Knowra Rickets Rickets Rickets is a childhood bone disorder in which growing bones fail to mineralize normally, making them soft, weak, and sometimes deformed. It most often results from vitamin D deficiency.
Vitamin D : A group of fat-soluble compounds that regulate calcium and phosphate balance and support bone mineralization. Deficiency is the most common cause of rickets because it impairs mineral availability for growing bone.
Genu varum : An outward bowing of the legs that brings the ankles closer together when standing. Weight-bearing softened bones can bow outward, producing this common visible sign.
Vitamin D deficiency : A state in which vitamin D availability is too low to meet the body’s needs. It is the leading nutritional cause of rickets worldwide.
Scurvy : A disease caused by vitamin C deficiency that impairs collagen formation and connective-tissue maintenance. It can cause bone pain and growth disturbances, but its cause is defective collagen rather than mineralization.
Calcium : A chemical element essential to bone mineralization, muscle contraction, and nerve signaling. Low calcium availability can impair mineralization and contribute to rickets even when vitamin D is adequate.
Craniotabes : An abnormal softening of the skull bones, especially noticeable in infants. It can be an early physical finding in infants with rickets.
Nutritional rickets : Rickets caused by inadequate vitamin D, calcium, or both during skeletal growth. This common form links diet and vitamin status directly to defective bone mineralization.
Osteogenesis imperfecta : A group of inherited disorders characterized by fragile bones, usually caused by defects in type I collagen. Both can deform bones, but osteogenesis imperfecta primarily disrupts bone matrix rather than mineral deposition.
Phosphate : A phosphorus-containing ion required with calcium to form the mineral phase of bone. Insufficient phosphate directly limits the mineral deposited in growing bones.
Radiography : Medical imaging that uses X-rays to create pictures of internal structures. Widened, irregular growth plates on X-rays help identify rickets.
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