Patient's question:
No improvement, what kind of help do you want: I want to ask if I couldn't handle it well, can it still grow to be the same as others? This is the trouble I'm most afraid of. Thank you for your trouble.Doctor's answer:
Hello, the causes of pigeon chest include congenital developmental abnormalities, malnutrition, congenital heart disease, rickets, etc. Pigeon chest is mostly caused by rickets in children, which is due to insufficient vitamin D in the body, leading to impaired calcium and phosphorus absorption, resulting in osteomalacia. The connection between the ribs and the sternum at the chest area becomes concave, causing the sternum to protrude forward, forming a pigeon chest. For pigeon chest patients under the age of 3, active treatment for rickets should be provided, including calcium and vitamin D supplementation. For patients over 3 years old, it is often a sequelae, and treatment with calcium and vitamin D is ineffective. Generally, mild pigeon chest tends to gradually disappear with physical growth. Strengthening physical exercise, such as chest expansion exercises, push-ups, and head lifts, two to three times a day, can accelerate the correction of the deformity. If the pigeon chest is severe and affects respiratory and circulatory functions, surgical treatment is required. Pigeon chest caused by rickets is a skeletal change resulting from long-term vitamin D deficiency and requires an alkaline phosphatase test to confirm the diagnosis. After birth, infants should be supplemented with cod liver oil within half a month to prevent rickets.