The 4 most important diseases of the skeletal system

The skeletal system allows us 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 negligible 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 nerve command center (the brain) weighs an average of a kilo and little.

There is no doubt that the skeleton allows our existence as we know it today. In the end What would our species be if we couldn't stand upright? Unfortunately, there are a number of diseases of the skeletal system to be taken 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, they mainly affect bone structures. Pathologies such as osteoarthritis, gout or pseudogout can lead to bone damage, but affect the cartilaginous structure in its early stages. Here we introduce you

the main diseases of the bone system purely linked to bone tissue.

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4 diseases of the skeletal system: our structural base endangered

First of all, it is necessary to limit that musculoskeletal diseases and disorders are much more common than might initially be expected. The world health organization (WHO) throws a series of interesting figures on the subject:

• Musculoskeletal disorders are the leading cause of disability worldwide, with low back pain being the type most represented on Earth.
• Between one in three and one in five people suffer from a painful and disabling osteoarticular or muscular condition.
• They represent the highest proportion of persistent painful conditions (without taking into account carcinogenic processes).
• Up to half of the cases are related to underlying pathologies, that is, they are multimorbid disorders.

From birth to age 20, the body synthesizes and adds more bone tissue than it breaks down by cell death and wear. As time progresses, the body may not deposit bone as quickly as it is lost, leading to various complications from a bone point of view. Although it is true that the elderly are the age group that most experience this type of pathology, they are not the only ones. Here are the most common diseases of the skeletal system.

1. Osteoporosis

Osteoporosis is the most common type of bone disease. It occurs when the body breaks down more bone tissue than it can replace, which weakens the bones and promotes injury and fracture. In Spain alone, this disease is blamed for 500,000 fractures and 800,000 hospital stays per year. In addition, 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 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 is asymptomatic until the 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 example bone cancer, some types of chemotherapy, family history, steroid therapies, or prolonged periods of inactivity physical. It should be noted that women have a greater predisposition to this pathology, since after the menopause imbalances occur in the levels of estrogen, a hormone that helps maintain density that is.

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2. Imperfect osteogenesis

We completely change our paradigm, because, like osteoporosis, it is a disease that responds to a 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 generally affects one in 15,000 newborns. This pathology is widely associated with a heterogeneous connective tissue disorder, mainly caused by poor synthesis and deposition of collagen (structural protein essential). Unfortunately, a person with osteogenesis imperfecta has a 50% chance of passing the causative gene to his or her son or daughter.

This pathology results in a 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 bone system, osteogenesis imperfecta is considered an unfortunate exception.

3. Bacterial infections

Few people know that, since it is a tissue of a cellular and organic nature (for many minerals that contain and hard), bone can also be affected by microorganisms such as bacteria. This is the case of osteomyelitis, a disease caused by bacteria Staphylococcus aureus in 90% of infections.

We are facing pathogenic microorganisms settled in the bone tissue that have generally arrived by hematogenous route, that is, through the patient's bloodstream. Once the bone is infected, the 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 arrival 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.

By last, in the most severe cases, surgery may be required to remove the necrotized bone tissue. This is later filled with a prosthesis or graft, which stimulates the healing and recovery of the affected area. Like the rest of severe bacterial infections, the symptoms of bone infections are expressed in the first place with fevers, tremors and malaise on the part of the patient.

4. Bone cancer

How could it be otherwise, it seems that no tissue with cell division is spared a possibility of developing a cancerous tumor. Bones are no different, as they contain living cells that can undergo uncontrolled division by abnormal mutations, leading to the dreaded bone cancer.

Osteosarcoma is the most common variant of this disease, and affects mainly young people between 10 and 19 years of age, since only 10% of those affected are over 60 years of age. 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 metastatic breast cancer, not bone cancer in the strict sense.

Conclusions

As we have seen, in this space we have played all the possible clubs. 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 skeletal system of the human being. In any case, the symptoms are more or less homogeneous in almost all pathologies: a easier bone fracture or possible localized pain and swelling in the area affected.

Bibliographic references:

• Bone cancer, cancer.org. Picked up on September 8 in https://www.cancer.org/es/cancer/cancer-de-hueso/deteccion-diagnostico-clasificacion-por-etapas/senales-sintomas.html
• Cramer, J. A., Gold, D. T., Silverman, S. L., & Lewiecki, E. M. (2007). A systematic review of persistence and compliance with bisphosphonates for osteoporosis. Osteoporosis International, 18 (8), 1023-1031.
• Bone Diseases, MedlinePlus.gov. Picked up on September 8 in https://medlineplus.gov/spanish/osteogenesisimperfecta.html
• Gutiérrez-Díez, M. P., Molina Gutiérrez, M. A., Prieto Tato, L., Parra García, J. I., & Bueno Sánchez, A. M. (2013). Osteogenesis imperfecta: new perspectives. Rev Esp Endocrinol Pediatr, 4 (160), 75-85.
• Osteoporosis, cancer.net. Picked up on September 8 in https://www.cancer.net/es/asimilaci%C3%B3n-con-c%C3%A1ncer/efectos-f%C3%ADsicos-emocionales-y-sociales-del-c%C3%A1ncer/manejo-de-los-efectos-secundarios-f%C3%ADsicos/osteoporosis
• Musculoskeletal Disorders, World Health Organization (WHO). Picked up on September 8 in https://www.who.int/es/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/musculoskeletal-conditions#:~:text=Los%20trastornos%20de%20este%20tipo, syst% C3% A9mic% 2C% 20as% 20la% 20rheumatoid arthritis% 20.