Should I be checking for bone disease?

Question

My 8 year old son is a dare devil and he is always breaking his ribs even ones that are flexable and hard to break in children.He has also broken an are and now a clavical?

Answer 1

When you plan to let your child be a dare devil, certain injuries are bound to happen. Insist on your son using a helmet and protective gear. You should also consult your family doctor about it. Normally once you have broken a bone, you are placed on rest which has an adverse effect on the calcium metabolism. Calcium starts to flow out of the bones. The more rest he is given, the more chances of calcium flowing out and therefore the bones getting weak and weaker still.

Let you child have added calcium supplements along with Vit D. Once he recovers fully, let him avoid his dare devil feats for a while. Without examining, it is difficult for anyone to be precise and therefore your doctor would be able to answer better once he examines your child.

Answer 2

When I was 5 I was on my bicycle and was hit by a cable truck. My fault. Needless to say this was many years ago. I am now 51, have many bone issue problems and diseases. I did not drink a lot of milk growing up either. I was in a bad car wreck (rear-ended in '94) and sent across the state to a trauma specialty center, operated on 15 hrs. Among others, my jaws were broken, back really messed up and required cadaver bones. The Dean of the College, Chief of Neurosurgery said my bones were NO good. Since then other things have happened. But I believe it all started when I was little. SO YES!! please get him checked to prevent a life of possible problems.

Answer 3

Children usually heal quickly from a broken bone, especially a clean break. I would suggest making SURE it is set properly as it cannot be reset later very easily.
Making sure he has lots of calcium in his diet will help. If you are concerned, talking to his pediatrician or his orthopedic surgeon could help as they can recommend what is best for him based on his biochemistry.
Finally, you could try to enforce safer play.

Answer 4

Such bone fragility is not uncommon in children but it is advisable to have a medical check-up. It would seem that you might try increasing both vitamin C and calcium in his diet...a good multi-vitamin will work....he need phosphorus too. Children are provided by nature with a tremendous amount of resilience to childhood trauma and it appears that this could be normal....visit your family physician for confirmation of my evaluation.

Answer 5

I would definatly have a tests done, but does he drink alot of soda?? Soda and carbonated beverages depletes the bones of calcium, could be as simple as that.