Hi everyone,

Has anyone ever heard of this illness? It's generally something that you are born with? I've not found much about it and I would like to know if it is indeed an illness, disease or type of arthritis?! I was apparently born with this and they told mother that I'd have trouble later on in life with my knees. Any help would be much appreciated. Also, does anyone have this or had this, at birth?

a ;)

Hi!
I was diagnosed with Blounts when I was fresh in elementary school. From what I understand Blounts (or I think the medical term is Tibia Vera) is a type of disease that makes the tibia (whatever that bone is under your knee) grow curved. Pardon if I'm not completely correct with this, but I was young at the time and I found that finding info on this is somewhat difficult. So, I guess I'll just tell you what happened to me.

As a child my legs were always curved (bow legged I guess). My doctor failed to run any tests and told my mother that I would eventually grow out of this (since most babies and young children have bow legs and grow out of them). BUT of course they did not (and I will hate that doctor forever for the crap that he has caused me). See if he detected this problem (which it was so obvious he should have cosidering my legs were curved unlike any other child my age) I would have been put in leg braces (think Forest Gump) and that probably would have fixed most of my problems. That did not happen obviously. So, my mother took me to a childrens hospital years later and they decided it was best for me to have surgery. From my understanding what they did was break both of my legs and put them back together so they would heal properly. They also removed my growth plate from my right knee since my right leg was far worse than my left (which was, I believe, very silly. It has caused my right leg to be considerably shorter than my left. Has done damage to my hips and back. I soon will be getting a shoe lift and I think my doctor might suggest leg lengthening. ::cringe:.) It's not too noticable from appearace, but it puts my body through a lot of stuff. That doctor said it would be wise for me to see a doctor when I hit junior high (approx when I would start growing more). I'm now 19 and just now getting to it due to insurance and money issues.

I do imagine that this would (and probably will anyway) cause arthritis with myself. If you never received any treatment for your Blounts you probably have a mild condition. I guess over time it would take a toll on your knee joints.

I think all babies have bow legs so I'm guessing that any condition would be diagnosed later after the 'expectancy' for the typical bow leggedness (word?) has expired. Mine had expired significantly. After some research I found that a lot of cases of this condition came from babies and toddlers who were considered to be obese or heavy. I was not obese, but I was fairly big for my age. Not sure if tibia vera is hereditary or not. As far as I know my family doesn't have aything like this.

It's weird to see someone who has this. Everytime someone asks me about the scars from surgery on my legs they always think I'm talking nonsense. Not many people have heard of this apparently! Most of my main doctors have no idea what I'm talking about when I tell them!

I hoped this helped you some!

Hi!
I was diagnosed with Blounts when I was fresh in elementary school. From what I understand Blounts (or I think the medical term is Tibia Vera) is a type of disease that makes the tibia (whatever that bone is under your knee) grow curved. Pardon if I'm not completely correct with this, but I was young at the time and I found that finding info on this is somewhat difficult. So, I guess I'll just tell you what happened to me.

As a child my legs were always curved (bow legged I guess). My doctor failed to run any tests and told my mother that I would eventually grow out of this (since most babies and young children have bow legs and grow out of them). BUT of course they did not (and I will hate that doctor forever for the crap that he has caused me). See if he detected this problem (which it was so obvious he should have cosidering my legs were curved unlike any other child my age) I would have been put in leg braces (think Forest Gump) and that probably would have fixed most of my problems. That did not happen obviously. So, my mother took me to a childrens hospital years later and they decided it was best for me to have surgery. From my understanding what they did was break both of my legs and put them back together so they would heal properly. They also removed my growth plate from my right knee since my right leg was far worse than my left (which was, I believe, very silly. It has caused my right leg to be considerably shorter than my left. Has done damage to my hips and back. I soon will be getting a shoe lift and I think my doctor might suggest leg lengthening. ::cringe:.) It's not too noticable from appearace, but it puts my body through a lot of stuff. That doctor said it would be wise for me to see a doctor when I hit junior high (approx when I would start growing more). I'm now 19 and just now getting to it due to insurance and money issues.

I do imagine that this would (and probably will anyway) cause arthritis with myself. If you never received any treatment for your Blounts you probably have a mild condition. I guess over time it would take a toll on your knee joints.

I think all babies have bow legs so I'm guessing that any condition would be diagnosed later after the 'expectancy' for the typical bow leggedness (word?) has expired. Mine had expired significantly. After some research I found that a lot of cases of this condition came from babies and toddlers who were considered to be obese or heavy. I was not obese, but I was fairly big for my age. Not sure if tibia vera is hereditary or not. As far as I know my family doesn't have aything like this.

It's weird to see someone who has this. Everytime someone asks me about the scars from surgery on my legs they always think I'm talking nonsense. Not many people have heard of this apparently! Most of my main doctors have no idea what I'm talking about when I tell them!

I hoped this helped you some!

Your not alone, I had this condition ever since grammar school. I too had bad family doctor who said the condition was nothing to worry about. I was born club footed and had leg braces as a infant. I was a very active kid playing sports and always had knee problems. Late grammar school and high school I was diagnosed with bare with spelling (Oshgoodslaughter) condition. I was fitted with shoe inserts to help relieve massive knee pain. Anyhow my legs bowed as result and now I am in my mid 30's. I can run and walk now with no pain, but I am very self conscious about my appearence and almost never wear shorts. One more thing last year had my right knee MRI due a condition and I have no PCL tendon and don't ever recall how this damage occured? The pain during my younger years my a have contributed to this? All I know is something medically was not caught by the experts and now I have to live this way.