This makes you more prone to overuse injury and bone fractures. While bone pain is most likely due to decreased bone density or an injury to your bone, it can also be a sign of a serious underlying medical condition. Bone pain or tenderness could be the result of infection, an interruption in the blood supply, or cancer.
These conditions require immediate medical attention. If you have unexplained bone pain, do not ignore it. Make an appointment with your doctor to find out why. There are also some other possible causes. Osteoporosis is a condition in which your bone mass is reduced below what is considered normal. Age, hormonal changes, and lack of physical activity are factors that contribute to decreasing bone density.
This can increase your likelihood of developing bone fractures and suffering bone pain. If you have bone pain for no obvious reason, or if you have previously been treated for cancer, you should consult with your physician. Your doctor will want to know your complete medical history, including previously diagnosed conditions, and the specifics of your bone pain. These might include:. Depending on the specifics of your pain, as well as a thorough physical examination, additional testing may include:.
Your doctor will determine your treatment based on your diagnosis. If you have any bone fractures or breaks, those must be addressed. You will require a long-term treatment plan specific to that diagnosis if you are found to have any underlying conditions, such as osteoporosis or cancer.
Complementary therapies for people with cancer include acupuncture, massage, and relaxation techniques.
Physical therapy or regular exercise can help you to feel better and increase your strength and stamina, while also increasing your bone mass. For some people, aids such as braces, splints, and casts can offer support that can both protect the bone and relieve pain. Serious conditions are often the cause of bone pain. Even mild bone pain may indicate an emergency condition.
You should also see a doctor if the bone pain is accompanied by weight loss, decreased appetite, or general fatigue. Medical treatment is required for fractures from direct trauma to the bone.
Without proper treatment, bones can heal in incorrect positions and inhibit movement. Trauma also predisposes you to infection. A bone infection may occur when bacteria or fungi invade the bone, causing many symptoms, including fever, redness, stiffness, and swelling. Tailbone pain is centered at the very bottom of your spine, right above your buttocks. Osteoarthritis OA is a form of degenerative joint pain. Learn the early signs, such as pain and tenderness, stiffness, and loss of flexibility.
Dairy is the best source of calcium in the diet, the main mineral in bones. For this reason, milk is often recommended to optimize bone health. A bone scan is an imaging test used to help diagnose problems with your bones.
Find information on why a bone scan is done and what to expect during…. Bone tumors are masses of abnormal cells within the bone. We'll teach you all about the various types, how they're diagnosed, and treatments. What you eat can have a big effect on inflammation in your body.
This article outlines an anti-inflammatory diet plan that is based on science. Pain in the breast and armpit can have many causes. Health Conditions Discover Plan Connect. Bone Pain. Medically reviewed by William Morrison, M. What is bone pain? What causes bone pain? What are the symptoms? Cause of bone pain Other associated symptoms Injury Swelling, visible breaks or deformities, a snap or grinding noise upon injury Mineral deficiency Muscle and tissue pain, sleep disturbances, cramps , fatigue , weakness Osteoporosis Back pain, stooped posture, loss of height over time Metastatic cancer A large range of symptoms depending on where the cancer has spread that may include headache , chest pain , bone fractures, seizures , dizziness , jaundice , shortness of breath , swelling in the belly Bone cancer Increased bone breaks, a lump or mass under the skin, numbness or tingling from when a tumor presses on a nerve Disrupted blood supply to the bones Joint pain, loss of joint function, and weakness Infection Redness, streaks from the infection site, swelling, warmth at the infection site, decreased range of motion, nausea, loss of appetite Leukemia Fatigue, pale skin , shortness of breath, night sweats , unexplained weight loss.
Bone pain in pregnancy. How is bone pain diagnosed? How is bone pain treated? How can bone pain be prevented? What happens in recovery? When to see a doctor. Read this next. Bone Infection Osteomyelitis. Understanding and Treating Tailbone Pain. Bone Scan. This excess growth of cancer cells leads to overcrowding within the bone marrow, which causes bone and joint pain. The aching bone pain—which is most common in acute lymphoblastic leukemia , but may also occur in acute myeloid leukemia or myelodysplastic syndrome—is usually felt in the long bones of the arms and legs, as well as the ribs.
An infection of the bone—called osteomyelitis—causes dull bone pain, along with swelling, warmth, redness, and tenderness around the affected area. A fever may also be present. Osteomyelitis may occur as a result of bacteria within the bloodstream seeding the bone or from an infection that spreads to the bone from an adjacent soft tissue or joint.
Osteonecrosis occurs when a bone's blood supply is compromised, resulting in death of bone and bone marrow cells and subsequent bone collapse.
In addition to pain, limited use of the affected area is common. For instance, with osteonecrosis of the hip, a person may limp and require the use of a cane or walker. Besides serious injury or trauma, the most common risk factors for developing osteonecrosis include:.
Sickle cell anemia is an inherited disease caused by a mutation in the gene that codes for hemoglobin, a protein that delivers oxygen within your red blood cells to your organs and tissues. The abnormal hemoglobin in people with sickle cell anemia called hemoglobin S leads to crescent-shaped red blood cells that are sticky and stiff.
Unfortunately, these sticky, stiff cells get stuck to the walls of small blood vessels, eventually blocking blood flow and oxygen delivery—a phenomenon called a vaso-occlusive crisis VOC. Bone pain from a VOC can be intense and felt in the legs, arms, and back. Triggers are variable and often unknown, but may include:. Because sickle cell anemia is a genetic disease, vaso-occlusive crises may begin in babies as young as 6 months old and last throughout life.
It's important to seek medical attention for any type of bone pain, especially and more urgently if your pain is severe, persistent, worsening over time, or associated with swelling, redness, warmth, a fever, unintentional weight loss, or a palpable mass or lump.
The diagnosis of bone pain usually involves a detailed medical history, physical examination, and one or more imaging tests. Depending on a healthcare provider's underlying suspicion, blood tests or a biopsy may be warranted. During your appointment, you can expect your healthcare provider to ask you several questions related to your bone pain.
Examples of potential questions include:. Your healthcare provider will also examine surrounding muscles and joints and evaluate your ability to bear weight and move the affected bone. For many bone pain diagnoses, blood tests are warranted. For instance, in order to confirm a diagnosis of Paget's disease, your healthcare provider will order an alkaline phosphatase blood level which will be elevated due to the high rate of bone turnover going on.
For a suspected bone cancer diagnosis, several blood tests will be ordered by an oncologist, especially if the cancer is metastatic and the primary cancer site is unknown. While certainly not an exhaustive list, some of these blood tests that may be ordered include:.
Lastly, to diagnose multiple myeloma, your healthcare provider will order a blood and urine protein electrophoresis. These tests look for the abnormal protein produced by plasma cells called a monoclonal M protein. If certain conditions are suspected, such as bone cancer, an infection, or Paget's disease, a biopsy of the bone may need to be taken.
A biopsy entails removing a small piece of the affected bone and sending it off to a laboratory for examination under a microscope. To diagnose a cancer of the bone marrow, such as leukemia or multiple myeloma, your healthcare provider will perform a bone marrow aspiration and biopsy. Various imaging tests may be ordered to diagnose the culprit behind your bone pain. These tests may include:. In certain cases, it can be tricky to distinguish bone pain from joint pain or muscle pain , for which there are many possible causes.
The good news is that along with an examination by a healthcare provider, imaging tests often, an X-ray or MRI can definitively sort out whether bone or soft tissue is causing your pain. Your treatment regimen will depend on your underlying diagnosis. Keep in mind, for many bone-related diagnoses, the treatment plan may be quite complex, involving more than one intervention. While most bone pain diagnoses require more advanced therapies, a bone bruise can be treated with simple self-care strategies once a fracture is ruled out :.
Besides alleviating your bone pain, your healthcare provider may use various drugs to address the underlying cause. To ease your bone pain, your healthcare provider may recommend Tylenol acetaminophen or a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug NSAID like Advil ibuprofen. For more severe pain, like that associated with cancer, fracture, or a vaso-occlusive crisis, your healthcare provider may prescribe opioids, which are much stronger pain medications.
A type of medication called a bisphosphonate is used to treat osteoporosis, Paget's disease, and bone damage caused by cancer. Bisphosphonates work by blocking the absorption of bone. Antibiotics, given through the vein intravenous , are necessary to treat a bone infection. Vitamin D. Treatment of osteomalacia depends on the underlying cause, but if due to vitamin D deficiency most common , aggressive vitamin D supplementation under the care of your provider is essential.
Thankfully, with vitamin D repletion, the improvement in bone pain can be significant, occurring within weeks. Cancer Therapies. Chemotherapy is the main treatment for acute leukemias, and is also used in the treatment of bone cancer. Depending on the type of cancer, other therapies may be utilized. For example, the treatment of multiple myeloma is complex and often entails a regimen of multiple drugs including:.
Finally, a stem cell transplant may be considered in the treatment of leukemia or multiple myeloma. Sickle Cell Therapies. Sickle cell anemia requires life-long treatment. In addition to pain medications, patients often take antibiotics to prevent and treat infections and Hydrea hydroxyurea to help reduce the number of vaso-occlusive crises. Radiation is a key therapy for treating primary and metastatic bone cancer.
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