Chest deformity: types and methods of treatment

The main types of deformations

Among the changes in the shape of the chest, there are two types of deformation :

- Acquired deformity of the chest, which is most common. The cause of it, usually, are burns, mechanical trauma, chronic purulent lung injury;

- congenital deformity of the chest, which is caused by the presence of various anomalies in the development of scapular bones, the spine. Severe deformity can be caused by abnormal development of the skeleton of the breast.

Types of localization

Depending on the localization they share:

- deformation of the anterior wall of the breast. Such changes are mostly congenital. They are combined with underdevelopment of muscles, sternum, lack or underdevelopment of ribs;

- deformation of the lateral and posterior walls of the bone marrow of the breast as evidence of the transferred diseases. After primary damage to the vertebrae, subsequent deformation of the ribs occurs with their lateral protrusion according to the type of the costal hump. In addition, there are functional disorders of the heart and respiratory system.

The subspecies of anterior deformation of the thorax are:

- funnel-shaped chest - as a rule, it is a congenital anomaly. Very rarely, it is possible and after the disease (rickets, pulmonary tuberculosis). A similar anomaly is accompanied by a shortening and thickening of the ligaments of the sternum, a decrease in the tendon center of the muscle that separates the thoracic cavity from the peritoneum (diaphragm). This pathology occurs with the growth of the anterior wall of the lower costal cartilage. As a consequence, the deformity of the chest develops and the distance between the sternum and the spinal column decreases, until complete contact. Such deformation of the chest in children displaces and squeezes the organs of the chest. The process is accompanied by a westernization of the sternum and ribs during the act of breathing. Consequences: bronchitis, tonsillitis, stitching heart pain, increased irritability;

- the keeled deformation (popularly called "chicken") can be caused by excessive overgrowth of the costal cartilage with a forward projection of the sternum and the westernization of the ribs. So, the thorax under the form turns to a keelike breast. Subsequently, this deformation becomes (as the child grows) a serious cosmetic defect. Side effects can be in the form of rapid fatigue, dyspnea and palpitations during exercise;

- flat deformation as a consequence of uneven development with a decrease in the front size of the chest as a result of a weak build. The change is accompanied only by a cosmetic defect.

The basis of treatment - an individual approach

In the treatment of all such defects, a strict individuality is applied, depending on the type of deformity of the chest. Treatment, for example, of malformations of muscles with deformation of the chest is reduced to the elimination of a cosmetic defect. Defects of ribs in flat chest also do not require special treatment, not counting massage, therapeutic gymnastics, tennis and swimming. But the funnel-shaped breast requires only surgical treatment with partial resection of the deformed ribs and dissection of the breast-diaphragmatic ligament. The keeled chest also operates, but only in cases of internal organs damage and up to the age of five.

According to experts, the most severe treatment is a defect caused by the curvature of the spine. This deformation of the chest is much more easily prevented than treated. Methods of preventing changes in the shape of the chest (active way of life, gymnastics, sports) are the most accessible ways to prevent most of the pathologies listed above.