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Rickets
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Rickets is a problem in bone that is still growing, and it happens only in children. Mineralization, the step in which bone takes up minerals and becomes hard, fails, and the epiphyseal plates, the growth plates, which are areas of cartilage inside the bone, also widen. In an adult those plates have already fused, and the problem that appears is called osteomalacia.
To grow, a long bone keeps laying down osteoid, which is bone tissue that is not yet mineralized. That osteoid mineralizes when there is enough calcium and phosphate. If that mineralization fails for any reason, rickets can develop. It's like a concrete pour that won't set: the shape is there, but it doesn't harden.
The changes often show where bone proliferates, meaning where it grows fastest. In infants older than three months, the skull softens, which is called craniotabes. In the chest, the joints between the ribs and their cartilage, the costochondral junctions, widen, which is called the rachitic rosary.
In brief
Rickets, which occurs only in children, is a mineralization defect with widening of the epiphyseal plates; in adults, whose plates have already fused, the same defect is called osteomalacia.
Growing bone lays down osteoid, unmineralized tissue that mineralizes when calcium and phosphate are sufficient; any defect in that mineralization can cause rickets.
It's like concrete that won't set.
Changes usually show where bone grows fastest: the skull of infants older than three months softens (craniotabes), and the costochondral junctions widen (rachitic rosary).
Sources (1)
- National Center for Biotechnology Information, StatPearls PublishingRickets, StatPearlsPublished
This page explains the topic in general terms; it does not tell anyone what treatment to follow.
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