What is knock kneed

Conservative treatments may be beneficial such as exercises and weight loss programs to reduce obesity and improve knee movement in children, or knee braces and foot orthoses for painful osteoarthritis associated with knock knees in adults.

Children with severe or worsening pathological knock knees might need orthopaedic surgery to correct their knee alignment, particularly in the presence of persistent pain or disability, regardless of the underlying cause. There are many operations for pathological knock knees. This then corrects the knee angle to a straighter position. A study reporting outcomes two years after this operation showed correction in 34 of 38 knock knees.

Another surgical procedure for pathological knock knees is a wedge osteotomy, where the top of the shin bone or bottom of the thigh bone is cut and a small portion removed to correct the knee alignment. In a study of 23 adolescents and adults with painful arthritic knock knees, a wedge osteotomy was found to show improvements in walking ability and alignment after two years.

Orthopaedic surgery is rarely needed. For most kids, knock knees are just a normal part of growing up. Edition: Available editions United Kingdom.

In children where vitamin D deficiency, vitamin D-resistant rickets, or kidney failure are suspected as the cause of knock knees, additional blood tests i. The aim of treatment will be to correct limb alignment, stop disease progression, and reduce the risk of joint degeneration. Many children will present with knock knees in their toddler years. This can be a normal tendency in children and typically does not require any treatment. However, if X-rays look abnormal i. If there are abnormalities of metabolism or kidney function, then special medical treatment is needed.

For example, nutritional rickets is treated with vitamin D replacement. Vitamin D-resistant rickets X-linked hypophosphatemic rickets is treated with vitamin D and phosphorous replacements, and more recently, the drug Berosumab Crysvita.

If medical treatment is not successful in getting the legs to straighten, then surgery may be required. In idiopathic cases where the cause is unknown , treatment can be done surgically. In growing children, it is possible to do very small, minimally invasive surgeries that will modulate the growth of the legs, getting them to grow straight over a period of months. This is done by implanting a staple or plate with screws next to the growth plate, on the convex side of the limb deformity i.

For more information on this treatment, please see Guided Growth Hemiepiphysiodesis. In adults and older children with less than two years of growth remaining until maturity, this guided growth treatment is not an option. Instead, we must cut the affected bones osteotomy and straighten them in one of two ways:. The International Center for Limb Lengthening is world-renowned for its expertise in limb deformity correction.

Your doctor will take the time to make sure you understand all of your options and then will customize your treatment to meet your specific needs. Our patients benefit from our team-centered approach with world-renowned pediatric and adult orthopedic surgeons and specialized physician assistants, nurses and physical therapists. We help patients with knock knee achieve their best possible result.

Michael Assayag. John Herzenberg. Philip McClure. They can run, walk, and be as active as other kids. Reviewed by: Abigail S. Helms, PA. Orthopedics at Nemours Children's Health. Larger text size Large text size Regular text size.

What Are Knock Knees? What Causes Knock Knees? For example: A healed fracture in the growth area of one of the bones around the knee can cause the knee to turn inward. Rickets is a bone growth problem caused by lack of vitamin D or calcium.

This is much less common today than in the past. It can be treated with vitamin D and calcium supplements. Health problems called dysplasias, which some children are born with, can affect the way bones grow. Being overweight can affect how bones grow. A tumor in a leg bone can make the knee turn inward.