Paget's Disease- when Your Bones Betray You

Paget's disease, named after the English physician who first described the condition, is a chronic aliment that affects bone formation. Paget's disease causes bones to grow abnormally, and it can occur in any bone in the human body. Often there are no symptoms for people suffering with Paget's disease, or they are mistaken for arthritis. Paget's disease is the United States' second most common bone disease behind osteoporosis, and it is seldom seen in anyone under the age of forty. It is estimated that up to three percent of the age group over forty have Paget's disease, a condition which can result in pain, bowing of the leg bones, hearing loss, and a propensity towards bone fractures.

What causes Paget's disease is not understood, but there could be a link to viruses involved. A type of virus may infect a person's bones for quite some time before any effects are felt, and researchers feel there is a hereditary connection as well, since Paget's shows up in some families in more than one member. Men are afflicted by Paget's disease a little bit more than women are. All during an individual's life, their bones are constantly breaking down and growing again, an ongoing process that is disrupted with Paget's disease. Paget's makes the bones break down quicker and when they grow again, faster than is common, they are not as strong. The bones are softer than normal bone tissue, allowing them to bend and break more easily. Paget's can result in the bones growing larger than they previously had been, and the condition typically affects the bones in the skull, spine, legs, hips, and back. As few as one bone can be involved or several, and Paget's disease precipitates the formation of bones that contain more blood vessels than ordinary ones do, so that the region where they are located has increased blood flow and feels warmer.