The common symptoms are swelling, pain particularly during weight bearing or loading of the limb. Some patients may have stiffness and pain at the neighbouring joint. For example malunion of the thighbone, the patient may have pain and stiffness of the knee joint. Moreover, patients with limb shortening may suffer from low back pain.

If a fracture malunion is left untreated, it may lead to degeneration of the joints and finally loss of function of the affected limb.
 

An X-ray is essentially for the proper diagnosis. CT scan is used to locate and determine the extent of deformity in the case to be surgically treated. In some cases MRI is used to check the cartilage and ligaments integrity.
 

Surgery is the most common treatment, consisting of re-breaking or cutting the bone and realigned it to normal or near normal structure. The short bone is lengthened to gain normal or acceptable limb length. Most often implants (plate, screws, rod or pins) are used to stabilize and maintain alignment