Bowlegs (Genu Varum) - 10-must-know facts

Image credit: newkneedoc.com

Bowleg is a slight deformity by which the legs curve outward. See the picture above.

Here are 10 things you should know about this condition;

1. Because of the position of the foetus, every child is born bowlegged.
2. The feet may sometimes point inward but don’t worry, this would correct itself as the baby begins to grow.
3. By the time babies reached a year and six months (period they should be walking), their bowlegs begins to self correct. 
4.  At age three, the legs should be straightened out but if it persists, it’s time you see a doctor preferably an orthopaedic.
5. A persistent bowleg could be as a result of an underlying infection or trauma. 
6.  Rickets and Blount’s disease could cause bowleg.
7. Children who are overweight tend to have bowleg or knock-knee because the knees wears out from carrying the body’s excess weight.
8. You don’t need to fidget over the bowleg of a child but when an adult has bowleg, a correctional surgery may be needed.
9. If bowleg is left untreated, it could trigger off the early onset of arthritis.
10. Slight bowlegs may be seen in some adults because it sometimes never corrects itself completely.