Understanding Rickets: Causes, Symptoms, and Treatments
Rickets FAQ
What causes rickets?
Nutrition problems or genetics are usually the cause of rickets. Nutritional rickets: This is usually caused by not taking in enough vitamin D, which your body uses to absorb calcium. Some of the causes of this deficiency include: Insufficient exposure to sunlight (which helps your body make its own vitamin D).
Can rickets cause skeletal deformities?
Because rickets softens the areas of growing tissue at the ends of a child's bones (growth plates), it can cause skeletal deformities such as: Talk to your doctor if your child develops bone pain, muscle weakness or obvious skeletal deformities. Your child's body needs vitamin D to absorb calcium and phosphorus from food.
What are the symptoms of rickets in children?
fragile bones – in severe cases, the bones become weaker and more prone to fractures Some children with rickets may also have low levels of calcium in their blood (hypocalcaemia). This can make the symptoms of rickets worse and can also cause muscle cramps, twitching, tingling in the hands and feet, and fits.
Why does my child have rickets?
Nutritional rickets: This is usually caused by not taking in enough vitamin D, which your body uses to absorb calcium. Some of the causes of this deficiency include: Insufficient exposure to sunlight (which helps your body make its own vitamin D). Lack of vitamin D in your child’s diet.
What are the symptoms of rickets?
Symptoms include bowed legs, stunted growth, bone pain, large forehead, and trouble sleeping. Complications may include bone deformities, bone pseudofractures and fractures, muscle spasms, or an abnormally curved spine. The most common cause of rickets is a vitamin D deficiency, although hereditary genetic forms also exist.
What is rickets in children?
Rickets is a childhood disease where your child’s bones are too soft, causing their bones to warp, bend and break more easily. Rickets is different from osteomalacia, which is a similar condition seen in adults.
Is rickets a bone disease?
Rickets is a bone disease in children that causes weak bones, bowed legs, and other bone deformities. Children with rickets do not get enough calcium, phosphorus, or Vitamin D — all of which are important for healthy growing bones.
What is rickets & how is it treated?
Rickets is deficient mineralisation at the growth plate of long bones, resulting in growth retardation. If the underlying condition is not treated, bone deformity occurs, typically causing bowed legs and thickening of the ends of long bones.
Rickets References
If you want to know more about Rickets, consider exploring links below:
What Is Rickets
- https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/rickets-and-osteomalacia/
- https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/rickets/symptoms-causes/syc-20351943
- https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/22459-rickets
- https://www.healthline.com/health/rickets
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rickets
- https://www.verywellhealth.com/rickets-5080150
- https://www.webmd.com/children/what-to-know-rickets
- https://orthoinfo.aaos.org/en/diseases--conditions/rickets
Rickets Information
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