Bone disease and fractures

Abstract

Problems related to ageing changes and pathological diseases of bone, together with the fractures that frequently accompany these, are encountered increasingly by the physician in family practice. In recent years great advances have been made, both in the understanding of bone disease and in the management and rehabilitation of patients with these problems. It is now possible to modify the symptoms and functional incapacity to a significant degree by medical and, sometimes, by surgical means. Detailed knowledge of bone chemistry, much of it only recently discovered, is unnecessary for the practising physician, but an outline of the biochemical changes in individual disorders will be helpful.