Osteomalacia has to do with a softening of your bones. In fact, osteomalacia means “soft bones”.

Osteoid is the bone protein matrix, composed primarily of type 1 collagen. When there is insufficient mineral or osteoblast dysfunction, the osteoid does not mineralize properly, and it accumulates.

When the newly formed bone of the growth plate does not mineralize, the growth plate becomes thick, wide and irregular. This results in the clinical diagnosis of rickets and is seen only in children because adults no longer have growth plates. When the remodeled bone does not mineralize, osteomalacia occurs, and this happens in all ages. Most of the hereditary causes of osteomalacia appear during childhood and cause rickets.

Soft bones are more likely to bow and fracture than are harder, healthy bones. In osteomalacia your bone tends to break down faster than it can re-form.

Osteomalacia is not the same as osteoporosis. Osteoporosis is another bone disorder that can also lead to bone fractures. Osteomalacia results from a defect in your bone-building process. Osteoporosis comes as a result of a weakening of previously constructed bone.

You may not experience any effects with osteomalacia in the early stages of this disorder, although signs and symptoms could be visible on X-ray pictures or other diagnostic tests. As your osteomalacia progresses, you may experience muscle weakness and bone pain.

Muscle weakness can take the form of stiffness or weakness in your arms and legs, discomfort while moving and decreased muscle tone. Osteomalacia may cause you to walk with a waddling motion.

You may also experience bone pain, especially in your pelvis, lower spine, feet and legs. The pain you have with osteomalacia is usually aching and dull and gets worse during physical activity. You might notice that it produces severe pain if you gently press on a bone like your shin bone, for example.

You may have osteomalacia. Osteomalacia and/or other conditions along with or resulting from it may be the cause of your disability and being unable to work.

Do you need help because of your disability? Do you need financial help?

Have you applied for financial assistance from the Social Security Administration by applying for Social Security disability benefits or disability benefits because of the disability caused by osteomalacia and/or related conditions? Were you denied?

You may be thinking about appealing the denial by the Social Security Administration. If this is what you decide to do, here is something that you need to think about.

You may need a disability lawyer like the one you will find at Social Security Home to advise you in what can prove to be a long and trying procedure. The reason why this is true is because people who are helped and represented by a dependable disability attorney are approved more often than those who do not have a lawyer.