Extra Credit Blog

Egil's Bone

Egil was a viking born in Iceland in the early 10th century. He was a very brave and heroic figure to his people, but he had a unique appearance. Egil had something called Paget Disease, it is a bone disorder where some bones grow abnormally; changing their size and shape. Paget Disease is commonly found more in men from 55 to 60 years of age. It causes pain in the bones and nearby joints. This tends to affect the skull, spine, pelvis,and long bones. This disease is does not spread form bone to bone but rather stays within the bone or bones being affect throughout a lifetime.

 The physiological changes that goes on in your body with this disease are quite a few; listing some would be heart failure, hearing or vision loss, pinched nerves, and joint damage. When the bones are enlarging and misshaped its causing damages to other organs, for example if Paget Disease is affecting the skull, it will soon begin to grow in a mishaped way an eventually sufficate the brain. It does this because this disorder causes the formation of the bone to change and they start to fuse together in a way. If this is happening to the skull, eventually the brain will have no space to be in along with the eyes and if all the air way passages begin to close up, you die of lack of oxygen. If a different bone is being affected like the pelvic or the bones in your legs it can put a lot of stress on nearby joints causing the cartilage to breakdown which later on will cause osteoarthritis. Heart failure is a problem because the heart will have to work harder to pump blood to the affected areas. Nerve pinchings occur when Pagets Disease affects the spine because of the excessive growth in the spinal column. 

The anatomical changes that goes on in your body with this disease would have to be your bone structure. Like how I explained earlier, this disease makes your bones enlarge and fuse together causing an abnormal shape. When the bone resorption begins to outpace bone formation meaning the old bone breaks down faster than the new bone is built, your body will try to compensate by speeding up bone formation, this is why it appears to be odd shaped and large. When this happens to the leg bones, they become weak and can bend causing the legs to be bowlegged. This can put pressure on your knee cap and joints around there causing wear and tear and possibly fractures and making it hard to walk. When Pagets Disease affects the spine, you start to feel nerve pinching, numbness, and tingling, also it can stoop forward your posture. 

Egils Bone