Introduction: In the early years of life, the angular deviation of knee causes anxiety in parents and alert to paediatricians. The problem is often an expression of physiological development of the lower limbs and correction occurs spontaneously. A small number of children has a true pathology, which can lead to functional problems, modification of the knee's axis and muscular-skeletal disorders. We analyzed the prevalence of pathological forms of varus-valgus knee and their association with lower limb dysmetria and scoliotic attitude.
Materials and methods: We evaluated radiographies of the lower limbs of 60 calabrian children; we analyzed the mechanical axis of knee and articular spacing angles. We evaluated the X-ray of the spine with study of Cobb's angle and the gradient of the femoral head.
Results: 61.6% of children had a deflection angle of the knee: 6.7% physiological varus and 28.3% physiological valgus, 8.3% pathological varus and 18.3% pathological valgus. Mechanical axis deviation was: +15.6 degrees with articular spacing angle of about +2.4 degrees in pathological varus and +1.95 degrees with articular spacing angle of about -2.09 degrees in pathological valgus. 15% of children had pathological deviation and femoral head dysmetria (7.7 mm). 10% of children had association between pathological valgus/varus knee, dysmetria and scoliotic attitude ( 8.3% sacral-lumbar scoliotic attitude with Cobb's angle <20 degrees ).
Conclusions: Without alarm we must pay attention to varus/valgus knee, because probably it will be a physiological deviation. In the pathological condition, it is important to consider the association with the limbs dysmetria that can lead to irreversible scoliotic postural deviation, if ignored for a long time. Unlikely early diagnosis and a subsequent correction of these defects could assurance a good development of skeletal structure.