Bone Diseases
Reading this article
Topic pages summarize public health information in plain language. They may describe common causes and treatments in general terms; your own plan of care depends on your clinician’s exam, history, and tests. Use what you read here to prepare questions—not to start, stop, or change medications or to self-diagnose.
Your bones help you move, give you shape and support your body. They are living tissues that rebuild constantly throughout your life. During childhood and your teens, your body adds new bone faster than it removes old bone. After about age 20, you can lose bone faster than you make bone. To have strong bones when you are young, and to prevent bone loss when you are older, you need to get enough calcium, vitamin D, and exercise. You should also avoid smoking and drinking too much alcohol.
Bone diseases can make bones easy to break. Different kinds of bone problems include:
- Low bone density and osteoporosis, which make your bones weak and more likely to break
- Osteogenesis imperfecta makes your bones brittle
- Paget's disease of bone makes them weak
- Bones can also develop cancer and infections
- Other bone diseases, which are caused by poor nutrition, genetics, or problems with the rate of bone growth or rebuilding
NIH: National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases