Bone pain is severe pain originating from bone tissue. They are often of a dull character and are often difficult for the person affected to localize. Therefore, the pain is often projected into the muscle or ligament apparatus, which makes diagnosis difficult.
Bone pain can occur at any age. Children and adolescents often complain of bone pain in the legs, whereas adults and people of advanced age report bone pain in the ribs, spine and hip. Bone pain can occur at rest or under stress.
Bone pain can be localized (i.e. affecting a specific part of the body, such as the arm) or generalized (i.e. affecting the whole body). Bone pain can cause secondary diseases.
Persons affected by bone pain suffer from a severe reduction in their quality of life, which can also promote the development of psychological illnesses such as depression. In general, women are more often affected by bone pain than men. Furthermore, older people suffer from bone pain more often than young people.
Causes
A common cause of bone pain is broken bones. Bone fractures can occur at any age and can be the result of an impact, a fall, or an accident. A bone can also break if a bone is constantly overstressed, for example during a long run or if you are overweight.
One speaks then of a so-called fatigue break. A distinction is made between open fractures, in which the bone spits through the skin and becomes visible from the outside, and closed fractures, in which the skin above the fracture remains intact. In addition to the bone becoming visible in open fractures, a fracture can also be noticeable by a malposition and by a limited or enormously increased mobility of the affected body part.
In addition, there can be severe bone pain, as well as swelling and redness. A bone fracture can damage neighboring structures such as nerves and vessels. Thus, fractures can also lead to severe bleeding.
Especially in the case of open fractures, the risk of infection is also high. An infection results in contamination of the wound with germs. If the germs reach the bone, they can lead to an inflammation of the bone, which is then called osteomyelitis.
Even during an operation, the penetration of germs can lead to an inflammation of the bone (osteomyelitis). Furthermore, germs from another source of infection can be carried into the bone via the blood. An inflammation of the bone (osteomyelitis) can also cause considerable bone pain.
In addition to the bone pain, complaints such as swelling, redness and limited functionality of the affected body part are possible. Bone contusions can also lead to severe pain. They can be caused during the practice of contact sports.
Bone skin inflammation on the coccyx Other important causes of bone pain are diseases that cause pathological changes in the bone substance. One example is osteoporosis, which is commonly referred to as bone atrophy. In the case of bone loss (osteoporosis) there is an excessive loss of bone mass.
This excessive loss is mostly caused by age, or in women by the onset of menopause and the resulting changes in hormone levels. Furthermore, excessive bone mass loss can occur as an undesirable side effect of various drugs, such as cortisone. Initially, the patients are free of symptoms.
In the course of the disease, however, the bone mass decreases more and more, making the bone susceptible to fractures. If the bone breaks, this then causes sudden bone pain. These types of fractures are called spontaneous fractures or spontaneous fractures because they occur without excessive stress and without any external force (in the sense of impacts, falls or accidents).
The most common types of fractures are fractures of vertebral bodies of the spine, fractures of the femur and fractures of the forearm bones in the context of bone loss (osteoporosis). Osteomalacia is another disease characterized by a change in bone substance. Osteomalacia in adults is a painful softening of the bone due to insufficient mineralization of the bone.
Often a vitamin D or calcium deficiency is the cause. Painful softening of the bones can also occur in children, but in children it is known as rickets.The reduced mineralization of the bone typically results in dull, persistent bone pain. As the disease progresses, the bone becomes unstable with an increased risk of fractures, which in turn can be associated with severe, sudden onset of bone pain.
These are also referred to as spontaneous fractures or spontaneous fractures because the bone breaks without any external influence. In the context of bone softening (osteomalacia), fractures of the thigh bone are most common. Bone loss (osteoporosis) and bone softening (osteomalacia) can occur in combination.
Osteodystrophia deformans is another disease with altered bone substance in which bone pain can occur. Osteodystrophia deformans is a pathological change in bone substance, which causes the bone to gradually thicken and eventually deform. The spine, hips and thighbones are usually affected by this conversion.
The remodelling of the bone is noticeable from the outside by a reddening and swelling. The pathological transformation of the bone substance (osteodystrophia deformans) occurs particularly in people of advanced age. Bone tumors are another clinical picture that should always be remembered when bone pain occurs.
Bone tumors are masses in the bone. These masses can be benign or malignant. A malignant mass is characterized by the fact that its growth continues to progress, destroying healthy tissue and eventually causing the death of the patient, whereas a benign mass does not grow into healthy tissue, but rather displaces healthy tissue.
Bone tumors can originate directly from the bone, but they can also be tumor metastases from another malignant tumor. If the bone tumor is a tumor metastasis from distant tissue, it is called a bone metastasis. Bone metastases most frequently occur in breast cancer, prostate cancer and lung cancer.
At the beginning, a bone tumor or bone metastasis can cause swelling, bone pain and reduced functionality of the affected body part. As the body continues to grow, the destruction of healthy tissue can lead to deformation of the bone and to bone fractures (spontaneous fractures), which in turn can result in severe, sudden bone pain. Malignant bone tumors affect the whole body and can therefore also cause a deterioration of the general condition.
In children, another possible cause of bone pain is also possible. Children may experience severe bone pain in various parts of the body during the growth phase, especially between the ages of two and eighteen. Normally, growth is painless, but some children experience sudden attacks of pain, especially in the legs, usually at night during the growth phase.
These bone pains disappear quite quickly by themselves. Since this form of bone pain is associated with growth processes, it is called growth pain. Why some children suffer from growth pain is not yet fully understood. The affected children are not noticeable during the physical examination and show normal mobility of the affected body part.
