Do your kids feel difficulty in standing straight with toes? Are the legs of your baby are curved? Well, the answer to all questions is it may be a bowed leg. It is not a matter of worry, so just relax.
Bowlegs are common in babies. It is a condition in which the legs curve outward at an extreme angle at the knees while the child’s feet are together. It is absolutely normal and very few needed medical treatments.
At the end of the article, you will come to know what is bowlegs in babies that you are not aware of and what are the required home remedies for bow legs in babies to get rid of it.
What Are Bow Legs In Babies?
As I said above Bow legs are common in babies. It is a condition in which the legs curve outward at an extreme angle at the knees while the child’s feet are together. It is absolutely normal and very few needed medical treatments.
This normal developmental pattern is called physiologic genu varum. With bow legs, the babies stand straight with toes pointed forward, and do have ankles that touch but knees that do not. Bowlegs in a toddler is a condition involving the shin and thigh bones.
In bowlegs, both of the knees are pointed inward. Bowlegs usually go away on their own by the time your child is 4-5 old, or sometimes as old as 8 years old.
The parents do observe this form of bowlegs in toddlers when they start standing and walking. This happens or the baby is born with bowlegs because of their folded potions in the uterus.
[Read: Toe Walking in Children]
Complication With Bowlegs In Babies?
If the bowlegs don’t straighten by the time the child is 2 to 3 years old, then it may be caused by a rare, more serious condition. If left untreated, bowlegs can lead to:
- Deformities in the legs, including differences in leg lengths if only one leg is bowed
- Difficulty walking and running
- Higher risk of arthritis in later life
- Bone and Joint problems.
[Read: What Cause In-Toeing and Out-Toeing In Toddlers]
What Causes Bow Legs In Babies?
Bowlegs happens when the bones in thighs and legs line up differently while the baby is growing. So let’s have a look on the causes (R) behind the curvy legs in babies-
1. Blount’s Diseases:
This is one of the reasons for bowlegs in a toddler. It is more common in females, African- Americans and obese children. The blount’s diseases are called as “tibia vara”.
The blount’s diseases apparently appear early but the symptoms are not noticeable until they reach adolescence. The children who start walking earlier are at higher risk.
2. Rickets:
From the prolonged vitamin D deficiency, the children suffer from rickets. Rickets (R) is defined as a skeletal disorder that is caused by a lack of vitamin D, calcium, or phosphate.
The softens and weakens the bones, causing the legs to bow in babies.
3. Paget’s Disease
This is one of the major causes of curved legs in babies. It affects the way your bones break down and rebuild in a negative way. With the passage of time, this can lead to bowlegs and other joint problems in babies when they grew up. This is common in older people.
4. Dwarfism
The most common form of dwarfism (R) is caused by a condition known as achondroplasia. This is a bone growth disorder that can result in bowlegs with a course of time.
5. Other causes
Bowlegs can also be a result of:
- bone fractures that have not healed properly
- abnormally developed bones, or bone dysplasia
- lead poisoning
- fluoride poisoning
- Bone diseases
- Infection
- Tumors
- trauma
Symptoms Of Bow Leg In Babies:
It is very easy to figure out bowed legs in babies. But still here are few symptoms of bow leg in babies, such as-
- Bowed legs that continue or worsen after age 3
- Knees that do not touch when the child is standing with feet and ankles touching
- Similar bowing in both legs (symmetrical)
- Reduced range of motion in hips
- Knee or hip pain that is not caused by an injury
How To Diagnosis Bow Legs?
Well, it is quite observable in babies whether the child is suffering from bow leg when they start to walk. But still, if the bow leg is not gone at 3-4 years then the doctor can recognize it.
For the visual inspection of the leg of the baby, the doctor may be considered the following method-
- Measuring- measuring the distance between the knees while the baby lies on his/her back. A greater distance can indicate abnormality and the presence of bowlegs in babies.
- X-rays- it helps to check for bone anomalies and problems in bone growth that could have led to bowlegs. It also figures out the presence of Blount’s diseases.
- Blood test- this is done to check vitamin D deficiency or the presence of excess lead and fluoride in the blood that leads to bow leg in toddlers.
- Other tests: The doctor will also try to rule out other diseases affecting the legs, such as rickets.
How To Correct Bowlegs In Babies?
Normally the bowleg fades away with a course of time as the baby’s age climbs up to 3-4 years. But for the kids or babies who get to continue with bowlegs from them, they need some medical treatment.
The bowed legs in babies treatment include-
1. Leg Braces:
This is one of the medical treatments that the doctor can recommend leg braces to wear always or for a specific period depending on the severity of the curve. This is rare in the children but they used to wear this if after 3 years it didn’t feed away.
Braces are almost always the first choice of treatment since they are not invasive. Leg braces, ideally worn for a year and more, can be a stand-alone treatment or combined with some operative procedures.
2. Surgery:
Bowlegs can be corrected by surgery, which is another way of treating bow legs in children. It all depends on what led to the formation of bowlegs and how severe it is. In this, a procedure called osteotomy gets to fix the joints of the lower leg and align them properly. This will help them to walk properly.
Other methods include bone grafting and insertion of an intramedullary rod along the bone, in cases of bowlegs caused by fractures. An orthopedic surgeon can best suggest the right procedure to correct the condition. Surgery is well recommended before the age of 4 of the baby.
3. Vitamin D Supplementation:
As I said above the adequate vitamin D and calcium supplementation which provide nutrients to the bone to correct itself is also one of the ways for bowlegs treatment. The Bowlegs which are caused due to rickets can be cured by these supplements alone. So it all depends upon the severity of bowlegs in babies.
4. Physiotherapy:
When nothing works this works great. Physical therapy and rehabilitation will let the baby regain the correct walking style and pattern. This, as a result, will om mite the bow legs in toddlers.
This therapy is mostly used in conjunction with other treatment methods. The primary aim of physiotherapy is to restore normal joint movement and improve muscle strength.
How To Prevent Bow Legs In Babies?
There are a few steps that you can opt-in order to prevent bow legs in babies, such as-
1. Posture While Walking:
As a parent, you need to be very careful while observing the first step of your baby. Just do ensure the baby walk correctly and properly. While walking the child should keep his back straight, the same should be also for sleeping and sitting.
When they sleep a thin pillow can be placed under their neck and their knees in order to stretch and rest their spine and that will help avoid the occurrence of bow legs in a baby.
2. Exercise:
Well, this is one of the effective ways of preventing bowlegs in babies. There are certain exercises for it. By exercise, the bit will stretch the muscles and bones of the baby and that will help in proper physical growth and development.
You can try up something like, place the baby face up and bend their knees in order to make them touch their stomach. This is a great exercise for the leg and knee movement.
You can also cross their legs, put one arm behind their neck and hold it with the other hand. This will help strengthen the child’s back and align their posture while sitting and walking even.
3. Good Nutrition:
Nutrition is everything in a baby’s growth and development. Especially it is very important for the initial stage of child development than the later development.
The diet of the baby should be a balanced diet with all essential vitamins and minerals. Most importantly the diet should contain calcium and vitamin C and D.
4. Massages:
Baby massages are one of the important aspects in the initial stage of development. It also has the power to cure the bow leg in babies. As it reinforces their back and legs.
Massage the baby with certain essential oil or otherwise use coconut oil for massaging the baby.
As I said in the above of the article that bowlegs happen when the babies stand straight with toes pointed forward, and do have ankles that touch but knees that do no. It is common and normal in children. Well, I hope this article has given you a good number of information about the fix bow legs in babies and the ways to correct bow legs naturally in babies.
