Derek L. Hill, D.O.

Fellowship-Trained Orthopedic Surgeon and Specialist

Osteoporosis Basics

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menopause-5Osteoporosis is known as “Brittle-Bone disease.” The first and most common sign of osteoporosis is a broken bone. The difficult part is that osteoporosis is hard to detect because it can happen in healthy looking individuals. The disease can often go undiagnosed until a fracture occurs. As some of the risks of osteoporosis can be avoided, some other risks cannot such as family history or medical conditions. However, being proactive about your health and exercising can help the cause.

“Osteoporosis is defined by low bone mineral density (BMD) on an X-ray bone-density scan. If a scan shows your bone density is a bit low, your diagnosis is osteopenia, or pre-osteoporosis. If your BMD is quite low, the diagnosis is osteoporosis.” (JoyBauer.com) If you have low bone density you face a higher risk of breaking a bone.

According to JoyBauers.com, “Bones also contain specialized cells that help form bone (osteoblasts) and break down bone. If your overall health is good and you eat nutritionally sound meals, a balance is maintained, for every bit of bone lost, an equal amount of bone is created.” With osteoporosis more bone is lost than formed.

There are several risk factors to osteoporosis. These risk factors consist of:

Hormonal Changes

Hormonal changes can give you a greater risk factor if levels of estrogen or testosterone levels fall. This is commonly seen in men as they age and when women go through menopause.

Cortiscosteroids

Cortiscosteroids medications are commonly used to treat illnesses such as asthma and autoimmune disorders. “But steroids seem to inhibit the bone-building activity and may also increase bone resorption. It has been estimated that up to half of all people who take steroids long-term will end up with osteoporosis.” (JoyBauer.com)

Body Weight

Weight builds bone. For example, thinner women have a greater risk of osteoporosis than heavy women.

References:
“Osteoporosis Basics.” JoyBauer.com. http://www.joybauer.com/osteoporosis/about-osteoporosis.aspx

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Risk Factors & Treatment of Osteoporosis

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treatment of osteoporosisThe risk factors and treatment of Osteoporosis is something we should all familiarize ourselves with.  According to MedLinePlus, as many as half of all women and a quarter of all men over the age of 50 will break a bone due to osteoporosis. Osteoporosis, or brittle bone disease as it’s commonly known, occurs when our bodies don’t build new bone as fast as they remove old bone.

This causes the bones to become weak and brittle and more likely to break (definition from WebMd). And while we know how important it is to consume adequate calcium and vitamin D earlier in life, there are also some risk factors that may predispose us to the disease.Read More >