Bow legs are often referred to as genu varum in medical terminology. This is a bodily dysfunction that normally goes with childhood. It is a case when the legs resemble bows and when ankles touch each other whereas normally they are not supposed to touch each other. Bow-leggedness is a not a major problem as a lot of children suffer from this problem from the time they are born till the age of four or so. This is because of the nine months that they have spent cramped up inside the womb. Thus when they are born most children are said to be bow legged but they outgrow it over time. Most babies have a wide gap between their legs and this is almost negligible to most doctors as they take it to be a normal phenomenon. When the child grows and learns to stand up this bow leggedness slowly disappears as the body learns to support the weight of the entire body and most of the time the body itself rectifies the problem by trying to maintain the balance. The knees will begin to take up form and come close together so that the femur and the tibia will straighten and thereby making sure that the bow legs manage to become the correct shape that is needed. That is how most of the time bow legs in babies are treated and corrected.
Apart from a cramped womb other causes for bow legs are the Blount’s disease which is said to result in an abnormal growth of the shin bone tibia which ultimately results is bow legs. Rickets is another cause of bow leggedness among children especially. Rickets is usually caused by the deficiency of Vitamin D; since it affects the bones directly, and children in the lesser developed nations where proper medication is unavailable suffer from it usually. Bow legs in adults are also possible if this problem had been neglected when he was growing up. Most people with bow legs find it to be a very embarrassing thing and are always looking for bow legs treatment and straighten bow legs. Bow legs correction first and foremost involves a physical exam where the doctor will be able to judge the degree of the bend in your legs and then he might ask you to get X- rays of your legs so that he can identify which bone is the one that has gotten bent over the years. A blood culture may also be taken to see if you have some kind of vitamin deficiency. Then depending on the specific cause of the bow leggedness the doctor may prescribe the necessary treatment.
Though most people take surgery as the first and only option there is alternative cure for bow legs and that includes exercise for bow legs. Some of the yoga exercises have the capacity to strengthen your bones and toned up your body which will help to reduce the direct visibility of the bow leggedness. Acupuncture and massages are said to be of great help to correct bow legs. If these are not viable option you can always make sure that gentle massages can be done at home also. Heat some coconut oil and get someone to massage this oil onto your legs by massaging them downwards in a pulling motion that will put pressure on the legs to take a particular form. Other than this leg braces are also a good way for bow legs treatment. These braces would have to be worn for a specific number of days at the end of which your orthopaedic would be able to tell you what you should do further.
answered by G M