Many elder people experience an excessive bending of the leg at the knee joint. This condition is called as Bow Legs or medically Genu Varum. The bowing generally occurs around the knee in such a way that on standing with the feet together, the knees protrude outwards and far apart from each other. This condition can be seen in elderly people, particularly in women. In younger people this could be due to an accident or in due to a medical condition.
So, let’s try to understand how or why this occurs in elders.
The human legs have a natural outward bend of 5-7O at the knee. This angle helps maintain the normal gait of the body and to some extant shock absorption when walking, running, etc. The intricate muscle and ligaments structure of the leg & particularly the knee ligaments maintain this angle at the knee.
As the body ages the muscles of the body tend to become weak. As the leg muscles weaken, they are unable to sustain their load bearing capacity. Consequently, the knee ligaments must now share the load of the muscles. However, bearing weight is not their primary function so they start to degenerate. The degeneration initially starts form the inner compartment of the knee. The patient will initially have recurring knee pain and will need to work on increasing muscle strength and knee strengthening exercises to curb or defer the degeneration further.
However, if the patient keeps ignoring the knee pain, the degeneration will become more prominent and the angel of the outward bend of the knee will keep increasing over time. Hence, the bow like shape of the leg will also become more prominent. The only treatment at this stage would be a total knee replacement surgery.
Hence, its extremely important for elderly patients to not take knee pain lightly and consult an knee specialist to assess & control the cause of the pain. Consequently, the save the patient from unnecessary pain and damage to the knee.
