Cartilage Disorders—Bone Diseases

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

• ALP – blood test (Medical Encyclopedia)
• ALP isoenzyme test (Medical Encyclopedia)
• Blount disease (Medical Encyclopedia)
• Bone lesion biopsy (Medical Encyclopedia)
• Bone pain or tenderness (Medical Encyclopedia)
• Bone tumor (Medical Encyclopedia)
• Bowlegs (Medical Encyclopedia)
• Fibrous dysplasia (Medical Encyclopedia)
• Osteomalacia (Medical Encyclopedia)
• Osteopenia – premature infants (Medical Encyclopedia)

Cartilage is the tough but flexible tissue that covers the ends of your bones at a joint. It also gives shape and support to other parts of your body, such as your ears, nose and windpipe. Healthy cartilage helps you move by allowing your bones to glide over each other. It also protects bones by preventing them from rubbing against each other.

Injured, inflamed, or damaged cartilage can cause symptoms such as pain and limited movement. It can also lead to joint damage and deformity. Causes of cartilage problems include

• Tears and injuries, such as sports injuries
• Genetic factors
• Other disorders, such as some types of arthritis

Osteoarthritis results from breakdown of cartilage.

NIH: National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases

• Costochondritis (Medical Encyclopedia)
• Meniscus tears — aftercare (Medical Encyclopedia)
• Pectus carinatum (Medical Encyclopedia)
• Pectus excavatum (Medical Encyclopedia)
• Perichondritis (Medical Encyclopedia)