] The most common treatment for discrepancies in leg length is the use of a simple heel lift; this is outdated, and may lead to foot cramping and discomfort.

An improved method for addressing differences in leg length involves measuring and rectifying the disparities while standing upright and weight bearing.

Although prone "functional leg length" is a widely used chiropractic tool in their Activator technique, it is not a recognized anthropometric technique, since most legs are usually only to a small degree unequal, and measurements in the prone position are not entirely valid estimates of standing X-ray differences.

[8] Since another confounding factor is that simply moving the two legs held together and leaning them imperceptibly to one side or the other produces different results.

[9][10] Clinical measurement of leg length conventionally uses the distance from the anterior superior iliac spine to the medial malleolus.