The skeletal system allows human beings to enjoy freedom of movement, posture and relationship with the environment from a mechanical perspective. This structural conglomerate is made up of 206 different pieces, a figure that is not insignificant if we factor in the weight and height of our species.
Thus, the skeleton represents a total of 12% of the weight of the adult individual. In a 75-kilogram person, this corresponds to 9 kilograms of bone structures. To put this figure in perspective, the nervous command center (the brain) weighs an average of a kilo or so.
There is no doubt that the skeleton allows our existence as we know it today. After all What would become of our species if we couldn’t stand upright? Unfortunately, there are a series of diseases of the skeletal system to take into account throughout the life of the adult individual.
It should be noted that in this space we are going to focus on purely bone diseases, that is, those that mainly affect bone structures. Pathologies such as osteoarthritis, gout or pseudogout can lead to bone damage, but they affect the cartilaginous structure in its early stages. Here we present you the main diseases of the skeletal system purely linked to bone tissue
4 diseases of the skeletal system: our structural foundation put in danger
First of all, it is necessary to note that musculoskeletal diseases and disorders are much more common than one might initially expect The world health organization (WHO) provides a series of interesting figures regarding the subject:
From birth to 20 years of age, the body synthesizes and adds more bone tissue than it breaks down due to cell death and wear. As time progresses, the body may not deposit bone as quickly as it is lost, which generates various complications from a bone point of view. While it is true that the elderly are the age group that experiences this type of pathology the most, they are not the only ones. Below, you will find the most common diseases of the bone system.
Osteoporosis is the most common type of bone disease It occurs when the body breaks down more bone tissue than can be replaced, which weakens bones and promotes injury and fracture. In Spain alone, this disease is responsible for 500,000 fractures and 800,000 hospital stays per year. Additionally, it is estimated that by the age of 79, 40% of women suffer from lumbar osteoporosis.
According to the World Health Organization, this pathology becomes official in the individual when he or she presents a bone mineral density (BMD) less than or equal to 2.5 standard deviation below the average bone mass of healthy 20-year-olds This pathology promotes bone porosity (hence its name), but it occurs asymptomatically until lesions occur.
In addition to age (an essential factor), there are other physical parameters that can promote the appearance of osteoporosis in the individual, such as bone cancer, some types of chemotherapy, family history, steroid therapies or prolonged periods of physical inactivity. It should be noted that women are more predisposed to this pathology, since after menopause imbalances occur in estrogen levels, a hormone that helps maintain bone density.
2. Osteogenesis imperfecta
We completely change the paradigm, because just as osteoporosis is a disease that responds to physical deterioration in the individual and occurs relatively commonly, osteogenesis imperfecta It is caused by genetic mutations and is considered a rare disease
90% of cases of this disease are caused by autosomal dominant mutations, and it generally affects one in every 15,000 newborns. This pathology is widely associated with a heterogeneous disorder of the connective tissue, caused mainly by poor synthesis and deposition of collagen (essential structural protein). Unfortunately, a person with osteogenesis imperfecta has a 50% chance of passing the causative gene on to his or her son or daughter.
This pathology results in bone fragility of variable spectrum, which can manifest itself with abnormal bone breaks without apparent explanations. Just as osteoporosis is the queen of diseases of the skeletal system, osteogenesis imperfecta is considered an unfortunate exception.
3. Bacterial infections
Few people know that, being a more cellular and organic tissue (no matter how many minerals it contains and how hard it is), bone can also be affected by microorganisms such as bacteria. This is the case of osteomyelitis, a pathology caused by bacteria Staphylococcus aureus in 90% of infections
We are dealing with pathogenic microorganisms settled in the bone tissue that have generally arrived via the hematogenous route, that is, through the patient’s bloodstream. Once the bone is infected, leukocytes enter it with the intention of fighting the bacteria, but along the way they release enzymes that end up corroding the bone tissue.
The pus produced by the infection spreads through the blood vessels that supply the bone, causing abscesses and preventing the delivery of nutrients and oxygen to the bone cells. As you can guess, this results in cell death and necrosis of the affected area. Of course, we are facing a pathology of a very unpleasant nature, which may also require antibiotic treatment for weeks or months due to its difficult elimination.
Finally, In more severe cases, surgery may be required to remove the necrotized bone tissue This is later filled with a prosthesis or graft, which stimulates healing and recovery of the affected area. Like the rest of severe bacterial infections, the symptoms of bone infections are expressed first with fevers, tremors and discomfort on the part of the patient.
How could it be otherwise, it seems that No tissue with cell division is free from the possibility of developing a cancerous tumor Bones are no different, as they contain living cells that can undergo uncontrolled division due to abnormal mutations, giving rise to the dreaded bone cancer.
Osteosarcoma is the most common variant of this disease, and mainly affects young people between 10 and 19 years of age, since only 10% of those affected are over 60 years old. This type of tumor is most commonly located in the bones of the arms, legs and pelvis.
Notably Many types of cancer metastasize to the bone, but this does not mean that we are dealing with bone cancer as such A malignant breast tumor that has spread to the skeletal system is a metastatic breast cancer, not a bone cancer in the strict sense.
Conclusions
As we have seen, in this space we have touched on all possible topics. We have given the example of a “natural” bone disease, another genetically heritable and very strange, a third of infectious origin and the last due to a carcinogenic process.
Of course, this highlights the wide spectrum of diseases that can affect the human skeletal system. In any case, the symptoms are more or less homogeneous in almost all pathologies: greater ease of bone fracture or possible localized pain and swelling in the affected area is observed.
