Health Topic

Bone Diseases

Bone diseases increase your risk for breaking bones. Learn about different kinds of bone problems and how genetics can play a role.

Reviewed Reviewed by a registered pharmacistGeneral information

Important: This page is general information, not medical advice. It does not recommend or prescribe any treatment. Always consult your doctor or pharmacist before starting, stopping or changing any medicine.

About 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

It sits within Bones, Joints and Muscles.

The lead U.S. institute for this subject is the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases.

When to speak to someone. Reading about a topic cannot tell you whether it applies to you. Speak to a doctor or pharmacist if symptoms are severe, sudden, getting worse, or simply not going away — and seek emergency care immediately for chest pain, breathing difficulty, sudden weakness or confusion, or a serious allergic reaction.

Research on Bone Diseases

16,286 studies areregistered for this condition on ClinicalTrials.gov, the U.S. National Library of Medicine's public registry. A selection is below — the links go straight to the registry entry, not to a summary of ours.

What a registered study does and does not mean. Registration means a study exists and has been declared publicly. It says nothing about whether the treatment being tested works, is safe, or is available to you. Many studies find no benefit — that is what research is for. Never seek out an experimental treatment on the strength of a registry entry alone.

Research currently under way

Research already completed

Study data from ClinicalTrials.gov, a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine. Retrieved 2026-07-30. Registry entries are supplied by study sponsors and investigators; ClinicalTrials.gov does not verify their scientific validity. PocketsInfo is not affiliated with, and not endorsed by, the NLM or the NIH.

Where to read more

Rather than paraphrase, we point you to the primary sources. Every link below is to a government health agency, a national institute or a recognised medical body — grouped by what you are trying to find out.

Diagnosis and Tests

Living With

Related Issues

Genetics

Clinical Trials

Medical subject headings

Clinicians and researchers index this subject under Bone Diseases. These are the terms to use when searching medical literature.

This page is built from the MedlinePlus health topic record for Bone Diseases, a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM), National Institutes of Health. Information is from MedlinePlus.gov. PocketsInfo is not affiliated with, and is not endorsed by, the NLM or the NIH. Retrieved 30 July 2026.