What causes Blounts disease?

What causes Blounts disease?

The exact cause of Blount’s disease is unknown. Children with infantile Blount’s disease are typically early walkers (prior to 12 months) and are often overweight. Adolescent Blount’s disease may be related to rapid weight gain or obesity. There is also believed to be a genetic component.

How rare is Blount’s disease?

According to the statistics, Blount’s disease is considered rare, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the U.S., or less than one percent of the general population.

What is adolescent Blount’s disease?

Blount disease is a growth disorder that affects the bones of the lower leg, causing them to bow outward. It can affect people at any time during the growing process, but it’s more common in kids younger than 4 and in teens. In Blount disease, a lot of pressure is put on the growth plate at the top of the tibia.

When was Blount’s disease discovered?

Walter Blount brought attention to the disease in 1937 in an article describing 13 children with tibia vara or osteochondrosis deformans. Because he was the first to identify the similar clinical, radiographic, and pathologic characteristics of the cases in the literature, the disease has become associated with Blount.

How do you tell if you have Blounts disease?

The most obvious symptom of Blount disease is a bowing of the leg below the knee. In young kids, it’s usually not painful, though it can affect the way they walk. For preteens and teens, Blount disease may cause knee pain that gets worse with activity.

Is Blount’s disease a disability?

Failure to treat Blount disease may lead to progressive deformity. The condition may lead to differences in leg lengths, which can result in disability if not treated.

Is Blount’s disease hereditary?

The cause of Blount disease is not well understood; however, a variety of hereditary and genetic factors are likely involved. The condition is more common among certain populations and is associated with obesity and early walking. Treatment may involve bracing and/or surgery.

Can Blount’s disease come back?

Blount’s disease has been known to recur, especially in young children. Even after corrective surgery, it can come back a second time. If the condition is not corrected properly by a skilled orthopedist, then problems such as leg-length discrepancy can happen and may eventually cause disability or a severe limp.

How do you fix a bowleg?

The bowed legs can be corrected gradually using an adjustable frame. In the operating room, the surgeon cuts the bone (osteotomy) and applies an adjustable external frame to the bone with wires and pins.

What are the 3 most common physical disabilities?

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), three of the most common physical disabilities that affect people include arthritis, heart disease, and respiratory disorders.

What is an Epiphysiodesis surgery?

Epiphysiodesis is the surgical ablation of a physis to stop its future growth, generally used to correct a leg length discrepancy. Prediction of leg length discrepancy at skeletal maturity can be difficult and multiple methods have been developed to provide an estimate.

Do bow legs get worse with age?

Generally, under the age of 2 years, bowed legs are considered a normal process of the developing skeleton. The angle of the bow tends to peak around the age of 18 months, and then gradually resolve within the following year.

What are the characteristic features of Blount disease?

What You Need to Know Blount’s disease is a disorder of the growth plates in the bones around the knee. There are two types of Blount’s disease based on the child’s age: infantile and adolescent. Besides the bowed legs, some children – generally adolescents – may also experience pain and instability in the knee.

What is Blount disease?

Blount disease is a growth disorder that affects the bones of the lower leg, causing them to bow outward. In younger kids, just the tibia (shin bone) is affected. In teens, it’s usually both the tibia and the femur (thigh bone). Many babies are born with slightly bowed legs from being in the small space of the womb.

Is Blount disease hereditary?

The cause of Blount disease is not well understood; however, a variety of hereditary and genetic factors are likely involved. The condition is more common among certain populations and is associated with obesity and early walking.