Rheumatoid Arthritis: NHS on common signs and symptoms
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Some adults also experience some form of bone pain in the early stages of arthritis.
However, the NHS cautions that this could be a sign of a rare form of cancer known as bone cancer that affects around 500 people every year.
Bone cancer is a separate condition from another condition known as secondary bone cancer; this is when cancer has spread to the bone from a different part of the body.
Bone pain is one of the main symptoms of bone cancer with the NHS warning: “The pain can sometimes be wrongly mistaken for arthritis in adults and growing pains in children and teenagers.”
Often the pain associated with bone cancer will start out as a tender feeling in the bone.
Over time this will develop into a persistent ache that comes and goes throughout the day and night.
Bone cancer most often affects the upper arms and legs.
Other symptoms of bone cancer include inflammation (swelling and redness) or a lump on or around the affected bone.
Furthermore, if the cancer is near a joint this may make it more difficult to use the joint, creating movement issues.
On some occasions, bone cancer can cause the bone to weaken, fracture, and then break while rarer symptoms include a high temperature, unexplained weight loss and sweating at night.
It is recommended to consult with a GP if an individual is worried that they have any symptoms of bone cancer.
As with other conditions, there is a lack of knowledge as to why bone cancer develops.
Some factors will increase an individual’s risk of bone cancer such as previous radiotherapy treatment, bone conditions such as Paget’s disease, rare genetic conditions, and a history of other conditions such as retinoblastoma and umbilical hernia.
Retinoblastoma is a rare form of eye cancer while an umbilical hernia occurs when an internal part of an individual’s body pushes through a weakness in a surrounding tissue wall.
Although it is important to get pains and aches that are of a concern, in the case of bone cancer, it is unlikely that it will be the condition.
It may be a different ailment or arthritis, the important act is to get checked.
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