Your body needs vitamin D to maintain strong bones because it helps absorb calcium, according to the National Institutes of Health's Office of Dietary Supplements, or ODS. Vitamin D also helps your body fight off infection and is important for healthy nerve and muscle function. If you are vitamin D deficient, you are at risk for developing soft, thin and brittle bones, which can cause symptoms, as well as muscle problems.
Bone Symptoms in Children
In children, vitamin D deficiency causes a condition known as rickets, in which the bones fail to harden and end up bending, according to Oregon State University's Linus Pauling Institute. In infants, vitamin D deficiency can cause a deformed rib cage and a delay in the closing of the fontanels, the soft spots in the skull of a baby. Older children may have bowed arms and legs because the limbs are too soft to bear weight. Rickets also causes bone pain, deformed and delayed teeth, cavities, growth problems and shortness, and an increased risk of broken bones. Though rickets has become rare since vitamin D-fortified foods were introduced, it still occurs throughout the world and in the U.S., particularly among African-Americans.
Bone Symptoms in Adults
In adults, vitamin D deficiency is called osteomalacia and while it doesn't cause bones to bend as in rickets, it does weaken them, according to the Linus Pauling Institute. This may not cause symptoms immediately but as the problem worsens, adults can develop a dull, aching bone pain in the lower spine, pelvis and legs, according to MayoClinic.com.
Muscle Pain
Both children and adults experience a progressive loss of muscle strength and pain when they are vitamin D deficient, according to the Linus Pauling Institute. In children this can lead to cramps and a loss of strength as well as increasing weakness. Adults can experience lost muscle tone, leading to weakness in the arms and legs, a waddling gait, an increased risk of falling in the elderly and difficulty getting around. It can also cause a generalized muscle pain that doesn't go away.
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