What is a chicken breast for children? The chicken breast in children is a manifestation of chest wall deformity, that is, the sternum body bulges forward and the ribs on both sides sag downward, which is similar to the chicken breast. It is a chest wall deformity caused by excessive growth of ribs and costal cartilage for various reasons.
The appearance and anatomical structure of the chest wall are abnormal during the growth and development of children due to various reasons.
Generally, chicken breasts are caused by two main reasons, that is, they are related to hereditary and nutritional vitamin D deficiency rickets. Therefore, chicken breasts are divided into congenital and acquired. Of course, we generally refer to chicken breasts caused by acquired nutritional vitamin D deficiency rickets.
What are the manifestations of children's chicken breasts? The typical chicken breast is symmetrical bulge in the middle of sternum; However, about 50% of children's chicken breasts are asymmetrical, often in the form of one chest high and one chest low, or even one chicken breast and the other funnel chest. There is also a bulge in the upper part of the sternum, a depression in the middle, a protrusion in the lower part, and a Z-shaped sternum.
Why does vitamin D deficiency in children cause chicken breasts? In fact, chicken breast is the late manifestation of vitamin D deficiency rickets, which not only causes chicken breast, but also includes bone changes such as square skull, funnel chest, bracelets and anklets, X-shaped and O-shaped legs.
So, what is the relationship between vitamin D and bone formation? The main function of vitamin D is to promote the deposition of calcium and phosphorus and the absorption of calcium in the blood, thus further promoting the mineralization of bone and making bones develop healthily.
If vitamin D is deficient, it will cause calcium and phosphorus metabolism disorder, and the bone plate and bone mineralization at the metaphyseal end of the growing long bone will be incomplete, which will cause the bone growth plate to widen and the distal end of the long bone (sternum, wrist, ankle, etc.) to thicken, while some soft bones will be affected by gravity and pulled by muscles, which will cause bone deformities at the distal end of the long bone such as chicken breast and funnel chest over time.
What are the adverse effects of children's chicken breasts on growth and development? Of course, no matter chicken breast or funnel breast, the biggest influence is beauty. You think the chest wall of a normal child should be flat, but once deformed, the child will be insecure when standing in the crowd because of some kind of defect in his body, thus affecting his psychology.
Most children will have no special discomfort symptoms when they have mild chicken breasts in the early stage, except for affecting the appearance. If the child is a severe chicken breast, sternal lordosis is very obvious, which will make the chest volume smaller and the lung development limited, which will affect breathing, oppress the heart and shortness of breath.
What about baby chicken breasts? What is the precautionary principle? For chicken breasts caused by early and mild rickets, parents need to actively treat rickets under the guidance of professional doctors, and dynamically observe the development of chest wall without special orthopedic treatment.
However, for severe rickets and the late stage of rickets, the chicken breast has already taken shape. At this time, we are doing thoracic orthopedics such as crawling, which may have little effect. Maybe the surgeon will use some molds or orthoses to fix it.
However, the most effective way is still surgical correction, which requires parents to evaluate the child according to the specific situation, and the doctor will recommend surgery at the age of 8, because the child's sternum and physical development conditions are relatively perfect at the age of 8.
As for the prevention of chicken breast, general pediatricians will ask parents to continue to supplement vitamin D to prevent rickets, and try not to affect bone development because of calcium and phosphorus metabolism disorder caused by vitamin D deficiency.