Bone pain is
pain coming from the
bone. It occurs as a result of a wide range of diseases and/or physical conditions and may severely impair the quality of life for patients who suffer from it. Bone pain belongs to the class of deep somatic
pain, often experienced as a dull pain that cannot be localized accurately by the patient. This is in contrast with the pain which is mediated by superficial receptors in, e.g., the skin. Bone pain can have several possible causes ranging from extensive physical stress to serious diseases such as
cancer. For many years it has been known that bones are innervated with sensory
neurons. Yet their exact anatomy remained obscure due to the contrasting physical properties of bone and neural tissue. More recently, it is becoming clear what types of nerves innervated which sections of bone. The periosteal layer of bone tissue is highly pain-sensitive and an important cause of pain in several disease conditions causing bone pain, like
fractures,
osteoarthritis, etc. However, in certain diseases the
endosteal and
haversian nerve supply seems to play an important role, e.g. in
osteomalacia,
osteonecrosis, and other bone diseases. Thus there are several types of bone pain, each with many potential sources or origins of cause.