Types of Bone Disorders

Bone provides shape to the body and it develops with age. It is important to supply calcium and vitamin D to rebuild and repair skeleton system. Physical exercise helps to maintain a healthy skeleton. 

Bone disease is a condition that causes damage to the skeleton and makes bones weak and prone to fractures. Different bone problems may affect people of different ages. For example, Paget's disease affects older men and women, and causes skeletal deformities and fractures. Osteogenesis imperfecta is an inherited disorder that causes bones to become brittle and frequent to fractures in children. Rickets occur in children. Some common disorders associated with bones are listed below.

Fractures are broken or cracked bones. Fractures occur due to some high impact or pressure on bones. It is a very common problem and millions of people suffer with it every year. Different types of fractures include avulsion, comminuted, and hairline fractures. Bone healing is a natural process with optimum conditions provided to the patient.

Osteoporosis is a bone disorder when there is a loss of mineral part of the bone and thinning and disintegration of the spongy part of the bone occurs. The word osteoporosis signifies “porous bone.” Bones lose their density or mass and contain abnormal tissue structures. Osteoporosis treatment cannot completely reverse the problem but can reduce bone loss and strengthen the bones.

Bone lumps can indicate a variety of things. Osteophytes are bony lumps (also called bone spurs) that grow on the bones of the spine or around the joints. Bone lumps often form next to joints affected by osteoarthritis, a condition that causes joints to become painful and rigid. 

Bone lumps can grow at various locations such as lumps on wrist, lumps in knee joint, lump on back of neck, and so on.

When cells divide abnormally and uncontrollably, they can also form an extra mass or lump of tissue. This lump is called a tumor. But not all lumps and tumors are cancerous.

Most bone tumors are not cancerous (called benign tumors). But some bone tumors are cancerous (called malignant tumors). Malignant bone tumors can metastasize or cause cancer cells to spread throughout the body even to distant organs in advaned stage of cancers.

According to the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS), the most common type of benign bone tumor is an osteochondroma. It accounts for between 35-40 percent of all the benign bone tumors. Osteochondromas develop in adolescents and teenagers most commonly.

Paget's disease of bone hinders the normal recycling process of the body, in which new bone tissue gradually replaces old bone tissue. This results in irregular remodeling of the skeleton, weakness and brittleness in bones, etc. The exact cause of this disease is still unknown.

Softening and weakening of bones in children known as Rickets is another common bone problem. It occurs due to prolonged vitamin D deficiency. This makes the children prone to fractures and deformities. Reduced levels of phosphates in the blood often lead to weak and soft bones. Malnutrition and poverty are major reasons of rickets. In adults, it is often known as osteomalacia.

There are other disorders of bones such as: osteomyelitis, osteopenia, hip dysplasia, osteoarthritis, bone cancer, bone cyst, etc.

Report this Page