Bone pain is a debilitating form of pain emanating from the bone tissue. It occurs as a result of a wide range of diseases and/or physical conditions and may severely impair the quality of life for patients who suffer from it. Bone pain has multiple causes, such as extensive physical stress and diseases such as cancer. For many years it has been known that bones are innervated with sensory neurons. Yet their exact anatomy remained obscure due to the contrasting physical properties of bone and neural tissue. However, until recently, it was not determined what types of nerves innervated which sections of bone. The periosteal layer of bone tissue is highly pain-sensitive and an important cause of pain in several disease conditions causing bone pain, like fractures, osteoarthritis, etc. However, in certain diseases the endosteal and haversian nerve supply seems to play an important role, e.g. osteomalacia, osteonecrosis, and so on. Thus there are several types of bone pain, each with many potential sources or origins of cause.
Read more about Bone Pain: Causes, Pathophysiology, Bone Cancer, Treatment, Scientific Research and Future Treatments
Famous quotes containing the words bone and/or pain:
“Osteopath—One who argues that all human ills are caused by the pressure of hard bone upon soft tissue. The proof of his theory is to be found in the heads of those who believe it.”
—H.L. (Henry Lewis)
“The years of imprisonment hardened me.... Perhaps if you have been given a moment to hold back and wait for the next blow, your emotions wouldn’t be blunted as they have been in my case. When it happens every day of your life, when that pain becomes a way of life, I no longer have the emotion of fear. ... there is no longer anything I can fear. There is nothing the government has not done to me. There isn’t any pain I haven’t known.”
—Winnie Mandela (b. 1936)