What is Osteoporosis? How to Prevent & its Treatment.

What is Osteoporosis?

Osteoporosis is a condition where your bones become thin, fragile and brittle, leading to a higher risk of fractures (breaks or cracks) than in normal bone.

Osteoporosis occurs when more calcium is taken out of your bones than replaced. This leads to a reduced bone density or “honeycombing” of your bone.

What Causes Osteoporosis?

Your bones are constantly being renewed in a process where old bone is broken down and new bone produced to replace the old. This process occurs throughout our life and is usually in balance. However, due to a number of reasons, it can get out of balance.

When this occurs, your bone becomes thinner over time and more brittle. As you grow older our ability to lay down new bone lessens, placing you at greater risk of osteoporosis. 

There are a number of other factors that increase your inability to lay down dense bone, including:

• Lack of Weight-Bearing Exercise
• Menopause
• Rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis
• Overactive thyroid or parathyroid glands
• Coeliac disease and other chronic stomach conditions
• Chronic liver or kidney disease
• Type 1 diabetes
• Some cancers 
• Smoking
• Excessive alcohol consumption
• Diet lacking in calcium
• Lack of sunlight exposure, which may cause vitamin D deficiency

The most important factor is thought to be a lack of bone stress stimulating exercise. Exercise, especially weight bearing and resistance exercises, helps you to stimulate the production of new bone.

Exercise helps you to lay down more bone when you are younger and also limit the loss of bone when we are older.

What are the Symptoms of Osteoporosis?

There are not many symptoms of osteoporosis unless you have an osteoporotic fracture. You can have some changes in posture especially in your thoracic (or middle) spine. 

  

How is Osteoporosis Diagnosed?

Osteoporosis is diagnosed with a special scan called a bone densitometry scan. This is usually done of the lumbar spine or the upper thigh bone and lets you know how dense the bone is compared to people of your age.

How is Osteoporosis Treated?

Osteoporosis can be treated by your doctor with medications designed to help reduce or reverse your bone loss. You will also be encouraged to increase your calcium intake with dairy products may take Vitamin D as a supplement. This is best discussed with your GP.

You will also be encouraged to conduct exercises to encourage new bone formation. Your physiotherapist will happily provide you with age-appropriate to assist you.

Since you are a greater risk of fall or fracture, you do need to have appropriate exercises prescribed.

In addition to improving your osteoporosis, exercise benefits your strength, co-ordination and balance, which helps you to prevent falls and to improve your general physical health and well-being. 

Prevention of Osteoporosis

Osteoporosis is best prevented when you are younger. Your bone mass is at its peak between 18 and 25. The more bone mass that you have before you age, the greater our chance of not being affected by osteoporosis. 

In fact, if you can increase bone mass by about 10% you can delay the development of osteoporosis by 13 years and potentially reduce fracture risk by 50%.

For more advice about Osteoporosis, please consult your physiotherapist and doctor.

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