Last updated on October 7th, 2024 at 05:12 pm
What is Rickets?
Rickets is a disorder that affects children and causes their bones to become soft and weak. It can cause serious health problems, including impaired growth, bowed legs, and delayed development. Vitamin D deficiency or inadequate sunlight exposure can cause rickets, but it’s preventable with proper nutrition and supplementation of essential vitamins to avoid chronic illnesses.
Treatment for rickets typically involves increasing vitamin D intake, getting adequate amounts of calcium and phosphorus (through diet), and supplementing it with calcium and vitamin D.
Rickets disease can affect the entire skeleton. The bones become soft and bend easily under pressure, leading to deformities such as bow legs and knocked knees. This can cause problems with walking, running and other physical activities. In extreme cases, it can lead to fractures or other complications such as stunted growth.
Common symptoms of rickets disease amongst children
One of the most common symptoms associated with rickets is delayed growth, leading to significantly shorter stature in affected children compared to their unaffected peers.
This is due to weak bones that don’t grow as fast as normal ones. In severe cases, it can even cause stunted growth in children. Deformities in the legs, arms and spine are another common symptom of rickets. The bones may become curved or bent out of shape due to weakened structures. This can lead to an S-shaped spine or bowed legs that turn outwards at the knees instead of pointing straight forward.
Thickened wrists and ankles may also be present along with a hung-out chest (a condition where the cartilage between the ribs and the breastbone, or sternum, grows too much) due to weak ribs that no longer support its structure properly. In addition to these physical signs of rickets, children may also experience joint pain due to weakened cartilage.
They may also experience muscle weakness, leading to difficulty walking or climbing stairs. Fever and fatigue may also be present due to infections caused by weakened immune systems resulting from vitamin D deficiency.
Measures for rickets disease
If you’re worried your child may have rickets, it’s important to seek medical help immediately for an accurate diagnosis before any permanent damage is done to their bones or teeth. Treatment for rickets typically involves supplements such as calcium or vitamin D and lifestyle changes such as more sun exposure if your child isn’t getting enough from food sources alone. In severe cases, surgery may be necessary to repair some of the deformities caused by the disease.
Rickets is a serious condition that needs prompt diagnosis and treatment so children can get back on track with their normal growth rate without suffering from painful symptoms or disfigurement from skeletal deformities associated with this illness.
Prevention is key — maintaining healthy diets for all family members, including adequate sunlight exposure during summer months and regular physical activity, will go a long way towards avoiding this condition in our young ones!
How to effectively manage rickets | Treatment of rickets
New age habits can impact chronic illnesses in children. And many kids grew up during the Covid-19 staying confined into their houses — depriving them of vitamin D. Therefore, parents should focus on managing rickets and correcting the underlying nutrient deficiencies causing the condition. Here are some of the rickets treatments you must ensure to control its further impact on children.
1) Focus on nutrients
Once your child has been diagnosed with rickets, there are several steps you can take to manage their condition. First and foremost, ensuring your child receives adequate nutrition that includes plenty of calcium-rich foods such as dairy products and dark leafy greens like spinach and kale is important.
A balanced diet should also include foods rich in vitamin D, such as fatty fish like salmon and tuna, egg yolks, fortified milk or breakfast cereals, and mushrooms exposed to UV light. If your child does not consume non-vegetarian food, consider its replacement like Almonds, Paneer, Quinoa, Tofu, etc. Depending on your doctor’s recommendation, dietary supplements may also be necessary if you cannot get sufficient quantities of these essential vitamins through food alone.
2) Sunlight exposure
Apart from introducing dietary changes, children with rickets must receive adequate sunlight exposure each day – at least twenty minutes a day if possible. This can help provide the body with vitamin D, which helps strengthen bones. If direct sunlight exposure isn’t available, then a sunlamp can also help increase vitamin D levels in the body. If not, consider consuming Vitamin D capsules as per the doctor’s recommendation.
3) Physical therapy
Physiotherapy exercises can help strengthen weakened muscles caused by rickets.Simultaneously, doctors may apply bracing techniques to severely affected limbs to correct any skeletal deformities caused by the condition over time. It is advisable for patients to have regular visits with their doctor for monitoring progress toward treatment goals.
Generic medicines for rickets
Generic medicines utilize existing formulations for active ingredients but are not produced by or associated with the original brand manufacturers. They have the same active ingredients, purity, strength and quality as their brand-name counterparts but usually cost much less. This makes them a viable option for many individuals and healthcare systems worldwide, which may otherwise be unable to afford treatment due to financial constraints.
Parents can administer generic vitamin D and calcium supplements to children with Rickets at significantly lower prices than their brand-name counterparts.
Generic medicines can play an important role in treating rickets because they offer an affordable option for people who may not otherwise be able to afford treatment due to financial constraints or lack of access to resources. Even the affluent can consider generic medicines for rickets as they can reduce overall patient and healthcare systems costs.
Medkart is an online pharmacy that provides generic medicines for Rickets. All the medicines sold at Medkart are WHO-GMP certified. You can visit any of our pharma stores and ask for generic medicines for rickets, or you may order it online on medkart.in. Moreover, we have Android and iOS mobile applications that help order generic medicines on the go.
