Osteoporosis is a debilitating health condition facing many today.

This condition can be horrifically life altering so much that basic daily activities become one of which you are afraid out of fear of sustaining a new fracture. Osteoporosis treatment focuses on increasing both strength and bone density while also preventing further bone loss.

As with many other health conditions, osteoporosis should be a part of an early health screening practice so that diagnosis can be made early in the process.

With an early diagnosis and subsequent aggressive treatment of osteoporosis you have a much better chance of avoiding future fractures. At the present time, osteoporosis treatments offer no cure but that does not mean treatment should be avoided since early intervention can help to keep the situation from worsening.

If you are looking for changes that you can make that will help you to fight the onset or the progression of osteoporosis, there are several easy options that you can start today.

For example, if you want to decrease your osteoporosis risk, then quit or better yet, never start, smoking! Women who smoke show lower levels of estrogen and these lower levels can lead to bone loss. Besides the negative impact on your bones, there is a litany of other negative health conditions associated with smoking. Another option for you to decrease your risk is to eat a healthy and well balanced diet, infused with an adequate amount of calcium and vitamin D. Also avoid alcohol and put down the remote, get up off the couch and exercise.

Ok, so no one really wants to be told to exercise, but recovering from an osteoporotic fracture is much more agonizing than any amount of exercise could ever be. Exercise helps you to improve your overall balance, your general health and your flexibility; all of which can help you reduce your chance of a fall and possibly a bone fracture. Weight-bearing exercises, such as a daily walk, are a good treatment for osteoporosis prevention. Of course, before you start any sort of exercise program you must have clearance from your health care provider.

Osteoporosis treatment may include prescription medications such as Fosamax, Actonel, and Boniva. These medications and others in this class work to prevent more bone loss and increase bone strength. Another choice for osteoporosis medication includes those such as Forteo which work by increasing bone formation.

Once you have a definitive diagnosis of osteoporosis, your healthcare provider must decide the extent of your illness. Once that has been determined, a decision will have to be made to determine if your situation can be treated with alterations in your lifestyle only or if it is so severe that both alterations and medications must be ordered at once.

This serious health concern deserves a serious discussion with your physician, followed by a firm commitment from you to follow the prescribed osteoporosis treatment and to do whatever it takes to stop any further bone loss.



Thanks to Jeff Foster for contributing this article to our Osteoporosis blog:

Osteoporosis Postmenopausal Women

Osteoporosis is accelerated bone loss. Normally, there is loss of bone mass with aging, perhaps 0.7% per year in adults. However, bone loss is greater in women past menopause than in men of the same age. The process of bone remodelling from resorption to matrix synthesis to mineralization normally takes about 8 months–a slow but constant process. Bone in older persons just isn’t as efficient as bone in younger persons at maintaining itself–there is decreased activity of osteoblasts and decreased production of growth factors and bone matrix.

Osteoporosis causes, diagnosis, symptoms, risk factors, prevention, and treatment. Osteoporosis is a disease that causes bones to weaken, become brittle and more easily breakable. The osteoporosis disease process can be silent (without symptoms) for decades. It’s a harse reality that the drugs we take to treat arthritis, especially the corticosteroids, also wreak havoc on our bones.

Osteoporosis occurs when the resorption causes the bones to reach a fracture threshold (the point at which they are likely to break when subjected to a modest stress, such as falling). A fall, blow or lifting action that would not normally bruise or strain the average person can easily break one or more bones in someone with severe osteoporosis.

Symptoms of Osteoporosis

Bone pain is seen less commonly than joint pain and muscle pain. The source of bone pain may be obvious, as in a fracture following an accident. Or it may be more subtle, such as cancer that spreads (metastasizes) to the bone.

Hip fractures typically occur as a result of a fall. With osteoporosis, hip fractures can occur as a result of trivial accidents. Hip fractures may also be difficult to heal after surgical repair because of poor bone quality.

An abnormally curved upper back, or dowager’s hump, develops when the bones of the upper spine (vertebrae) become thin and brittle (known as osteoporosis) and collapse on each other. Having collapsed vertebrae in any part of the spine results in a loss of height.

The appearance of the widow’s hump or a fractured wrist or hip from a fall may be the first actual symptoms of osteoporosis unless your doctor has been measuring your bone density. Men also should watch for a loss of height, change in posture or sudden back pain. There are a number of risk factors that increase a person’s likelihood of having osteoporosis.

Pain, disfigurement, and debilitation are common in the latter stages of the disease. Early spinal compression fractures may go undetected for a long time, but after a large percentage of calcium has been lost, the vertebrae in the spine start to collapse, gradually causing a stooped posture called kyphosis, or a “dowager’s hump.” Although this is usually painless, patients may lose as much as 6 inches in height.

Causes of Osteoporosis

Osteoporosis occurs when an imbalance occurs between new bone formation and old bone resumption. The body may fail to form enough new bone, or too much old bone may be reabsorbed, or both.

The strength of your bones depends on their size and density; bone density depends in part on the amount of calcium, phosphorus and other minerals bones contain. When your bones contain fewer minerals than normal, they’re less strong and eventually lose their internal supporting structure.

The leading cause of osteoporosis is a lack of certain hormones, particularly estrogen in women and androgen in men. Women, especially those older than 60 years, are frequently diagnosed with the disease. Menopause brings lower estrogen levels and increases a woman’s risk for osteoporosis. Other factors that may contribute to bone loss in this age group include inadequate intake of calcium and vitamin D, lack of weight-bearing exercise, and other age-related changes in endocrine functions (in addition to lack of estrogen).



Thanks to Corwin Brown for contributing this article to our Osteoporosis blog:

Have you claimed your Genesis site?

Within this article the aim is to point people in the right direction with regard to Osteoporosis prevention. As most people know Osteoporosis is a bone crippling disease which can affect anyone at any time of life.

The highest area of sufferers is women in the age group of 50 plus years, and in most cases it revolves around the onset of menopause where the body tends to deprive the patient of the vitamins and supplements that are needed to combat this problem.

Men do suffer as well but not to such a high degree, and when they do it normally boils down to the fact that they have over done the alcohol intake or have smoked too many cigarettes. Both alcohol and cigarettes are said to me major factors in both men and women.

All over the world there are countless thousands of new cases every year, and this is not just confined to the western world as many countries have people that are under nourished and lack the vital supplements.

It is also fair to say that most people only find out they are suffering from Osteoporosis when they have a broken bone or fracture so I believe that Osteoporosis prevention should be as common as women checking themselves for breast cancer.

The main prevention or defence against Osteoporosis is by making sure the body has the right supply that it needs. This means upping the intake of things like Calcium, and by eating the right foods.

By the right foods I mean fresh fruit and vegetables, and by staying away from sugar based products and products with a high preservative level which tends to rule out a lot of pre-prepared foods, and fast foods.

A good way to look at the prevention of Osteoporosis is to visualise that the body is approximately 70% water, and as water has a ph level either of acidic or alkaline make up it is always advisable to move to the alkaline side of your intake. This means that foods with a high acidic value such as meat are not really the best for the body as the acidic content will be the base of what causes problems.

The suggestion is to have one meal a day on things like mixed fruit. Try mixing melon with red fruits, apples, plums etc. All of which have an alkaline make up.

Please note that I am not a Doctor or am I anyway qualified to give nutritional advice, and it is always advisable to check with your Doctor or a Nutritionist.



Thanks to Mick Hince for contributing this article to our Osteoporosis blog:

Osteoporosis Postmenopausal Women