Varus and Valgus — No Wonder They Are Confused

In lecturing on pediatric bone disease to medical students, we have become painfully aware that the terms varus and valgus cause great confusion. Every year, when shown a radiograph of coxa valga and asked for the appropriate diagnosis, about a third of the students vote for coxa vara, a third for coxa valga, and a third admit that they do not know. Since radiologists, orthopedic surgeons, and pediatricians use varus and valgus regularly in their conversation and in their reports, we have attributed the ignorance of medical students to their inexperience, coupled with the unfortunate omission of high-school Latin as. . .