J Korean Med Sci.  2008 Aug;23(4):714-717. 10.3346/jkms.2008.23.4.714.

Development of Tibiofemoral Angle in Korean Children

• Yoo JH
• Choi IH
• Cho TJ
• Chung CY
• Yoo WJ

• KMID: 1785835
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.3346/jkms.2008.23.4.714

Abstract

This study was performed to identify the chronological changes of the knee angle or the tibiofemoral angles in normal healthy Korean children. Full-length anteroposterior view standing radiographs of 818 limbs of 452 Korean children were analyzed. The overall patterns of the chronological changes in the knee angle were similar to those described previously in western or Asian children, but the knee angle development was delayed, i.e., genu varum before 1 yr, neutral at 1.5 yr, increasing genu valgum with maximum a value of 7.8 degrees at 4 yr, followed by a gradual decrease to approximately 5-6 degrees of genu valgum of the adult level at 7 to 8 yr of age. These normative data on chronological changes of knee angles should be taken into consideration when evaluating lower limb alignment in children.

Keyword

Axial Alignment of Lower Extremity; Knee Joint Orientation; Tibiofemoral Knee Angle; Child; Korea

MeSH Terms

Adolescent
Child
Child Development
Child, Preschool
Female
Femur/anatomy & histology
Humans
Infant
Knee Joint/anatomy & histology/*growth & development
Male
Retrospective Studies
Tibia/anatomy & histology

Figure

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  Fig. 1 The teleradiograph of the lower extremity. The radiographs were obtained in standing position, if the subject is compliant, including hip, knee, and ankle joints in a single exposure. The anatomical tibiofemoral angle (aTFA) was defined as the angle (α) between the anatomical axes of femur and tibia.

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  Fig. 2 The chronological change of anatomical tibiofemoral angles (aTFA) in Korean children. Error bars denote ± 1 standard deviations.

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  Fig. 3 The changes of the knee angle from the previously published reports (Reprinted with permission from reference 7).

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